Patent ID: 8089937

Claim:
A handover method for a mobile communication terminal in a mobile communication network including at least one mobile communication base station and a communication satellite, the handover method comprising the steps of: (a) calculating a signal power received from a currently communicating mobile communication base station among the at least one mobile communication base station; (b) calculating a signal power received from each of the communication satellite and the at least one mobile communication base station except the base station of step (a); (c) selecting a mobile communication base station having the highest among the calculated signal powers except the signal power received from the communication satellite and the signal power received from the base station of step (a); and (d) when the signal power calculated in step (a) is below a predetermined minimum handover power, a difference between the signal power of the selected mobile communication base station and the signal power calculated in step (a) is equal to or below a first terrestrial handover sensitivity, and there is no other mobile communication base station capable of communicating with the mobile communication terminal, performing handover to the communication satellite.