Patent ID: 8913558

Claim:
A mobile communication system constructed in a hierarchic configuration, comprising: a plurality of base stations, each communicating with a plurality of mobile stations; a plurality of router/layer 3 (L3) switches, each accommodating some of the plurality of base stations; a gateway to couple the router/L3 switches via a network, wherein the router/L3 switches are arranged to include a first table to store local routing information, and the gateway is arranged to include a second table to store an internet protocol (IP) address of the base stations and an IP address of the arranged router/L3 switches associated with the base station IP address; when the gateway establishes a path between one of the base stations and the gateway in response to a connection request through the base station from one of the mobile stations, the gateway refers to the second table and judges whether the arranged router/L3 switch accommodates the base station, and in the case that the arranged router/L3 switch accommodates the base station, sends information that is needed to establish a path between the base station and the gateway to the arranged router/L3 switch; the arranged router/L3 switch is configured to: store the information received from the gateway in the first table, establish a path between the base station and the router/L3 switch according to the information stored in the first table, when the arranged router/L3 switch receives user data from one of the mobile stations through the base station, judge whether local routing is to be conducted by referring to the first table, and if it is determined that local routing is to be conducted for the user data, conduct the local routing for the user data in the local routing node via the established path between the base station and the router/L3 switch.