Patent ID: 7970282

Claim:
A network relaying apparatus which controls relay to and from a node indicated by a light emitting device and a logical location assigned to the node on a network, the network relaying apparatus comprising: a light detector including light receiving elements which are two-dimensionally arranged with regularity; a coordinate acquiring unit configured to acquire coordinates of a light receiving element in the light detector which detects light emitted from the light emitting device; a storage unit configured to store the coordinates acquired by the coordinate acquiring unit in association with a logical location of the node on the network; a holding unit configured to acquire detection status of light by the light detector at a predetermined cycle and to temporarily hold the coordinates of the light receiving element which detects the light; a determination unit configured to determine whether or not the coordinates stored in the storage unit differ from the coordinates temporarily held by the holding unit; a storage controller configured to perform control so as to update the coordinates stored in the storage unit by the coordinates temporarily held by the holding unit and to change the logical location associated with the coordinates stored in the storage unit to the updated coordinates when the determination unit determines that the coordinates stored in the storage unit differ from the coordinates temporarily held by the holding unit; a receiver unit configured to receive data from the network; a logical location detector configured to detect from the data received by the receiver unit a logical location of a destination of the data; a first transmitter configured to transmit the data to the coordinates stored in the storage unit in association with the logical location when the logical location detector detects the logical location; a response detection determination unit configured to determine whether or not the light detector detects a response light in response to a transmission from the first transmitter; and a transmission control unit configured to control the first transmitter such that the first transmitter transmits the data based on contents held in the holding unit when the response detection determination unit determines that the light detector does not detect the response light during a control processing period of the storage controller.