Patent ID: 7706408

Claim:
A communication apparatus, comprising: a physical frame construction device configured to construct a single physical frame containing a physical header, length information, a first check sequence, and a plurality of MAC frames, the length information representing lengths of the plurality of MAC frames, the first check sequence being for detecting an error which may occur in the length information, each of the plurality of MAC frames including a second check sequence for detecting an error which may occur in each of the plurality of MAC frames; and a transmission device configured to transmit the physical frame to a destination communication apparatus, wherein the physical header including a first header for a first protocol and a second header for a second protocol, the second header following the first header; the first header includes a length field for describing first information representing a length of the plurality of MAC frames, and includes a rate field for describing second information representing a transmission rate of the plurality of MAC frames; the first header is decodable by a first communication apparatus that supports the first protocol and a second communication apparatus that supports the second protocol; and the second header is decodable by the second communication apparatus.