Patent ID: 8711802

Claim:
A communication apparatus comprising: a communication unit configured to communicate by switching between a first communication period in which contention access control is performed and a second communication period in which non-contention access control is performed, wherein a first frequency bandwidth is used for a respective communication in the first communication period and the second communication period; a determination unit configured to determine the state of access contention in the first communication period; a first changing unit configured to change a frequency bandwidth used for communication in the second communication period and not to change a frequency bandwidth used for communication in the first communication period in case that the first communication period is shorter than the second communication period and access contention exceeding a predefined threshold has occurred in the first communication period, or to change the frequency band used for the communication of the first communication period and not to change the frequency band used for the communication of the second communication period in case that the first communication period is longer than the second communication period and access contention exceeding a predefined threshold has occurred in the first communication period; and a second changing unit configured to change a length of a communication period, which is either the first communication period or the second communication period and for which the frequency bandwidth has been changed by said first changing unit, from the length of the communication period used prior to changing the frequency bandwidth.