ARQ protocol support for variable size transmission data unit sizes using a hierarchically structured sequence number approach

摘要

The present invention permits the transmission of variable size PDUs using a Hierarchical Sequence Numbering Space approach that supports ARQ protocols in a variable transmission rate environment. Some of the key attributes of this scheme are: (1) Support for arbitrarily variable PDU sizes; (2) Variable length sequence numbers in protocol headers; (3) Variable depth sequence numbers in protocol headers; (4) Dynamic sequence number context to minimize the size of sequence numbers transmitted in PDUs; (5) Protocol control schemes to coordinate and communicate sequence number space information between peer protocol entities; and (6) Data structures and approaches for the efficient implementation of Hierarchical Sequence Number Space schemes.