Patent ID: 8032911

Claim:
A relay device configured to connect to a sink device on a downstream side of the relay device, to connect to a source device comprising a physical address based on the sink device on an upstream side of the relay device, comprising a physical address based on the sink device, to transmit a command received from either the sink device or source device to a second relay device, and to transmit and receive a video stream to and from the second relay device, the relay device comprising: a receiver configure to receive the command comprising a parameter comprising a physical address sent from either the sink device or source device; an address manager configured to receive a first physical address assigned to the relay device based on the sink device, to receive a second physical address assigned to the relay device based on a second sink device connected to the downstream side of the second relay device, to firstly determine whether to transmit the command to the second relay device, to secondly determine whether to convert the physical address in the parameter in the second relay device when it is determined that the command needs to be transmitted to the second relay device, and to convert the physical address in the parameter into a physical address based on the second sink device using the first and second physical addresses when it is determined that the physical address has not been converted in the second relay device; and a transmitter configured to transmit a command to the second relay device, the command comprising either the physical address after conversion as a parameter or information requesting the second relay device to convert the physical address in the parameter together with the command from either the sink device or source device depending on the determination result of the second determination.