Patent ID: 8428063

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving a first data packet at a packet processing node of a network, the packet processing node being in communication with a first group of user devices through a first access node employing a first transport technology and first media access control (MAC) protocol to communicate with the user devices in the first group, the packet processing node also being in communication with a second group of user devices through a second access node employing a second transport technology and second MAC protocol to communicate with the user devices in the second group, the first and second transport technologies being different and the first and second MAC protocols being different; determining at the packet processing node that the first data packet is to be forwarded to the first access node; transmitting the first data packet from the packet processing node to the first access node; receiving a second data packet at the packet processing node; determining at the packet processing node that the second data packet is to be forwarded to the second access node; transmitting the second data packet from the packet processing node to the second access node; receiving the transmitted second data packet at the second access node; encapsulating the second data packet in a MAC frame according to the second MAC protocol; and forwarding the encapsulated second data packet to a destination user device of the second group.