Patent ID: 8160048

Claim:
A method for accessing a hybrid network including a wireless wide area network and a wireless distributed network, comprising the steps of: sensing by a gateway apparatus a relay request slot on a downlink common control channel of the wireless wide area network; transmitting by a wireless terminal, a relay request signal requesting to relay a data packet to be transmitted, in the relay request slot on the downlink common control channel; and establishing by the gateway apparatus a connection with the wireless terminal in the wireless distributed network, if the relay request signal from the wireless terminal is sensed in the relay request slot; wherein establishing a connection with the wireless terminal comprises: transmitting by the gateway apparatus a reply signal to the wireless terminal after receiving the relay request signal; determining by the wireless terminal a gateway apparatus through which a relay operation is to be made by measuring channel conditions, and transmitting a selection signal containing an address of the gateway apparatus through which the relay operation is to be made; and after receiving the selection signal, transmitting, by the gateway apparatus corresponding to the address in the selection signal, a permit signal for permitting the wireless terminal to transmit a data packet to be relayed to the wireless terminal; wherein the wireless terminal compares conditions of channels indicated in the reply signal, and selects a gateway apparatus with the best condition of channel as the gateway apparatus through which the relay operation is to be made; and the wireless terminal selects a gateway apparatus that needs the lowest transmission power for directly communicating therewith as the gateway apparatus through which the relay operation is to be made.