Patent ID: 8340132

Claim:
Method of transmitting data, whereby a transmission channel towards an access point is shared among a plurality of users, the data being transmitted using a multiple-access frame divided in logical slots, the method comprising the steps: dividing each data packet into k units, encoding the k units by a (n,k) linear block encoder, producing n−k redundant units, transmitting the n units within a multiple-access frame in n different slots according to a time-hopping pattern, a frequency hopping pattern or a combination of both, whereby the positions of the n units composing a data packet are written in a header appended to each unit, recovering lost or corrupted data packets at the receiver side by using the redundant units by performing the steps: detecting the presence of a unit for each slot, if a unit is present in a slot and has been transmitted without collisions, recovering this unit, storing a recovered unit and its header in a memory together with an index of the slot where they have been recovered, if a sufficient amount k+δ of units composing a data packet is recovered, the packet level decoder is used to recover the remaining n−k−δ units which experienced collisions in the respective slots, the method further comprising the steps of: removing the interference caused by the n−k−δ units from the slots where they were transmitted using the information about the position of the units contained in the header of the recovered k+δ units and recovering units of other data packets which have experienced a collision with the n−k−δ units.