Patent ID: 7848250

Claim:
A wireless communication apparatus which accommodates a wireless communication terminal therein to form a first wireless communication system and communicates with the wireless communication terminal by a first communication method, the wireless communication apparatus comprising: a transmission and reception unit which transmits and receives a frame to and from the wireless communication terminal using a communication channel; a monitoring unit which monitors presence or absence of an interference signal in a first communication channel which is the communication channel currently used by the transmission reception unit, the interference signal being a signal other than a signal used in the communication conducted by the first wireless communication system; and a control unit which selects a second communication channel and a third communication channel, the second and the third communication channels being different from the first communication channel, the transmission and reception unit transmitting an instruction frame to the wireless communication terminal when the monitoring unit detects the interference signal in the first communication channel, the instruction frame including information on the second and third communication channels, the instruction frame instructing the wireless communication terminal to switch the communication channel from the first communication channel to at least one of the second and third communication channels, wherein the transmission and reception unit communicates with the wireless communication terminal using a frequency band including the second communication channel and a fourth communication channel whose frequency is adjacent to that of the second communication channel, and using a frequency band including the third communication channel and a fifth communication channel whose frequency is adjacent to that of the third communication channel, and the instruction frame includes information indicating whether each of the fourth and fifth communication channels is adjacent to a low-frequency side or a high-frequency side of each of the second and third communication channels.