Patent ID: 7844993
Filing Date: 2010-11-30
Classification: H04L,H04N,Y02P

Abstract:
1. An image processing apparatus having its own IP address and connected to an IP network to which a management server is connected, the management server assigning identification information to the image processing apparatus corresponding to the IP address of the image processing apparatus for a first predetermined limited period, the identification information being simpler than the IP address, and all connections being based on IP addresses, the image processing apparatus comprising: an address informing unit that informs the IP address of the image processing apparatus to the management server via the IP network; an image processing unit that executes predetermined image processing of image information that is obtained by optically reading a document; a transmitting/receiving unit that transmits/receives processed image information to another image processing apparatus connected to the IP network; and a connection control unit that, when the management server assigns the identification information, connects to the IP network during the first predetermined limited period using the identification information, informs identification information of a communicating image processing apparatus to the management server, acquires and stores the IP address corresponding to the identification information of the communicating image processing apparatus, and when the identification information of the communicating image processing apparatus is input by a user, requests connection to the IP network using stored IP address of the communicating image processing apparatus, for any one of transmitting and receiving the processed image information, wherein when the first predetermined limited period expires, transmission/reception by the image processing apparatus using the identification information is prohibited while the connection to the IP network remains established, a second predetermined limited period starts to run after expiration of the first predetermined limited period, if the identification information is input before expiration of the second predetermined limited period, then transmission/reception by the image processing apparatus is permitted, and if the identification information is not input before expiration of the second predetermined limited period, then the connection to the IP network is broken.