Patent ID: 7466666

Claim:
A signaling method for automatic repeat request comprising: receiving data frames from a mobile station at a base station; selectively gating a physical layer radio channel to provide ACK and NACK indications responsive to the receipt of the data frames from the mobile station, wherein the physical layer radio channel is gated on to provide one of an ACK and a NACK indication to the mobile station, and is gated off to provide the other one of the ACK and NACK indications to the mobile station; and wherein said physical layer radio channel is a forward common power control channel, and further comprising transmitting power control bits in time-multiplexed power control groups on the forward common power control channel, for power controlling a plurality of mobile stations, and defining an ACK subchannel on the forward common power control channel by allocating a number of power control group slots for sending ACK/NACK indications rather than power control bits, such that said selectively gating the physical layer radio channel to provide ACK and NACK indications responsive to the receipt of the data frames from the mobile station comprises selectively gating the forward common power control on or off as needed for sending an ACK or a NACK to the mobile station at the power control group slots allocated for sending ACK/NACK indications to the mobile station.