Patent ID: 6882648

Claim:
A communication device for communicating with a remote device by using one of a plurality of paths, comprising: storing means for storing information relating to said plurality of paths, wherein said storing means additionally stores status information indicative of status of the individual paths in a manner associated with the respective paths; selecting means for selecting the information relating to one of said plurality of paths stored in said storing means, wherein said selecting means selects the information relating to a path by looking up the status information; packet generating means for generating a packet with a header matching the information relating to the path selected by said selecting means; transmitting means for transmitting the packet generated by said packet generating means; monitoring means for monitoring the status of the paths; supply means for supplying said storing means with the status of the paths obtained by said monitoring means; and notifying means, responsive to detection of a change in the status of a path by said monitoring means, for notifying the remote device of the change of the status.