Patent ID: 7319694

Claim:
A communication apparatus as a dominated node and connected to a serial bus that serially transfers a signal constituting a communication network, the apparatus comprising: a lower layer of a network protocol stack for providing an asynchronous transmission function and an isochronous transmission function to communicate with another node connected to the communication network, wherein the lower layer includes a function register for storing managing information being provided by an upper layer of a dominating node, and isochronous transmission and reception status of the isochronous transmission function of the lower layer is controlled by the managing information stored in the function register; an application that transmits and receives data to and from another application of the another node by using the isochronous transmission function of the lower layer; a preset device that stores the managing information for controlling the isochronous transmission and reception status of the isochronous transmission function of the lower layer, the managing information being set by the upper layer of the dominating node at a certain timing during the dominating node is connected to the communication network; and a setting device that enables, by setting the managing information read from the preset device to the function register of the lower layer, the application to communicate with the another application of the another node by using the isochronous transmission function at the time of turning the communication apparatus on or bus reset of the communication network, wherein the dominating node includes the upper layer of the network protocol stack that processes a command of an upper layer protocol received by the asynchronous transmission function via the communication network, sets the managing information to the function register of the lower layer of the apparatus, and writes the managing information into the preset device of the apparatus via the communication network, at a certain timing during the dominating node is connected to the communication network, and the apparatus has no upper layer that processes a command of the upper layer protocol received by the asynchronous transmission function via the communication network, writing the management information into the function register of the lower layer.