Patent ID: 8504856

Claim:
A communication apparatus that is to be connected to a network, the communication apparatus comprising: a first processing unit configured to transition between a sleep state and a non-sleep state and configured to process a packet received via the network when the first processing unit is in the non-sleep state; and a second processing unit configured to process a packet received via the network when the first processing unit is in the sleep state, wherein the second processing unit is capable of executing packet-processing for sequentially processing one or more unprocessed packets, wherein the second processing unit includes a detecting section that detects a reception of an unprocessed packet, wherein, when the first processing unit is in the sleep state and the reception of the unprocessed packet is detected, the second processing unit starts the packet-processing, and wherein, even when an unprocessed packet still remains, the second processing unit terminates the packet-processing if a continuous time period of the packet-processing exceeds an allowable time period.