Patent ID: 7447746
Filing Date: 2008-11-04
Classification: H04W

Abstract:
1. A terminal device for handing over a master station capability to a slave station in a communication system in which a master station controls access of a plurality of slave stations to a communication medium, the communication system being provided adjacent to an external communication system, said terminal device comprising: master and slave station management means for managing whether said terminal device is to act as the master station or as one of the slave stations; communication status information storage means for storing, as communication status information, interference information which is received from the external communication system and is related to a number of packets received from the external communication system or is related to an intensity of a packet reception from the external communication system; communication status information notification means for notifying the communication status information to the master station in the communication system, if said terminal device is managed by said master and slave station management means to act as one of the slave stations; communication status information collection means for collecting the communication status information from the slave stations in the communication system, if said terminal device is managed by said master and slave station management means to act as the master station; master station capability handover destination station determination means for referring to the communication status information collected by said communication status information collection means and determining, from among slave stations in the communication system having notified the communication status information, one of the slave stations, that satisfies a predetermined handover requirement, as a candidate for a master station capability handover destination station to which the master station capability is handed over, if said terminal device is managed by said master and slave station management means to act as the master station; and master station capability handover request means for requesting a handover of the master station capability to the candidate if said terminal device is managed by said master and slave station management means to act as the master station, wherein in a state where said terminal device is managed to act as one of the slave stations, if the master station in the communication system requests the handover of the master station capability, said master and slave station management means determines whether said terminal device satisfies a master station predetermined requirement, and if the predetermined master station requirement is satisfied, said master and slave station management means changes a management detail such that said terminal device acts as the master station, and based on the communication status information, said master station capability handover destination station determination means determines, from among the slave stations in the communication system having notified the communication status information, one of the slave stations that has received a greater number of packets from the external communication system than the master station or one of the slave stations that has a packet reception from the external communication system having a greater intensity than that of the master station, as the candidate which satisfies the predetermined handover requirement.