Patent ID: 7882196

Claim:
A communication apparatus comprising: a determination unit that determines a providing device and one or more reception devices from among three or more devices on a network, based on information indicating respective capabilities of the three or more devices on the network, wherein the providing device provides communication parameters for forming another network and the one or more reception devices receive the communication parameters from the providing device, a notification unit that notifies the providing device of a transfer direction of the communication parameters using identification information of the one or more reception devices determined by the determination unit, upon the determination unit determining that the communication apparatus is one of the one or more reception devices; and an authentication unit that performs authentication processing upon receiving a request for authentication processing from the providing device, receives an encryption key and encrypted communication parameters from the providing device determined to be correct by performing the authentication processing, decrypts the encrypted communication parameters using the encryption key upon receiving the encryption key and the encrypted communication parameters, and stores the communication parameters upon decrypting the encrypted communication parameters.