Patent ID: 8451857

Claim:
A communication apparatus comprising: a controller for managing communication slots necessary for a first communication system to which the communication apparatus belongs; a command generator for generating a request command which requests use of a communication slot necessary for the first communication system, so as to indicate the request command to a second communication system which coexists with the first communication system via a communication medium by time division communication using the communication slots, a transmitter for transmitting the request command generated by the command generator; and a communication manager for controlling transmission of the request command in cooperation with the controller, wherein the request command includes information about a priority of the request command, and the communication manager causes, when the communication slots necessary for the first communication system cannot be secured, the transmitter to transmit the request command of a higher priority, and causes the second communication system to free half of communication slots used by the second communication system, to secure the communication slots having been freed.