Patent ID: 8159983

Claim:
A method for communicating packets in a relay network from a set of subscriber stations to a base station through a set of relay stations, comprising a relay station for performing steps of the method, comprising the steps: receiving a plurality of packets from a set of subscriber stations using a set of logical connections, in which the plurality of packets include media access control (MAC) protocol data unit (MPDU) and MAC service data unit (MSDU) packets, there being at least one logical connection between each subscriber station and the base station, and further using a set of physical connections, there being at least one physical connection between each subscriber station and the relay station; aggregating the set of logical connections between each subscriber station and the base station into a single MPDU packet on the logical connection between the relay station and the base station, such that the single logical connection includes MSDU packets that belong to different logical connections for different subscriber stations; aggregating the plurality of packets into a single bit stream; and transmitting the single bit stream to a base station using a single physical connection and the single logical connection.