Patent ID: 8412196

Claim:
A terminal station comprising: a transmission frame reception unit which receives from another terminal station a transmission frame which contains an information element configured to notify supported data rates, the information element containing at least one parameter set containing a first field and a second field, wherein the first field is a one-bit field indicating whether a transmission and reception support of the second field is requested or not, and the second field notifies a data rate or an extended function; and a determination unit which determines that the notification of the second field is unrecognizable if the data rate or the extended function is not supported, and determines that the notification of the second field is recognizable if the data rate or the extended function is supported, on the basis of the transmission frame received from said another terminal station, wherein the transmission frame containing the information element is transmitted in accordance with a scheme that is compatible with both a specification which the terminal station supports and a specification which said another terminal station supports, wherein the transmission frame is a Management frame, and wherein if the notification of the second field is determined to be unrecognizable by the determination unit, an association with another terminal station is avoided.