Patent ID: 8483176

Claim:
A packet communication method in a packet communication system having a wireless terminal, wireless access networks, a management device, and a packet communication device coupled to the wireless access networks respectively, comprising: checking, by the management device, whether a handover destination wireless access network supports a first header compression or decompression method used in a first packet communication performed through a handover source wireless access network, when the wireless terminal hands over from the handover source wireless access network to the handover destination wireless access network, the handover source wireless access network and the handover destination wireless access network being two of the wireless access networks; transferring, by the management device, an execution point for packet processing from the handover source wireless access network to the packet communication device for a second packet communication through the handover destination wireless access network when the handover destination wireless access network does not support the first header compression or decompression method, the packet processing including executing the first header compression or decompression method; and when the handover destination wireless access network supports a second header compression or decompression method different from the first header compression or decompression method, converting a packet processed in the first header compression method into a tunnel packet to be tunneled to the execution point in the second packet communication and compressing a header of the tunnel packet in the second header compression method.