The invention provides an LTE and WLAN interconnecting
system and a switching method; and the
system introduces the entity of a
virtual base station under an LTE architecture, and accesses the entity into the interface of the LTE as WLAN. On the LTE side, the
virtual base station remains transparent relative to the LTE side, and is provided with the functions of a general LTE
base station. On the WLAN side, the
virtual base station can control the WLAN access point. The switching between the LTE and the WLAN is realized through the virtual
base station through a standard X2 interface. A second layer
tunneling protocol or an
Ethernet tunneling protocol is adopted between the virtual
base station and the WLAN access point to realize the transmission and the receiving of data and signaling during the switching process, and the WLAN serves as the bottom layered
transmission channel of the data and the signaling of an LTE
system. The method has the
advantage that for the LTE, the switching process is kept consistent with the LTE switching process, which has very small
impact on the traditional LTE. The WLAN is connected with the LTE in a tight
coupling way, thereby greatly meeting the business requirement requirements, reducing the time
delay caused by system switching, and ensuring the system performance.