Patent ID: 7761093

Claim:
A system for distributing radio frequency signals in a physical area in which multiple wireless service providers wish to provide service, the system comprising: a first plurality of wireless base stations collocated at a hub location, the base stations receiving and transmitted radio frequency signals, with at least two of such base stations operating with radio frequency signals according to two different air interfaces; a base station interface, also located at the hub, for converting the radio frequency signals associated with the base stations to and from digitized versions thereof and for converting the digitized versions of the radio frequency signals associated with the base stations to and from a transport signaling format; a shared transport medium, for transporting the digitized versions of the radio frequency signals associated with the base stations from the hub location to a plurality of remote access node locations; a plurality of radio access nodes located at the remote access node locations, the radio access nodes each associated with a partial coverage area corresponding to only a portion of a total system coverage area, and the radio access nodes connected to the transport medium; and the radio access nodes further each comprising: a plurality of slice modules, wherein each of the plurality of slice modules has associated radio frequency signals formatted according to a selected one of the air interfaces and comprises equipment for converting the associated radio frequency signals formatted accorded to the selected one of the air interfaces to and from digitized versions thereof and for converting the digitized versions of the radio frequency signals formatted accorded to the selected one of the air interfaces to and from the transport signaling format.