Automatic repetition request mechanism in a radio access network

摘要

A method of handling the transmission of Radio Link Control (RLC) Protocol Data Units (PDUs) from a Radio Access Network (RAN) of a mobile telecommunications system to User Equipment (UE). At a Gateway of the RAN, RLC Service Data Units (SDUs) are segmented into RLC PDUs for transmission to one or more Base Stations (BSs) of a set of BSs belonging to a handover link set. RLC PDUs received from one or more of those BSs are combined into RLC SDUs for transmission to a core network of the system. Each of the BSs buffers the RLC PDUs received from the Gateway and/or the UE. An Automatic Repetition Request (ARQ) mechanism is implemented at each of the BSs to facilitate reliable transmission of RLC PDUs between the UE and the Gateway.