Patent ID: 7779102
Filing Date: 2010-08-17
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A managing device connected to an image forming device through a network, the image forming device being provided with a plurality of network interfaces to which identification information intrinsic to each of the plurality of network interfaces is assigned, the managing device comprising: an identification information requesting unit configured to request each of the plurality of network interfaces for the identification information of all the network interfaces belonging to the image forming device via the network, wherein the identification information assigned to each network interface comprises a MAC address for identifying the image forming device on the network; an identification information receiving unit configured to receive reply information transmitted from the each of the plurality of network interfaces in response to the identification information request; an identification information equivalency judging unit configured such that, when the identification information receiving unit receives the identification information from each of the plurality of network interfaces, the identification information equivalency judging unit judges whether a particular combination of the MAC addresses received from a particular network interface is identical to a further combination of the MAC addresses received from a further network interface; and a managing unit configured such that, when the identification information equivalency judging unit determines that the particular combination of the MAC addresses is identical to the further combination of the MAC addresses, the managing unit manages the particular network interface and the further network interface as belonging to the same image forming device.