Patent ID: 8355722

Claim:
A method of operating a communication system, comprising: receiving, by a network element of the communication system from a first base station of the communication system that is in communication with a wireless device requesting a service from a core network through the communication system, a first indicator that indicates the availability of a first air link resource, and wherein the first indicator comprises at least one of an available downlink throughput of the first air link and an available uplink throughput of the first air link; receiving, by the network element from a second base station of the communication system that is in communication with the wireless device requesting the service, a second indicator that indicates the availability of a second air link resource, wherein the second indicator comprises at least one of an available downlink throughput of the second air link and an available uplink throughput of the second air link; receiving, by the network element from the first base station, a third indicator that indicates the availability of an access network resource, wherein the third indicator comprises one of an available downlink throughput of a first backhaul link between the first base station and an access network and an available uplink throughput of the first backhaul link between the first base station and the access network; receiving, by the network element from the second base station, a fourth indicator that indicates the availability of the access network resource, wherein the fourth indicator comprises one of an available downlink throughput of a second backhaul link between the second base station and the access network and an available uplink throughput of the second backhaul link between the second base station and the access network; determining, by the network element, a core network resource indicator, wherein the core network resource indicator comprises an indication of network resources available provide the service to the wireless device by the core network; selecting, by the network element, one of the first base station and the second base station based on the first indicator, the second indicator, the third indicator, and the fourth indicator for providing the service; determining, by the network element, a path resource indicator based on the first indicator, the third indicator, and the core network resource indicator, when the first base station is selected; determining, by the network element, a path resource indicator based on the second indicator, the fourth indicator, and the core network resource indicator, when the second base station is selected; communicating, by the network element, the path resource indicator to the wireless device; and, receiving, by the network element, a response to the path resource indicator from the wireless device, wherein the response comprises an indication of whether the wireless device accepts service based on the path resource indicator.