Apparatus and methods for transmitting and receiving MAC PDU using MAC headers

A transmitting end for transmitting a media access control protocol data unit (MAC PDU) in a wireless access system, the transmitting end comprising:

• a transmission module;
• a reception module;
• and
• a processor comprising a MAC PDU generating module for constructing the MAC PDU,
• wherein the transmitting end establishes a connection associated with a service flow with a receiving end;
• constructs the MAC PDU comprising a MAC header which is configured according to the connection by using the MAC PDU generating module;
• and
• transmits the MAC PDU to the receiving end,
• wherein the MAC header is general MAC header (GMH) if the connection is associated with a general data packet transmission,
• wherein the MAC header is short-packet MAC header (SPMH) if the connection is associated with a small data packet transmission and non-ARQ transmission,
• wherein the GMH consists of a flow identifier (FID) filed identifying the connection used for the transmission of the MAC PDU, an extended header group presence indicator (EH) field indicating whether an extended header group is present following the GMH, and a length field indicating a length in bytes of the MAC PDU which includes the GMH and an extended header if present, and
• wherein a size of the FID field is 4 bits, a size of the EH field is 1 bit, a size of the length field is 11 bits, and total sizes of the GMH and the SPMH are the same as two bytes.