Communications base station with decision function for distributing traffic across multiple backhauls

摘要

A communication station, such as a base station or access point, has multiple backhaul options and distributes backhaul data between the available backhaul options. The communication station includes a transceiver for transmitting and receiving data with user equipments, multiple backhaul interface modules, and a backhaul distribution module arranged for monitoring demand for backhaul bandwidth and distributing data over the backhauls based on the demand for backhaul bandwidth. Additional modules for user data and control plane processing may be included with the user/control distinction used in distributing data over the backhauls. The backhaul options may include a preferred backhaul and an alternate backhaul. Distributing data over the backhauls may be based, for example, on applications associated with the data, financial cost, delay, robustness, computational resources, and/or additional security associated with using a particular backhaul.

主权项

1. An backhaul distribution module comprising:
a plurality of backhaul interfaces, each backhaul interface configured to provide backhaul communications over a corresponding one of a plurality of backhaul connections; and an interface coupled to one or more data processing modules and configured to receive from the one or more data processing modules application information associated with data processed by the one or more data processing modules; wherein the backhaul distribution module is configured to distribute data over the plurality of backhaul connections based at least in part on the received application information.