Patent ID: 8127340

Claim:
An apparatus for communicating with an external device via a network, the apparatus comprising: an authentication unit that performs an authentication processing to obtain permission for a physical interface including a driver to establish a connection to the network to perform a data transfer; a detecting unit that detects authentication state information indicating a state of the authentication processing performed by the authentication unit; and a transmission control unit that receives the authentication state information from the detecting unit and controls, via a central processing unit, a transmission of first data received from a module for communicating via a protocol of an upper-level layer with respect to a data link layer to the external device based on the state of the authentication processing indicated by the authentication state information, wherein the transmission control unit deletes the first data in response to the authentication state information indicating that the authentication processing is not successful, and the transmission control unit determines that the authentication processing is successful and transmits the first data to the driver in response to the authentication unit not receiving authentication state information within a predetermined time period indicating that the authentication processing is successful.