Quality of service control in multiple hop wireless communication environments

1. An ingress station that resides in a wireless communication access path in a wireless communication environment, wherein a tunnel is established with an egress station through one or more intermediate relay stations along the wireless communication access path, the ingress station comprising:

wireless communication circuitry;

a control system associated with the wireless communication circuitry and adapted to:

receive a plurality of packet data units associated with at least one service flow that is supported by the tunnel;

for each packet data unit of the plurality of packet data units:

determine an egress station delivery deadline on or before which the egress station should deliver the packet data unit toward a destination of the packet data unit;

provide the egress station delivery deadline with the packet data unit; and

deliver the packet data unit with the egress station delivery deadline to an intermediate relay station of the one or more relay stations via the tunnel.

2. The ingress station of claim 1 wherein the control system is further adapted to determine an ingress station delivery deadline for the packet data unit on or before which the ingress station should deliver the packet data unit to the intermediate relay station to ensure the packet data unit reaches the egress station in sufficient time to be delivered toward the destination of the packet data unit by the egress station delivery deadline.

3. The ingress station of claim 2 wherein to determine the ingress station delivery deadline for the packet data unit, the control system is further adapted to:

determine propagation information bearing on how long it may take the packet data unit to be delivered to the egress station through the one or more intermediate relay stations; and

calculate the ingress station delivery deadline based on the propagation information and the egress station delivery deadline.

4. The ingress station of claim 3 wherein the ingress station delivery time is calculated at least in part by subtracting the propagation information from the egress station delivery deadline.

5. The ingress station of claim 3 wherein the control system is further adapted to receive propagation metrics bearing on at least one link between the ingress station and the egress station and wherein the control system determines the propagation information based on the propagation metrics.

6. The ingress station of claim 5 wherein the propagation metrics bear on a link between the intermediate relay station and the egress station.

7. The ingress station of claim 5 wherein the propagation metrics for the at least one link is provided by the intermediate relay station in a log, which has a different field for the propagation metrics for each link being reported.

8. The ingress station of claim 2 wherein the control system is further adapted to deliver the packet data unit with the egress station delivery deadline to the intermediate relay station via the tunnel on or before the ingress station delivery deadline.

9. The ingress station of claim 2 wherein when multiple packet data units of the plurality of packet data units have the same ingress station delivery deadline, quality of service class information associated with the multiple packet data units is used to control an order in which the multiple packet data units are delivered to the intermediate relay station.

10. The ingress station of claim 1 wherein to determine the egress station delivery deadline for the packet data unit, the control system is further adapted to:

determine arrival time information bearing on when the packet data unit was received at the ingress station;

determine latency information bearing on an acceptable delay before the egress station should deliver the packet data unit toward a destination of the packet data unit based on quality of service class information associated with the packet data unit; and

calculate the egress station delivery time for the packet data unit based on the arrival time information and the latency information.

11. The ingress station of claim 10 wherein the egress station delivery time is determined at least in part by adding the latency information to the arrival time information for the packet data unit.

12. The ingress station of claim 1 wherein the egress station delivery deadline corresponds to a time.

13. The ingress station of claim 1 wherein the egress station delivery deadline corresponds to a frame for transmission.

14. The ingress station of claim 1 wherein the ingress station is a base station and the egress station is an access relay station supporting wireless communications with at least one user terminal, which is party to the at least one service flow.

15. The ingress station of claim 1 wherein the egress station is a base station and the ingress station is an access relay station supporting wireless communications with at least one user terminal, which is party to the at least one service flow.

16. The ingress station of claim 1 wherein the control system is further adapted to:

identify quality of service (QoS) class information bearing on a QoS class for the packet data unit; and

provide the egress station delivery deadline with the packet data unit, wherein the packet data unit is delivered with the QoS class information and the egress station delivery deadline to the intermediate relay station of the one or more relay stations via the tunnel.

17. An intermediate relay station that resides in a wireless communication access path in a wireless communication environment, wherein a tunnel is established between an ingress station and an egress station through the intermediate relay station along the wireless communication access path, the intermediate relay station comprising:

wireless communication circuitry;

a control system associated with the wireless communication circuitry and adapted to:

receive a plurality of packet data units associated with at least one service flow that is supported by the tunnel, wherein each of the plurality of packet data units comprises an egress station delivery deadline on or before which the egress station should deliver the packet data unit toward a destination of the packet data unit; and

for each packet data unit of the plurality of packet data units;

determine an intermediate relay station delivery deadline for the packet data unit on or before which the intermediate relay station should deliver the packet data unit toward the egress station to ensure the packet data unit reaches the egress station in sufficient time to be delivered toward the destination of the packet data unit by the egress station delivery deadline; and

deliver the packet data unit with the egress station delivery deadline toward the egress station on or before the intermediate relay station delivery deadline.

18. The intermediate relay station of claim 17 wherein the packet data unit is delivered to another intermediate relay station that resides between the intermediate relay station and the egress station.

19. The intermediate relay station of claim 17 wherein the packet data unit is received from another intermediate relay station that resides between the intermediate relay station and the ingress station.

20. The intermediate relay station of claim 17 wherein to determine the intermediate relay station delivery deadline for the packet data unit, the control system is further adapted to:

determine propagation information bearing on how long it may take the packet data unit to be delivered to the egress station from the intermediate relay station; and

calculate the intermediate relay station delivery deadline based on the propagation information and the egress station delivery deadline.

21. The intermediate relay station of claim 20 wherein the intermediate relay station delivery time is calculated at least in part by subtracting the propagation information from the egress station delivery deadline.

22. The intermediate relay station of claim 17 wherein the intermediate relay station delivery deadline corresponds to a time.

23. The intermediate relay station of claim 17 wherein the intermediate relay station delivery deadline corresponds to a frame for transmission.

24. The intermediate relay station of claim 17 wherein the ingress station is a base station and the egress station is an access relay station supporting wireless communications with at least one user terminal, which is party to the at least one service flow.

25. The intermediate relay station of claim 17 wherein the egress station is a base station and the ingress station is an access relay station supporting wireless communications with at least one user terminal, which is party to the at least one service flow.

26. The intermediate relay station of claim 17 wherein when multiple packet data units of the plurality of packet data units have the same intermediate station delivery deadline, quality of service class information associated with the multiple packet data units is used to control an order in which the multiple packet data units are delivered toward the egress station.

27. The intermediate relay station of claim 17 wherein the control system is further adapted to:

determine propagation metrics bearing on at least one link between the intermediate relay station and the egress station; and

deliver information bearing on the propagation metrics toward the ingress station.

28. The intermediate relay station of claim 27 wherein the propagation metrics for the at least one link are delivered toward the ingress station in a log, which has a different field for the propagation metrics for each link being reported.

29. The intermediate relay station of claim 17 wherein each of the plurality of packet data units comprises quality of service (QoS) class information bearing on a QoS class for the packet data unit and is delivered with the QoS class information and the egress station delivery deadline toward the egress station on or before the intermediate relay station delivery deadline.

30. A method for operating an ingress station that resides in a wireless communication access path in a wireless communication environment, wherein a tunnel is established between the ingress station and an egress station through at least one intermediate relay station along the wireless communication access path, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of packet data units associated with at least one service flow that is supported by the tunnel;

for each packet data unit of the plurality of packet data units:

determining an egress station delivery deadline on or before which the egress station should deliver the packet data unit toward a destination of the packet data unit;

providing the egress station delivery deadline with the packet data unit; and

delivering the packet data unit with the egress station delivery deadline to an intermediate relay station via the tunnel.

31. The method of claim 30 further comprising:

identifying quality of service (QoS) class information bearing on a QoS class for the packet data unit; and

providing the egress station delivery deadline with the packet data unit, wherein the packet data unit is delivered with the QoS information and the egress station delivery deadline to the intermediate relay station via the tunnel.

32. The method of claim 30 further comprising determining an ingress station delivery deadline for the packet data unit on or before which the ingress station should deliver the packet data unit to the intermediate relay station to ensure the packet data unit reaches the egress station in sufficient time to be delivered toward the destination of the packet data unit by the egress station delivery deadline, and wherein the packet data unit is delivered to the intermediate relay station on or before the ingress station delivery time.