Patent ID: 7710992

Claim:
A communication device that receives and transmits frames asynchronously via a transmission line, comprising: frame holding means for storing the frames awaiting transmission; transmission means for sequentially taking out the frames from said frame holding means and outputting the frames to the transmission line, based on a control signal indicative of timing for transmitting the frames; and transmission control means for initially transmitting the control signal at a repetition period of T clocks and acquiring a number of waiting frames in said frame holding means every N×T clocks, where T represents an integer not smaller than 2 and N represents an integer not smaller than 2, wherein, when the number of waiting frames is equal to K, said transmission control means transmits the control signal A times at a repetition period of T−1 clocks and B times at a repetition period of T clocks during next N×T clocks, where K represents an integer not smaller than 1, and A and B are calculated based on K so that the control signal is transmitted N+K times during the next N×T clocks.