Patent ID: 8139587

Claim:
A method for routing packets between a source and a destination in a heterogeneous communications network for a set of packets including at least one packet to be transmitted from a sending node, said sending node being able to handle communication according to at least two wireless access technologies, the method comprising: for each packet in the set of packets, the sending node selecting a first wireless access technology among said at least two wireless access technologies for use when transmitting the packet, wherein said first wireless access technology selected for each packet is independent of said first wireless access technology selected for any other packet in the set of packets; for each packet in the set of packets, the sending node selecting a first receiving node in the network to which to transmit the packet among nodes in the network that are able to handle said first wireless access technology selected for the packet; for each packet in the set of packets, the sending node transmitting the packet to the selected first receiving node using the first wireless access technology; and when the first receiving node is a relay node, the relay node selecting a second wireless access technology independent of the first wireless access technology, selecting a second receiving node that is able to handle the second wireless access technology, and transmitting the received packet to the second receiving node using the second wireless access technology, wherein for each packet, said first receiving node is selected based on said selected first wireless access technology.