Patent ID: 7673211

Claim:
A method for controlling the retransmission of data units in a wireless telecommunication system, comprising the steps of: receiving a plurality of data units from a transmitter at a receiver; in response to the receipt of each of said plurality of data units, attempting to decode said data unit at said receiver, and: if said data unit is successfully decoded, transmitting positive feedback from said receiver to said transmitter, said positive feedback indicating to said transmitter that said data unit was successfully decoded by said receiver; or, if said data unit is not successfully decoded, transmitting negative feedback from said receiver to said transmitter, said negative feedback indicating to said transmitter that said data unit was not successfully decoded by said receiver; selecting a first or a second feedback mechanism for transmitting said positive or negative feedback, wherein said feedback mechanisms differ at least in terms of channel characteristics; wherein said positive feedback comprises an acknowledgement (ACK) message and said negative feedback comprises a non-acknowledgement (NACK) message; and transmitting a Status Message from said receiver to said transmitter, said status message comprising explicit information identifying ones of said plurality of said data units.