Patent ID: 7269260

Claim:
A wireless communication system, comprising: first and second wireless communication apparatuses which belong to a wireless communication group and outside of the wireless communication group, respectively, the first wireless comnnmication apparatus including: a first receiver unit configured to receive a first transmission frame from the second wireless communication apparatus, the first transmission frame having a first fields in which a first notifying security level of a plurality of notifying security levels is described; a first reference memory configured to store a reference security level assigned to the wireless communication group, the reference security level being selected from a subset of a plurality of reference security levels which correspond to a plurality of encryption methods, including non-encryption, and a plurality of encryption strengths, the subset being reference security levels supported by the first wireless communication apparatus; a frame generating unit, configured to compare the notifying security level with the reference security level, configured to determine either one of a connect rejection representing a rejection of connection to the second wireless communication apparatus or a connect permission representing a permission of connection to the second wireless communication apparatus using the notifying security level, and configured to generate a second transmission frame having a second field in which the one of the connect rejection or the connect permission is described; and a transmitting unit configured to transmit the second transmission frame to the second wireless communication apparatus, wherein the first field of the first transmission frame is configured to describe a plurality of notification security levels, including the first notification security level, supported by the first wireless communication apparatus, and the frame generating unit is configured to compare the plurality of notifying security levels with the reference security level, respectively, and configured to determine the connect permission if at least one of the notifying security levels is not lower than the reference security level and the connect rejection if all of the notifying security levels are lower than the reference security level.