Method for transmitting data including an error control mechanism designed for unreliable networks and error resilience applications

A method for transmitting a payload encapsulated in a packet from a transmitter to a receiver by using an Automatic Request process, comprising:

• checking each packet received from the transmitter to detect any potential corrupted received packets;
• acknowledging the correct or the corrupted reception of said each received packet by emitting one or many acknowledgment messages to the transmitter;
• resending the packets that were indicated as corrupted in the acknowledgment messages sent by the receiver using an EC-Part-ARQ error control mechanism;
• changing modes and implementing an EC-ARQ error control mechanism, said EC- ARQ error control mechanism including the steps of,
• checking all of the data in each received packet to detect any potential corrupted received packet, a packet being considered as corrupted when the entire set of data of the packet has not been correctly received, and
• periodically setting the error control mechanism which has to be selected among the EC-ARQ error control mechanism and the EC-Part-ARQ error control mechanism;
• wherein the resending includes, for at least some of the packets indicated as corrupted, implementing the EC-part-ARQ error control mechanism including the steps of,
• defining a sensitive part and a non-sensitive part in the packets indicated as corrupted on a packet by packet basis, the length of each of the sensitive part and the non-sensitive part being variable, the sensitive part not being confined to the header,
• before resending the packets indicated as corrupted, enclosing information defining the sensitive part in a specific field that is located in the respective sensitive parts of the packets, and
• checking only the respective sensitive parts in the resent packets to detect any potential corrupted received packet, a packet being considered as corrupted when the sensitive part has not been correctly received.