US Patent 9119107 Methods and devices for supporting backhaul selection

Methods and devices are disclosed for backhaul selection in a wireless communication network. A first radio base station has access to a first backhaul path through an out-of-band interface and to a second backhaul path, via a second radio base station, through an in-band interface. According to a method, a network entity sends, to the second radio base station, a request for available capacity on the second backhaul path for backhauling of the first radio base station. The second radio base station derives a total available capacity from an estimate of available capacity for backhauling on a backhaul path from the second radio base station to a core network and from an estimate of available capacity for backhauling on the in-band interface and signals the total available capacity to the network entity. The network entity selects backhaul path based on the received information on the total available capacity.