Patent ID: 8843118

Claim:
An access gateway for controlling a plurality of evolved Node-Bs (eNodeBs) in a single frequency network (SFN), the access gateway comprising: a control plane; a user plane; and a multimedia broadcast multicast services (MBMS) multi-cell coordination unit including at least one MBMS coordination control part located in the control plane of the access gateway for coordinating control signaling to the eNodeBs, and at least one MBMS coordination data part located in the user plane of the access gateway for coordinating data signaling to the eNodeBs, wherein the MBMS multi-cell coordination unit is configured to: receive information for determining a coordinated start time for multicasting data from the eNodeBs such that the coordinating signaling from the MBMS multi-cell coordination unit to the eNodeBs includes at least one time stamp, corresponding to the coordinated start time, for time synchronizing the multicasting of the data from the eNodeBs.