Patent ID: 8005027

Claim:
A method for multicasting a packet, comprising: providing a buffer at a base station for each of two user equipments (UEs) in communication with the base station, each buffer configured to store packets to be sent to the corresponding UE; determining whether there is a new packet at the base station to be transmitted to a UE, wherein a new packet is a previously unsent packet; determining whether both UE buffers are non-empty; flushing a non-empty buffer on a condition that there is no new packet and on a condition that one of the buffers is non-empty; selecting a packet to transmit on a condition that there is a new packet or on a condition that both buffers are non-empty, wherein a combined packet is selected on a condition that there is no packet that has been previously transmitted but not acknowledged by both UEs and on a condition that both buffers are non-empty, wherein a combined packet is an exclusive OR combination of a first packet in each buffer; and updating the buffers based on feedback received from the UEs, wherein the updating includes removing a packet from a buffer on a condition that the UE acknowledges receipt of the packet.