Patent ID: 8406168

Claim:
An asymmetric wireless network, comprising: at least a first base station comprising a radio frequency (RF) transceiver having a first transmission range, a first transmit data rate, and a first coverage area; at least a second base station comprising an RF transmitter having a second transmission range, a second transmit data rate, and a second coverage area, the second transmit data rate being greater than the first transmit data rate, and the first and the second coverage areas at least partially overlapping; at least one computer network communicatively coupling the first and the second base stations; and at least one processor in communication with the computer network, wherein the at least one processor is configured to (1) receive a data request comprising a request to deliver response data to a mobile station located inside the first coverage area and inside the second coverage area, the mobile station having a first active bidirectional connection to the first base station over which the data request is communicated and having a first active uni-directional connection with the second base station, (2) generate response data in response to a reception of the data request, (3) obtain first information defining a plurality of criteria relating to communication performance, (4) evaluate the plurality of criteria in accordance with a predetermined level of importance assigned to each criteria relative to all other said plurality of criteria; (5) select a transmission path from among a plurality of transmission paths based on the first information and results of the evaluation, said plurality of transmission paths including a first path comprising the first base station and a second path comprising the second base station, (6) cause a cue message to be routed to the mobile station via the first base station, the cue message indicating which transmission path was previously selected; and (7) cause the response data to be routed to the mobile station via the second base station, without terminating the first active bidirectional connection; wherein data requests and cue messages are exclusively communicated over the first active bi-directional connection.