Patent ID: 8542690

Claim:
A node device in an information communication system including a plurality of node devices which mutually communicate through a network, the node device comprising: a memory unit that memorizes a routing table which registers network address of at least one representative node device of the plurality of node devices connected to an overlay network configured by the plurality of the node devices; and a control unit that is configured to: determine at least one representative node device registered in the routing table, send an information collection message to the determined representative node device, receive the information collection message which is sent from another node device in the overlay network; generate new response information based on the received collection message; and send a return message including the new response information thus generated to the other node device, receive the return message including the response information, wherein the control unit generates the new response information from the response information of another node device in which the information collection message is received by control unit and the response information included in the return message returned from another node device thus determined within a predetermined time, wherein the return message is one received by the control unit, and the information collection message includes a header section and a payload section, the header section including an IP address of another node device as a sending destination, payload section including identification information for identifying the message and main information including collection content.