Patent ID: 7652997

Claim:
A data communication system for enabling a plurality of communication apparatuses to perform data communication via a communication medium, the data communication system comprising: timing information sharing section configured to share timing information related to a user operation and release of user operation between devices performing mutual communication, in response to user operation and release of user operation performed at a same timing against respective connection designation section of apparatuses constituting respective counterparts for communication; and searching section configured to search over said communication medium and specify as a communication counterpart an apparatus sharing timing information related to said user operation and said release of user operation; wherein each of said communication apparatuses includes a user interface configured to accept a user operation, and said user operation and release of user operation related to part of said user interfaces is allocated to a connection designation section configured to designate network connections, whereby a data communication path between any two of the communication apparatuses is established when the timing of a user performing a manual operation on one of the two apparatuses or on a peripheral device associated with said one of the two apparatuses corresponds to the timing of a user performing a manual operation on the other of the two apparatuses or on a peripheral device associated with said other of the two apparatuses, said communication path being established regardless of whether or not there is synchronization between said one of the two apparatuses, or a peripheral device associated with said one of the two apparatuses, and said other of the two apparatuses, or a peripheral device associated with said other of the two apparatuses, the manual operation comprising operating a key or button that is assigned the function of establishing the communication path and at least one other function.