Patent ID: 7962674

Claim:
A buffer management apparatus that sequentially receives L (L>1) types of data and transmits the L types of data to an external device, comprising: a reception unit operable to receive data; M (M<L) data storage units, each including a buffer area, and each to be allocated respectively to data of a same type as data stored in the buffer area thereof; an interval storage unit operable to, for each type of data, store information pertaining to a reception interval thereof, the reception interval being a length of time between receiving two pieces of a same type of data; M timing units in one-to-one correspondence with the data storage units, each operable to time an elapsed time from a last storing of data in a corresponding data storage unit, and a control unit, wherein if a data storage unit has been allocated to data of a same type as the data received by the reception unit, the control unit stores the received data in the data storage unit, and, according to a predetermined condition, transmits data stored in the data storage unit to the external device, if none of the M data storage units has been allocated to data of the same type as the data received by the reception unit, and there is one or more data storage units that have not been allocated to any type of data, the control unit stores the received data in one of the one or more data storage units that have not been allocated to any type of data, and allocates the data storage unit to data of the same type as the stored received data, if all of the data storage units have been allocated to different types of data from the data received by the reception unit, the control unit judges, according to the elapsed times timed by the timing units in correspondence with the data storage units and information stored in the interval storage unit, whether to cause the received data to be stored in any of the data storage units, if the judgment is affirmative, the control unit transmits all of the data stored in at least one of the data storage units to the external device, stores the received data in the at least one of the data storage units, and allocates the at least one of the data storage units to data of the same type as the stored data, and if the judgment is negative, the control unit transmits the received data to the external device.