Patent ID: 7872972

Claim:
A method of scheduling delivery of delay-sensitive packet data from a wireless access point in a radio access network to wireless communication terminals supported by the wireless access point, the method comprising: receiving packet data at the wireless access point for a number of data connections supported by the wireless access point, wherein the packet data received for each data connection targets a corresponding one or ones of the wireless communication terminals supported by the wireless access point; determining a network transit time for the packet data received for each data connection, wherein the network transit time comprises a cumulative network transit delay experienced by the packet data in transiting from a corresponding originating network to the wireless access point; determining a remaining time for delivery for the packet data received for each data connection, wherein the remaining time for delivery comprises the difference between an end-to-end delay budget defined for the packet data and the corresponding network transit time determined for the packet data; and scheduling air interface transmissions of the packet data for each data connection as a function of the remaining times for delivery and radio conditions associated with the targeted ones of the wireless communication terminals.