OPTIMISED PACKET DATA TRANSMISSION PROTOCOL IN A COMMUNICATION SYSTEM EMPLOYING A TRANSMISSION WINDOW

1 . A method for a packet data transmission protocol that uses transmission windows, the method comprising the steps of:

transmitting blocks of data packets from a first transmission window;

receiving, for the transmitted data packets, at least one negative acknowledgement;

constructing a dummy data packet block, including at least header information;

sending the dummy block at a more robust coding rate than that used for the originally transmitted data packets;

receiving an acknowledgement for the dummy block; and

transmitting new blocks of data packets from the next transmission window.

2 . A method according to claim 1 , wherein the dummy data packet block is a dummy radio link control (RLC) block.

3 . A method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of establishing a trigger for the protocol, wherein the constructing and sending steps only occur upon event of the trigger.

4 . A method according to claim 3 , wherein the trigger comprises a condition selected from the group of; when the received negative acknowledgements cause a RLC window stall that has occurred for more than a predetermined period of time, when the number of new blocks in the transmission window falls below a predetermined limit, indicating an impending stall condition, when transmission of a real-time (RT) logical link control (LLC) frame is queued behind a non-real time (NRT) LLC frame, and when it is determined that a time delay requirement of the current real-time (RT) logical link control (LLC) frame cannot be met.

5 . An apparatus for a packet data transmission protocol that uses transmission windows, the apparatus comprising:

means for transmitting blocks of data packets from a first transmission window;

means for receiving, for the transmitted data packets, at least one negative acknowledgement;

means for constructing a dummy data packet block, including at least header information;

means for sending the dummy block at a more robust coding rate than that used for the originally transmitted data packets;

means for receiving an acknowledgement for the dummy block; and

means for transmitting new blocks of data packets from the next transmission window.

6 . An apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the dummy data packet block is a dummy radio link control (RLC) block.

7 . An apparatus according to claim 5 , further comprising means for establishing a trigger for the protocol, wherein the protocol only occurs upon event of the trigger.

8 . An apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the trigger comprises one of the group of; a condition of when the coding scheme for RLC blocks in the next window is more robust than the coding scheme used for the RLC blocks in the current window, a condition of when the received negative acknowledgements cause a RLC window stall that has occurred for more than a predetermined period of time, a condition of when the number of new blocks in the transmission window falls below a predetermined limit, indicating an impending stall condition, a condition of when transmission of a real-time (RT) logical link control (LLC) frame is queued behind a non-real time (NRT) LLC frame, and a condition of when it is determined that a time delay requirement of the current real-time (RT) logical link control (LLC) frame cannot be met.

9 . A system for a packet data transmission protocol that uses transmission windows, the system comprising:

a packet control unit for sending blocks of data packets from a first transmission window; and

a user equipment for receiving the block of data packets and informing the packet control unit about said reception, wherein

if the user equipment sends at least one negative acknowledgement for the transmitted data packets, the packet control unit constructs a dummy data packet block, including at least header information, and sends the dummy block at a more robust coding rate than that used for the originally transmitted data packets to the user equipment.

10 . A system according to claim 9 , further comprising a trigger for the protocol, wherein the protocol only occurs upon event of the trigger.