Patent ID: 8677220

Claim:
A transmitting unit configured to transmit a flow of indexed data packets towards a receiving unit, the transmitting unit comprising: a processor configured to, transmit, using a transmitter, the data packets including a header having an index stored therein whose value sequentially varies with each subsequent one of the data packets, update a Transmission Status Vector (TSV), at the transmitting unit, whenever one of the data packets is scheduled for transmission, the TSV being a single state vector having a number of vector components and compiling transmission history for the flow of data packets, the updating including updating each of the vector components of the TSV based on the data packet that has been scheduled for transmission, the TSV matching a corresponding Reception Status Vector (RSV) similarly updated at said receiving unit whenever the receiving unit receives one of the data packets having an index value which is an expected index value, and transmit, using a transmitter, a current value of at least one vector component of said TSV if the receiving unit indicates that a data packet corresponding to the expected index value has not been received thereat or is corrupted, the TSV being such that when the transmitted current value of the TSV is combined, at the receiver, with the RSV and the data packets received at the receiver having index values greater than the expected index value, the data packet corresponding to the expected index value is recoverable.