Method and apparatus for forwarding non-consecutive data blocks in enhanced uplink transmissions

Abstract

A method and apparatus for forwarding data blocks in uplink transmissions comprising receiving a plurality of data blocks from a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) over an uplink channel using a HARQ entity, wherein each of the data blocks is associated with a frame number and a sequence number, initializing a timer in response to a determination that the data blocks, when stored in a buffer, include non-consecutive data blocks and the non-consecutive data blocks have a missing data block, and forwarding the non-consecutive data blocks from the buffer to an entity higher than a medium access control (MAC) entity on a condition that the timer has expired and the missing data block has not been received by the wireless network device, wherein the non-consecutive data blocks in the buffer include one or more data blocks having a sequence number higher than a sequence number of the missing data block.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method performed by a wireless network device, the method comprising:
 receiving a plurality of data blocks from a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) over an uplink channel using a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) entity, wherein each of the data blocks is associated with a frame number and a sequence number;   initializing a timer in response to a determination that the data blocks, when stored in a buffer, include non-consecutive data blocks and the non-consecutive data blocks have a missing data block; and   forwarding the non-consecutive data blocks from the buffer to an entity higher than a medium access control (MAC) entity on a condition that the timer has expired and the missing data block has not been received by the wireless network device,   wherein the non-consecutive data blocks in the buffer include one or more data blocks having a sequence number higher than a sequence number of the missing data block.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising forwarding the received data blocks from the buffer to the entity higher than the MAC entity based on a frame number associated with a HARQ process for the received data blocks. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the wireless network device is a base station. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the initializing of the timer is performed by a base station. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the buffer is a reordering buffer. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the received data blocks are MAC protocol data units. 
     
     
         7 . A wireless network device comprising:
 a medium access control (MAC) entity;   a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) entity; and   an entity higher than the MAC entity, wherein the wireless network device is configured to:   receive a plurality of data blocks from a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) over an uplink channel using a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) entity, wherein each of the data blocks is associated with a frame number and a sequence number;   initialize a timer in response to a determination that the data blocks, when stored in a buffer, include non-consecutive data blocks and the non-consecutive data blocks have a missing data block; and   forward non-consecutive the data blocks in the buffer to the entity higher than the MAC entity on a condition that the timer has expired and the missing data block has not been received by the wireless network device,   wherein the non-consecutive data blocks in the buffer include one or more data blocks having a sequence number higher than a sequence number of the missing data block.   
     
     
         8 . The wireless network device of  claim 7 , wherein the network device is configured to forward the received data blocks from the buffer to the entity higher than the MAC entity based on a frame number associated with a HARQ process for the received data blocks. 
     
     
         9 . The wireless network device of  claim 6 , wherein the wireless network device is a base station. 
     
     
         10 . The wireless network device of  claim 6 , wherein the received data blocks are MAC protocol data units. 
     
     
         11 . The wireless network device of  claim 6 , wherein the wireless network device includes the timer. 
     
     
         12 . The wireless network device of  claim 6 , wherein the buffer is a reordering buffer.