Patent ID: 8280259

Claim:
An optical fiber-based wireless communication system, comprising: a head-end unit (HEU) having an optical switch bank; and a plurality of fiber optic cables each comprising at least one optical fiber and configured to carry a Radio-over-Fiber (RoF) signal from the HEU to a plurality of remote access points, wherein a first one of the plurality of remote access points is configured to form a corresponding first coverage area, and a second one of the plurality of remote access points is configured to form a corresponding second, different coverage area, wherein the optical switch bank is configured to dynamically establish a RoF-based optical link over at least one of the plurality of fiber optic cables such that a first peer device in the first coverage area can communicate with a second peer device in the second coverage area at least in part over the RoF-based optical link, and wherein the HEU is further configured to receive a request from a first one of the first and second peer devices to communicate with a second one of the first and second peer devices via at least one Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access point associated with at least one of the first and second peer devices.