Patent ID: 8874738

Claim:
A gateway apparatus for allowing a plurality of apparatuses on a first network to co-operate with each other, the gateway apparatus comprising: a message monitoring unit configured to monitor messages communicated on the first network, and detect an apparatus discovery message for discovering an apparatus that satisfies an arbitrary requirement; an activation state managing unit configured to check whether at least one target apparatus included in the apparatuses and satisfying the requirement indicated by the apparatus discovery message is in an activated state for communication on the first network; a predicted activation time determining unit configured to monitor the messages communicated on the first network, and determine a predicted activation time that is a time predicted as required to activate the at least one target apparatus; and a proxy response unit configured to transmit, in proxy of the at least one target apparatus, a response message including information indicating the predicted activation time, when the at least one target apparatus is not in an activated state.