Patent ID: 8385921

Claim:
A method for communicating between Radio Access nodes, comprising: identifying at least some paths belonging to a backhaul system of a Radio Access Network (RAN), each path interconnecting a pair of Radio Access nodes belonging to the RAN; ascertaining, from time to time, per path, at least one type of Traffic Engineering (TE) metric associated with communicating real-time data between a pair of Radio Access nodes interconnected by the path; conveying, per path, the ascertained TE metric, to the pair of Radio Access nodes interconnected by the path; and upon requirement, of one of the Radio Access nodes of a pair, to invoke an operation associated with communicating real-time data between the Radio Access nodes of the pair, deciding, by the Radio Access node of the pair that made the requirement, to invoke the operation, provided that the TE metric, conveyed to the Radio Access node of the pair that made the requirement, and associated with a path interconnecting the pair of Radio Access nodes, indicates that such real-time data communication is viable over the path.