Patent ID: 8155082

Claim:
A master station belonging to one of a plurality of communication systems, and having a non-transitory memory having stored therein a program executable by a processor, wherein each of the communication systems includes a master station and at least one slave station, the master station being programmed to operate as: a request frame transmitting section configured to transmit, to a candidate for a new master station selected from the at least one slave station, a request frame representing a request for the candidate for the new master station to become the new master station; a response frame receiving section configured to receive, from the candidate for the new master station, a response frame including information indicating whether the request is accepted or not; and a beacon transmitting section configured to periodically broadcast a beacon frame which includes a value that is decreased by 1 every time the beacon frame is transmitted and that indicates a timing for handover of a master station function when the value becomes 0 until the handover of the master station function is executed and that corresponds to a timing for handover of the master station function between the master station and the candidate for the new master station, the beacon frame also including information indicating that the handover of the master station function is in progress, in order to notify other master stations belonging to other communication systems that the handover of the master station function is in progress, in a case where the response frame includes the information indicating the request is accepted.