To provide a system in which address setting can be speedily performed in a standby state after slave stations are powered on, when automatically allocating a unique address to a plurality of slave stations in a communication system wherein a master station and the plurality of slave stations are connected.

The system is constituted of an outdoor unit (master station) comprising a communication function and a plurality of indoor units (slave stations) each comprising a control section including a communication function for communicating with the outdoor unit and a power source section for converting AC power supply to the control section into DC power supply and supplying the power. Upon starting operating the control section in response to start of DC power supply, counting is started in a timer counter provided in the indoor unit and upon receiving a stop command of the timer counter transmitted from the outdoor unit, on the other hand, the timer counter is stopped. An address value of the indoor unit is then determined in accordance with a count value of the timer counter.

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