Patent ID: 8817704

Claim:
A communication radio apparatus, comprising: a communication unit configured to select either one of a base station mode and a terminal mode so as to perform a communication in a network wherein in the base station mode, a plurality of other radio apparatuses, which are in the terminal mode, are connected to said radio apparatus, and in the terminal mode, said radio apparatus is connected to another radio apparatus which is in the base station mode; and a control unit configured to control the mode of said communication unit, said control unit including: a receiving unit configured to receive a first instruction to switch the mode of the communication unit to the base station mode, when said communication unit is in the terminal mode; a first switching unit configured to switch said communication unit to the base station mode based on reception of said first instruction by said receiving unit; an instruction unit configured to send, via said communication unit, to another radio apparatus in the network, which is in the terminal mode, a second instruction to switch to the base station mode; and wherein said first and second instructions include a list comprising priority levels associated with radio apparatuses of the network indicating the order in which the radio apparatuses in the network are to be set in the base station mode, wherein said first and second instructions contain information on a period of time during which said radio apparatuses in the network are to be set in the base station mode, said period of time being determined based on capability information of said radio apparatuses, wherein said control unit further includes: a collection unit configured to collect said capability information; an update unit configured to update the list received by said receiving unit, depending on the information collected by the collection unit, and a second switching unit configured to switch said communication unit to the terminal mode after a period of time associated to said communication radio apparatus indicated in said first instruction, wherein said second instruction includes said updated list, wherein the list included in said second instruction also includes a priority level associated to said communication radio apparatus, and wherein the priority level of said communication radio apparatus in the list included in said second instruction is lower than the priority level of said communication radio apparatus in the list included in said first instruction.