1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication device, a communication method, and a computer readable recording medium for recording a program for executing the communication method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, many research studies have been done on application of the information communication technology to fields where devices disposed in close vicinity to a human body are used, such as health and medical care. The institute of electrical and electronics engineers (IEEE) 802 LAN/MAN Standards Committee proposed the 802.15.6 standard protocol for the purpose of low-power local area wireless communication for Body Area Network (BAN) applications.
The IEEE 802.15.6 protocol defines a physical (PHY) layer and a medium access control (MAC) sublayer for the wireless BAN (also referred to as WBAN) operating in-body, on-body, or off-body. Here, the “body” is not limited to the human body and includes bodies of animals and organisms having propagation environment similar to the human body.
According to the IEEE 802.15.6 protocol, a device belonging to a BAN serves as a hub or a node. When communication between a hub and a node is performed, the node transmits a MAC frame containing its address to the hub. Since the BAN was proposed for data communication between devices close to the human body, protection of personal information and security of data are very important. As an example of a technology for realizing stable and high-secrecy communication, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2010-273115 published on Dec. 2, 2010, discloses transmitting an encryption key from a first node to a second node by ultrasonic wave communication using a living body as a propagation path and transmitting data encrypted using the received encryption key from the second node to the first node by electromagnetic wave communication using the air as a propagation path.