ERROR CONTROL METHOD AND APPARATUS

摘要

The invention relates to an error control method and apparatus for performing a control so as to allow a transmission of data units via a transmission channel independence on the sequence number of a preceding data unit not yet acknowledged, wherein the transmission rate of acknowledgment messages is changed in response to an estimated transmission quality of the transmission channel. Thereby, the retransmission protocol is made faster in poor channel conditions, whereas the amount of resources used for the acknowledgment message is lowered for better channel conditions. The error control may be performed at the transmitter side, wherein the transmitter commands or polls the receiver to send an acknowledgment message. The channel quality may be determined by detecting a retransmission of negatively acknowledged data unit. Alternatively, the error control can be performed at the receiver side, wherein the receiver decides when an acknowledgment shall be sent and is able to count the data units lost or erased during the transmission to thereby estimate or detect the channel quality.