Patent ID: 7839940

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving from a transmitter a plurality of first data symbols using a plurality of subcarriers in a multicarrier system, the first data symbols being received in a plurality of first transmissions over the plurality of subcarriers; determining a plurality of channel quality parameters, each of the channel quality parameters corresponding to at least one of the first data symbols; when an error is associated with the first data symbols: sending an automatic repeat request to the transmitter; selecting a subset of the channel quality parameters exhibiting a worst quality as indicated by the determined channel quality parameters; using the subset of the channel quality parameters, determining a corresponding subset of the first data symbols; in response to at least one second transmission over the plurality of subcarriers, receiving a block of second data symbols corresponding to the subset of first data symbols, wherein each of the second data symbols prior to transmission comprises a copy of a corresponding one of the first data symbols prior to transmission; and using at least the first and second data symbols to determine values corresponding to the first data symbols in the subset of first data symbols; wherein the channel quality parameters are first channel quality parameters; and wherein using at least the first and second data symbols further comprises: determining a plurality of second channel quality parameters, each of the second channel quality parameters corresponding to at least one second data symbol; and using the first and second channel quality parameters, combining the second data symbols with corresponding first data symbols in the subset of the first data symbols to determine values corresponding to the first data symbols in the subset of the first data symbols.