Importance

Loading Importance Indicators...

Abstract

Various embodiments are described to address the need for providing wireless backhaul that may reduce operator startup costs while avoiding some of the drawbacks present in the prior art approaches. Generally expressed, the wireless network equipment (WNE) (121) of a collector cell provides access to a backhaul network (151) to one or more neighboring cells (122) via in-band wireless signaling. Given the frequency bands used by the collector cell WNE for communication with remote units, one portion of each band used for user traffic while another portion of each band is used for backhaul traffic. Having backhaul and user traffic share the assigned frequency bands can eliminate the need to license additional bands for wireless backhaul. Moreover, utilizing a portion of the existing, in-band orthogonal channels may be more spectrally efficient than using a separate radio in the same band.

Loading the Abstract Image...

First Claim