Patent ID: 8447899

Claim:
A device which obtains a resource which is exclusively controlled between said device and an other device, said device comprising: a status detector configured to detect a status of the other device; a resource obtainer that includes flag information and is configured to obtain the resource based on the flag information, the flag information indicating whether the obtainment of the resource is permitted or prohibited; and a switch determiner configured to switch the flag information to indicate whether the obtainment is permitted or prohibited, based on the status of the other device detected by said status detector, wherein said resource obtainer is prohibited from obtaining the resource when the flag information indicates that the obtainment is prohibited, wherein said switch determiner is configured to switch the flag information to indicate that the obtainment is permitted, when the status of the other device detected by said status detector indicates that the resource is not to be obtained for a predetermined period, said status detector includes a communication history recorder that records communication history of the other device, and said status detector detects the status of the other device based on the communication history, wherein the status detector detects whether the other device has a possibility to continuously communicate with the resource based on the communication history recorded in the communication history recorder, and whether the other device is in a status that a communication was made with the resource within a past predetermined period, wherein the switch determiner determines that the other device is in the status where the resource is not to be obtained for the predetermined period, either when the status detector detects that the other device does not have a possibility to continuously communicate with the resource, and that the other device is in a status that the communication was made within the past predetermined period, or when the status detector detects that the other device has a possibility to continuously communicate with the resource, and that the other device is in a status that the communication was not made within the past predetermined period.