Patent ID: 7043573

Claim:
A communication system comprising one or more host apparatus and one or more peripheral apparatus, wherein said host apparatus comprises: a host back-off value setting device configured to set a back-off value of said host apparatus; a host determination device configured to determine a timing for transmission of a response command to a command received from said peripheral apparatus, based on the back-off value set by said host back-off value setting device; a host discrimination device configured to discriminate whether other host apparatuses are currently conducting a predetermined procedure; and a host inhibition device configured to inhibit transmission of said response command in accordance with a discrimination by said host discrimination device until the predetermined procedure between the other host apparatuses is completed, and wherein said peripheral apparatus comprises: a peripheral back-off value setting device configured to set a back-off value of said peripheral apparatus; a peripheral determination device configured to determine a timing for transmission of a response command to a command received from said host apparatus, based on the back-off value set by said peripheral back-off value setting device; a peripheral discrimination device configured to discriminate whether another apparatus is currently conducting a predetermined procedure; and a peripheral inhibition device configured to inhibit transmission of said response command in accordance with a discrimination by said peripheral discrimination device.