Patent ID: 9402275
Filing Date: 2016-07-26
CPC Classification: H04W

Claim Text:
1. A method for interconnecting base stations of a cellular network via a transport network TN including a plurality of network elements NEs, where at least two of the plurality of NEs are collocated each with a respective base station, the method comprising: establishing in the TN, when the TN is a Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) network, at least one proximity group that contains a plurality of geographically adjacent NEs, and wherein the at least two NEs, including a first and second NEs collocated with the respective base stations, are members of a same of the at least one proximity group that meet a proximity criteria; establishing a logical grid connectivity associated with a current Virtual Private Network (VPN) between the NEs that are members of the same proximity group, wherein the local grid enables direct communications between members of the same proximity group; establishing at least one communications path between the respective base stations collocated with the at least two of the plurality of NEs, wherein said at least one communications path extends via the at least two respective NEs communicating directly with each other; and in response to updating of the proximity criteria, forming a proximity group including NEs that are adjacent to an NE that is used to generate VPN related data based on geographical coordinate information of both the adjacent NEs and the NE used to generate the VPN related data, where the VPN data is used to establish a logical grid that enables interconnection between those of the base stations adjacent to each other, and the logical grid is used to cover a proximity group in the TN network to which the NE associated with the VPN related data belongs.