Synchronous hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) protocol employing a first information element indicating whether to perform retransmission of an uplink data packet and a second information element indicates modulation and coding scheme (MCS) for the retransmission

1. A method comprising the following steps performed by a base station:

receiving an uplink data packet from a user equipment based on a synchronous hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) protocol,

transmitting a first information element and a second information element in parallel to the user equipment, wherein the first information element indicates whether to perform a retransmission of the uplink data packet, and the second information element indicates modulation and coding scheme (MCS) for the retransmission, and

receiving the retransmission from the user equipment according to the modulation and coding scheme.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first information element is an ACK/NACK feedback message.

3. A base station comprising:

a receiver section that receives an uplink data packet from a user equipment based on a synchronous hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) protocol, and,

a transmitter section that transmits a first information element and a second information element in parallel to the user equipment, wherein the first information element indicates whether to perform a retransmission of the uplink data packet, and the second information element indicates modulation and coding scheme (MCS) for the retransmission,

wherein the receiver section receives the retransmission from the user equipment according to the modulation and coding scheme.

4. The base station according to claim 3 , wherein the first information element is an ACK/NACK feedback message.