Patent ID: 7813508

Claim:
A wireless communication circuit used as a component in a wireless communication device, comprising: a receiver part configured to receive at least one of a beacon frame and a probe response frame from a first wireless communication apparatus belonging to a first communication group, at least one of the beacon frame and the probe response frame including first security information indicating a first encryption method, the first encryption method to be applied to data transmitted to wireless communication apparatuses belonging to the first communication group; and a transmitter part configured to transmit a first association request frame to the first wireless communication apparatus, the first association request frame including second security information indicating a second encryption method which is supported by the wireless communication device, after the wireless communication device has determined that the second encryption method overlaps with the first encryption method, and declines to associate with the first wireless communication apparatus, if the first encryption method fails to overlap with the second encryption method, and to transmit a data frame including a frame body, the frame body including data encrypted by the second encryption method, after the receiver part has received, from the first wireless communication apparatus, an association response frame including a status code that indicates successful association with the first wireless communication apparatus, wherein the first association request frame includes a frame control field and a frame body, the frame body includes the second security information, the frame control field includes a type field and a protected frame field, the type field includes information indicating that the first association request frame is classified as a management frame, and the protected frame field includes information indicating whether the frame body includes encrypted information.