Patent ID: 8526354

Claim:
A user-portable mobile communication relay device relaying communication between an internal network and an external network, the mobile communication relay device comprising: an internal network communication adapter compatible with the internal network connecting to a single or a plurality of specific terminal devices; an external network communication adapter compatible with two or more external networks; a network selection processing portion for automatically selecting, from the external networks, one or more networks to be connected in accordance with stored profile information; an internal network connection processing portion for establishing or reconfiguring the connection to an internal network selected on pre-determined timing; an external network connection processing portion for establishing or reconfiguring the connection to an external network selected on pre-determined timing; and a communication relay processing portion for relay-processing communication between the internal network and the external networks, wherein in a configuration in which a selection rule for a communication channel concerns a wireless LAN, at least one of said external network connection processing portion or said internal network connection processing portion acquires information about available channels at a current site, produces an available channel table tabulating, number of available channels continued in back and front directions relative to each available channel, said available channel table including, for each available channel, a separate entry for the back direction and a separate entry for the front direction, and selects the channel according to an available status on the available channel table corresponding to a channel having available channels continued in back and front directions, and if no channel having available channels continued in back and front directions is available, selecting a channel with a weaker signal strength, and if neither selected channel can be found, selects another external network with the network selection processing portion.