Patent ID: 8761013

Claim:
An information processing apparatus comprising: a plurality of modules that are connected to a ring bus, wherein each of the plurality of modules is configured to receive a packet that stores data from one neighboring module, which is configured to be transmitted to another neighboring module after predetermined processing, and wherein at least one of the plurality of modules includes: an identification unit configured to identify the packet received from the one neighboring module and configured to determine whether or not the packet received is a packet to be processed by a self-module, a receiver configured to extract, if the identification unit determines that the packet received is a packet to be processed by the self-module, data to be processed from the packet, a processor configured to process the data extracted by the receiver, a setting unit configured to set, if the processor is ready to process the data extracted by the receiver, a first flag indicating validity of the data in the packet received from the one neighboring module, and if the processor is not ready to process the data extracted by the receiver, a second flag indicating that at least one processor is not ready to process the data in the packet received from the one neighboring module, and a transmitter configured to transmit the packet to the other neighboring module, wherein, when the first flag is set, the transmitter transmits the packet, which includes data processed by the processor and the first flag, to the other neighboring module, and wherein, when the second flag is set, the transmitter transmits the packet, which includes data not processed by the processor and the second flag, to the other neighboring module.