Patent ID: 8358628

Claim:
A method of operating a wireless communication system, the method comprising: in a femtocell access node for a first communication session, exchanging first user data with a wireless communication device over a first wireless link and exchanging the first user data with a core network over an internet backhaul link; in a macrocell access node for a second communication session, exchanging second user data with the wireless communication device over a second wireless link and exchanging the second user data with the core network over a network backhaul link; in the wireless communication system for the second communication session, selecting the femtocell access node for a handoff of the second communication session based on the first communication session and performing the handoff of the second communication session from the macrocell access node to the femtocell access node; in the femtocell access node for the second communication session, exchanging the user data with the wireless communication device over a third wireless link and exchanging the third user data with the core network over the internet backhaul link.