US Patent 7983151 Communication systems

An uplink transmission method for use in a multi-hop communication system, the system comprising a mobile station (MS), a base station (BS) and one or more relay stations (RS), and the system providing two or more different communication paths extending between the mobile station and the base station, the mobile station being operable to transmit information indirectly to the base station along a series of links forming a first such communication path via one or more of the relay stations and also being operable to transmit information to the base station along one link or a series of links forming a second such communication path; the method comprising transmitting particular information from the mobile station along the first and the second communication paths; and combining the same particular information transmitted along the first and second communication paths in the base station.