Method and apparatus for supporting radio acknowledgement information for a uni-directional user data channel

A communication system, including a radiotelephone device transmitting acknowledgement information to a network, comprising:

• a first acknowledgement coordination module, positioned within the network, transmitting an acknowledgement exchange message to the radiotelephone device indicating a mode for exchange of the acknowledgement information;
• and
• a second acknowledgement coordination module, positioned within the radiotelephone device, transmitting the acknowledgement information to the network using the indicated mode,
• wherein the radiotelephone device transmits the acknowledgement information along a main dedicated control channel in response to the indicated mode being the main dedicated control channel,
• wherein the radiotelephone device transmits the acknowledgement information to the network using a temporary block flow acknowledgement interchange in response to at least one of the mode being other than the main dedicated control channel and the mode not being received,
• wherein the network determines the mode for exchange of the acknowledgement information based on resource availability of the network, and
• wherein the main dedicated control channel includes a defined service access point identifier corresponding to the acknowledgement information for transmission of the acknowledgement information through the main dedicated control channel.