Patent ID: 8462685

Claim:
A radio communication apparatus, comprising: a communication control part configured to control at least one of direct communication or relay communication with one or more target radio communication apparatuses, the relay communication occurring through a base station; a data generation part configured to generate at least one of a mode transition notification or a switching request notification, wherein: the mode transition notification comprises information notifying at least one of the target radio communication apparatuses of a transition to a power thrifty mode; the switching request notification comprising a request to switch from direct communication with at least one of the target radio communication apparatuses to relay communication via the base station; and the communication control part is further configured to generate instructions to transmit the mode transition notification to the at least one target radio communication apparatus, and to transmit the switching request notification to the base station; and a mode control part configured to transition of an operation mode to the power thrifty mode upon receipt of corresponding responses to the mode transition notification from the at least one target radio communication apparatus and a response to the switching request notification from the base station, wherein: the data generation part is further configured to: identify a first subset of the target radio communications apparatuses having functionality to transmit data to at least one of the target radio communication apparatuses that has entered the power thrifty mode; and identify a second subset of the target radio communication apparatuses that lack the transmit functionality; and the data processing part is further configured to: transmit the mode transition notification to the first subset of the target radio communication apparatuses; and transmit the switching request notification to the second subset of the target radio communication apparatuses.