Patent ID: 8111664

Claim:
A communication path switching system in a mobile wireless communication system, the communication path switching system comprising: a first wireless base station and a first radio network controller that have a function of wireless communication with a first mobile station and a function of relaying data from the first mobile station over a first wireless communication path; a second wireless base station and a second radio network controller that have a function of wireless communication with a second mobile station and a function of relaying data to the second mobile station over a second wireless communication path; and a transmission apparatus having a function of wired communication with the first and second wireless base stations and capable of establishing a wired communication path to be used to relay the data transmitted from the first mobile station toward the second mobile station, wherein the mobile wireless communication system includes a first transfer path and a second transfer path as data transfer routes from the first mobile station to the second mobile station, the first transfer path connects the first wireless base station and the second wireless base station through the first radio network controller, an exchange station and the second network controller, and the second transfer path connects the first wireless base station and the second wireless base station through the transmission apparatus without passing through the first radio network controller, the exchange station and the second radio network controller, the first radio network controller includes a notifying unit configured to extract wireless data transmission and reception control information on the first wireless communication path with the first mobile station and to notify the transmission apparatus of the control information, and the first transfer path is switched to the second transfer path without re-establishing the first and second wireless communication paths between the first and second mobile stations and the first and second wireless base stations.