Patent ID: 7991410

Claim:
A communication system, comprising: a base unit, which is communicably connected to an external communication device; and at least one extension unit, which is communicable with the base unit and with the other extension unit and the external communication device via the base unit, wherein the base unit includes an information collecting system to collect information about a communication status of each of the at least one extension unit in the communication system; wherein each of the at least one extension unit includes an information obtaining system to obtain the information from the base unit and an indicating system to indicate presence and communication status of each of the at least one extension unit in the communication system based on the obtained information individually on an extension unit basis; wherein the base unit is provided with a storage system to store the information collected by the information collecting system and an information distributing system to distribute the stored information to each of the at least one extension unit; wherein the at least one extension unit obtains the stored information from the distributing system of the base unit; wherein the indicating system includes a plurality of display areas, each of which corresponding to one of the at least one extension unit; wherein each display area is activated when presence of the corresponding extension unit in the communication system is detected based on the information obtained from the information distributing system; wherein each display area is inactivated when presence of the corresponding extension unit in the communication system is not detected based on the information obtained from the information distributing system; and wherein the extension unit can be additionally installed in the communication system unless a total number of the extension units exceeds a number of the display areas in the indicating system.