Patent ID: 7447752
Filing Date: 2008-11-04
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. An identification information creating method for creating own identification information of a plurality of information processing apparatuses which are connectable to a communication network, the apparatus being assigned: address information, which is representative of a unique address of the apparatus in said communication network: hardware identification information, which is unique to hardware coupled to the apparatus: and software identification information, which is unique to software installed in the apparatus, the method, comprising: generating an identification value from said software identification information by said information processing apparatus using a predetermined generation algorithm; and creating the own identification information of said information processing apparatus from said address information and/or said hardware information and said identification value by said information processing apparatus using a predetermined creation algorithm, wherein a central apparatus is connected to the communication network, through which the central apparatus is communicatable with the information processing apparatuses, and the method further comprises: obtaining an identification information list in which a plurality of kinds of the own identification information of the respective information processing apparatuses are preregistered, in the central apparatus; detecting a match or a partial match, by the central apparatus, between the own identification information transmitted from the information processing apparatus to the central apparatus and the plurality of kinds of the own identification information that are registered in the identification information list, the match being detected when all of the address information, the hardware identification information and the software identification information, which are included in the own identification information of the information processing apparatus, coincide with those included in a specific one kind of the own identification information that is registered in the identification information list, and the partial match being detected when one or two of the address information, the hardware identification information, and the software identification information of the information processing apparatus coincide with those kinds of the information that are registered in the identification information list; and adding the own identification information of the information processing apparatus to the identification information list, in the central apparatus, when neither the match nor the partial match is detected in said detecting.