Patent ID: 7630293

Claim:
A communications system, comprising: a mobile unit operable to transmit content; a plurality of base transceiver stations, each base transceiver station operable to: receive the content from the mobile unit; determine a value for a metric associated with communications between the mobile unit and the base transceiver station; generate a graded packet including the value and the content; and communicate the graded packet; and a router operable to: receive redundant graded packets generated at the base transceiver stations; evaluate each corresponding bit in two or more graded packets by performing an exclusive-or operation on the corresponding bits; estimate the correct value of each bit based on the evaluation; combine different portions of the content from each of two or more of the graded packets including the estimated correct value for each bit to create an improved packet, the different portions from the graded packets collectively representing the entirety of the content such that the improved packet includes the entirety of the content; and communicate the improved packet.