Patent Publication Number: US-2003225894-A1

Title: Image forming apparatus including web service functions

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001] 1. Field of the Invention  
       [0002] The present invention generally relates to image forming apparatuses, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus in which instead of installing several driver software to a computer terminal of a user in order to utilize several image forming functions, the user only installs software supporting a standard Web service, that is capable of providing a Web service without depending a machine type and an operating system of the computer terminal, and that is capable of systematically processing process requests from other apparatuses.  
       [0003] 2. Description of the Related Art  
       [0004] Recently, an image forming apparatus that includes the function of each of a printer, a copier, a facsimile, and a scanner in one chassis is known. Such a combined image forming apparatus provides a display, a printing part, an image-pickup part, etc. in one chassis, provides applications corresponding to the printer, the copier, the facsimile, and a scanner, and switches the applications so that the combined image forming apparatus itself operates as the printer, the copier, the facsimile, or the scanner.  
       [0005] However, in the combined image apparatus, when PCs (Personal Computers) use the printer, the copier, the facsimile, or the scanner, each of the PCs is required to install drivers corresponding to the printer, the copier, the facsimile, or the scanner. Also, software to install the PCs should support the machine type and the operating system of the PCs. In addition, a computer server connecting to the PCs through a network requires the similar requirements. Moreover, since a protocol and a process unit of a process are different between the computer server and the PCs, it is required to satisfy requirements of both the computer server and the PCs to realize a system providing use the printer, the copier, the facsimile, and the scanner through the network. Furthermore, in a conventional practice, a process is limited to a specific process provided by each driver of the printer, the copier, the facsimile, or the scanner.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006] It is a general object of the present invention to provide image forming apparatuses for managing electronic data in which the above-mentioned problems are eliminated.  
       [0007] A more specific object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus, in which instead of installing various driver software to a network apparatus of a user in order to use a plurality of image forming functions, independent of a machine type and an operating system of the network apparatus, the user can utilize various functions of the image forming apparatus as accessible and programmable application components by using various web protocol that is an Internet standard, through a network, and the user can request Web service from a Web browser, and also, that can realize a distributed environment in which Web service exchanges with other Web service in the image forming apparatus itself or between the image forming apparatus and other apparatuses.  
       [0008] The above objects of the present invention are achieved by an image forming apparatus, including: a network communication controlling part controlling communications by a process request from a device connected through a network and a process response to the device; and a Web service providing process part processing internal information concerning said image forming apparatus based on a message described in accordance with a predetermined message exchange protocol within the process request and generating the process response showing a process result.  
       [0009] In the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, it is possible to provide the Web service, regardless of the machine type and the operating system of the device connected through the network.  
       [0010] The predetermined message protocol maybe an SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol).  
       [0011] The internal information shows information such as image information, status information concerning the image information, and control parameters for changing settings of the device and a network IP, or a like.  
       [0012] In a viewpoint in that the image forming apparatus provide the Web service, the image forming apparatus may further include an application including said Web service providing process part; a control service managing hardware resources used in an image forming process and controlling use in respect to the hardware resources in response to a use request from the application; and an operating system controlling said application and said control service.  
       [0013] The image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes function as a computer apparatus, can directly control the hardware resources used to form images, and can provide the Web service to the device connected through the network.  
       [0014] The above objects of the present invention are achieved by an image forming apparatus, including: a network communication controlling part controlling communications by a process request from a device connected through a network and a process response to the device; and a Web service providing process part processing internal information concerning said image forming apparatus based on a message described in a predetermined description format within the process request and generating the process response showing a process result.  
       [0015] The internal information shows information such as image information, it is possible to provide the Web service, instead of using the SOAP. The predetermined description format is a description format defined (For example, XML (extensible Markup Language)) between the image forming apparatus and the device. 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0016] Other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which;  
     [0017]FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus uniting various image forming functions according to a first embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0018]FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the Multi-functional business apparatus shown in FIG. 1, according to the first embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0019]FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a network configuration where the Web Service is provided, according to the first embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0020]FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the interface definition by the WSDL, according to the first embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0021]FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the interface definition by the WSDL, according to the first embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0022]FIG. 6 is a flowchart diagram for explaining the automatic generation process generating a source code of the handler according to the first embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0023]FIG. 7 is a flowchart diagram for explaining a code example of structure definitions generated by the automatic generation process, according to the first embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0024]FIG. 8 is a flowchart diagram for explaining an example of a function for calling a Web service function, according to the first embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0025]FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a first function configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus that provides Web service;  
     [0026]FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the example of a second functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus that provides the Web service;  
     [0027]FIG. 11A is a diagram showing an example of the HTTP request according to the first embodiment of the present invention and FIG. 11B is a diagram showing an example of the HTTP response according to the first embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0028]FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a third functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus that provides the Web service, according to the first embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0029]FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a fourth functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus that provides the Web service, according to the first embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0030]FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a fifth functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus that provides the Web service, according to the first embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0031]FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing a first functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus for providing a combined Web service, according to a second embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0032]FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of the document list described in the XML by the XML processing part, according to the second embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0033]FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an example of the HTTP request in accordance with the SOAP, according to the second embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0034]FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example of the HTTP response by SOAP, according to the second embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0035]FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed at the network apparatus, according to the second embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0036]FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an example of a second functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus for providing the combined Web service, according to the second embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0037]FIG. 21 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus uniting various image forming functions according to a third embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0038]FIG. 22 is a block diagram showing an example of a first functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus including the Web server, according to the third embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0039]FIG. 23 is a block diagram showing the second functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  including the Web server, according to the third embodiment of the invention;  
     [0040]FIG. 24 is a diagram showing an example of the third functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus including the Web server, according to the third embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0041]FIG. 25 is a block diagram showing a first functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus including the Web server according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0042]FIG. 26 is a diagram showing the document list described in the HTML by the HTML creating part, according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0043]FIG. 27 is a diagram showing a second functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus including the Web server, according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0044]FIG. 28 is a diagram showing a first functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus for providing Web service, according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0045]FIG. 29 is a block diagram showing a second functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus including a combined Web service, according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0046]FIG. 30 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the information processing apparatus according to the sixth embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0047]FIG. 31 is a diagram showing the first functional configuration of the information processing apparatus for providing the Web service, according to the sixth embodiment of the present invention; and  
     [0048]FIG. 32 is a block diagram showing a second functional configuration of the information processing apparatus including a combined Web service, according to the sixth embodiment of the present invention. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
     [0049] In the following, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.  
     [0050] [First Embodiment] 
     [0051] An image forming apparatus uniting various image forming functions (hereinafter, called a multi-functional business apparatus) has a functional configuration as shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus uniting various image forming functions according to a first embodiment of the present invention.  
     [0052] In FIG. 1, a multi-functional business apparatus  1200  includes a plotter  1201 , a scanner  1202 , an FCU (Fax Control Unit)  1320 , and other hardware resources, as well as a software group  1210  and a boot part  1240 .  
     [0053] The boot part  1240  is first activated when the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  is turned on. Then, a platform  1220  and an application  1230  are started.  
     [0054] The platform  1220  interprets the process request from application  1230 , and manages the control service  1250  (described later) which generates an acquisition requirement of acquiring hardware resources, and at least one hardware resource. The platform  1220  includes a system resource manager (SRM (System Resource Manager)  1223 ) that mediates the acquisition requirement from the control service  1250 , and an OS (Operating System)  1221 .  
     [0055] This control service  1250  is formed of a plurality of services modules. In detail, SCS (System Control Service)  1222 , ECS (Engine Control Service)  1224 , MCS  1225  (Memory Control Service), OCS  1226  (Operation panel Control Service), FCS  1227  (FAX Control Service), NCS  1228  (Network Control Service), IMM (Imaging Memory Handler)  1229 . In addition, this platform  1220  includes an application program interface that can receive the process request from the above-mentioned application by functions defined beforehand.  
     [0056] The OS  1221  is an operating system such as UNIX™ and executes the platform  1220  and software of the application  1230  in parallel as a process. By using UNIX™ as an open source, a program can be secured, an application to a network can be realized, and a source code of UNIX™ can be easily obtained. In addition, royalty of the OS  1221  and TCP/IP are not required. Also, an outsourcing can be easily realized.  
     [0057] SRM  1223  as well as SCS  1222  controls a system and manages hardware resources via an engine interface  1204  and a like, mediates a request from upper layers utilizing hardware resources: an engine part such as the plotter  1201 , the scanner  1202 , the FCU  1320 , and the like, a memory, an HDD file, host I/Os (a centro I/F, a network I/F, an IEEE1394 I/F, R3232C I/F, and a like), and control the hardware resources based on the request.  
     [0058] In detail, the SRM  1223  determines whether or not a hardware resource respective to the request is available to a user (that is, the hardware resource is being used for another request). When the hardware resource is available, the SRM  1223  informs the upper layer conducing the request that the hardware resource respective to the request is available to use. In addition, the SRM  1223  may conduct a utilization scheduling of the hardware resources in respect to the request sent from the upper layers, and directly conducts an indication of the request (for example, operations for conveying paper sheets or forming an image by a printer engine (the plotter  1201 ), an operation of securing memory, an operation of generating a file, or a like).  
     [0059] The SCS  1222  conducts a plurality of functions: an application management (function  1 ), an operation panel control (function  2 ), a system screen display (a job list screen, a counter display screen, and a like) (function  3 ), an LED display (function  4 ), a resource management (function  5 ), an interruption application control (function  6 ), and a like. In detail, the application management (function  1 ) conducts processes for registering an application and informing information related to the registration of the application to other applications. The operation panel control (function  2 ) conducts an exclusive control for a use right of the operation panel in respect with the applications. The system screen display (function  3 ) displays a warning screen corresponding to a state of the engine part, in response to the request from the application having the use right of the operation panel. The LED display (function  4 ) controls a display of a system LED such as a warning LED, an application key, and a like. The resource management (function  5 ) provides service due to the exclusive control of the engine resources (the scanner  1324 , a stapler (not shown), and a like) that should be exclusive when the ECS  1224  (application) executes a job. The interruption application control (function  6 ) conducts a control or service for a priority operation in respect to a special application.  
     [0060] The ECS  1224  controls the engine part such as the plotter  1201 , the scanner  1202 , other hardware resources  1203 , and a like, and conducts an image reading operation and a printing operation, a state informing operation, a jam recovering operation, and a like.  
     [0061] The MCS  1225  conducts a memory control. In detail, the MCS  1225  obtains and releases an image memory, utilizes a hard disk device (HD), compresses and expands an image data.  
     [0062] The OCS  1226  is a module for controlling the operation panel as a communicating part between an operator (user) and a controller of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200 . The OCS  1226  conducts a process for informing the controller an event occurred by a key operation of the operator, a process for providing library functions in order for each application to build a GUI, a process for managing GUI information for each application, and a process for reflecting a display to the operation panel.  
     [0063] The FCS  1227  provides the API  1205  for a facsimile sending/receiving operation to ½ from each application using a PSTN/ISDN, for a registering/quoting operation in respect to various facsimile data managed in a BKM (BacKup SRAM), for a facsimile reading operation, for a facsimile receiving and printing operation, and for an integrated sending/receiving operation.  
     [0064] The NCS  1228  is a module group for providing service in order for the application requiring a network I/O to share the network I/o. The NCS  1228  distributes data received in accordance with each protocol from the network to each application, and mediates for the applications when the application send data to the network.  
     [0065] For example, the NCS  1228  includes at least an httpd (HyperText Transfer Protocol Daemon)  2  for communicating with apparatuses connected through the network.  
     [0066] In this embodiment, NCS  1228  controls data communications with a network apparatus, to which the multi-functional apparatus provides a Web service through the network, in accordance with a HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) by HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol)  2 . NCS  1228  executes a plurality of Web services necessary for a process indicated in specified by the HTTP request header, by a function call. Then, NCS  1228  sends the network apparatus a process result produced by the plurality of Web services by a HTTP response. For example, the Web service conducts a process in accordance with a message described in XML (extensible Markup Language).  
     [0067] The IMH  1229  maps image data from a virtual memory area to a physical memory area. When a process is activated, the IMH  1229  conducts a system call, maps the virtual memory area for the process, and releases the virtual memory area mapped for the process when the process is terminated.  
     [0068] The application  1230  includes a plurality of applications: a printer applications  1211  for a printer having a Page Description Language (PDL), PCL and Post Script (PS), a copy application  1212  for a copier, an FAX application  1213  for a facsimile, a scanner application  1214  for a scanner, a Web service process application  1215  for a Web service, a delivery application  1217  for delivering information concerning an image form.  
     [0069] Since each of the applications  1211  through  1217  is executed using each process on the platform  1220 , a screen display control program, which conducts a screen control, a key operation control, a job generation, and a like, is a main function. In addition, a new application can be loaded by the network to which the NCS  1228  is connected. Also, each application can be deleted and added.  
     [0070] The Web service process application  1215  includes a SOAP processing part  70  for exchanging messages in accordance with a SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol), a Web service function (WSF)  1400  for conducting a predetermined process by using the control service  1250  through an API (Application Program Interface) and providing a process result trough a WS-API (Web Service Application Program Interface) as the Web service.  
     [0071] As described above, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  has the platform  1220  centralize and manage necessary processes to be shared with the applications.  
     [0072] Next, a hardware configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  will be described. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the Multi-functional business apparatus shown in FIG. 1, according to the first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, in the Multi-functional business apparatus  1200 , an engine part  1350  including an operation panel  1310 , a FCU (Fax Control Unit)  1320 , a plotter  1201 , a scanner  1202 , and other hardware  1203 , are connected to an ASIC (Application Specified IC)  1301  of a controller  1300  by a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) bus  1309 . PCU  1320  includes an NVM (non-volatile memory)  1321  for storing received facsimile data, and an RTC (Real Time Clock)  1322  for measuring the time within FCU  1320 , and facsimile data are usually sent and received according to a G3 standardization. FCU  1320  may further include an optional G3 standardization and an optional G4 standardization.  
     [0073] The controller  1300  connects the ASIC  1301  to a MEM-C  1302  and a HD (Hard Disk)  1303 , and connects the ASIC  1301  to a CPU  1304  via an NB  1305  of a CPU chip set. Because the CPU  1304  itself is not disclosed.  
     [0074] It should be noted that the ASIC  1301  is connected to the NB  1305  via an AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port)  1308 , instead of simply connecting via the PCI bus  1309 . Because a connection via the PCI bus  1309 , which is slower, ends up to too low performance to execute and control a plurality of processes forming the platform  1220  and the application  1230  shown in FIG. 1.  
     [0075] The CPU  1304  controls the entire Multi-functional business apparatus  1200 . In detail, the CPU  1304  activates and executes the SCS  1222 , the SRM  1223 , the ECS  1224 , the MCS  1225 , the OCS  1226 , the FCS  1227 , the NCS  1228 , and the IMH  1229 , all of which form the platform  1220  on the OS  1221 , as processes, respectively. Also, the CPU  1304  activates and executes the printer application  1211 , the copy application  1212 , the FAX application  1213 , the scanner application  1214 , the Web service process application  1215 , and the delivery application  1217 .  
     [0076] The NB  1305  serves as a bridge to connect the CPU  1304  with an MEM-P  1306 , an SB  1307 , and the ASIC  1301 , respectively. The MEM-P  1306  is a system memory used as a drawing memory of the Multi-functional business apparatus  1200 . The MEM-C  1302  serves as a local memory used as an image buffer for a copy and a coding buffer. The ASIC  1301  is an IC (Integrated Circuit) used for the image process including hardware elements.  
     [0077] NB  1305  connects with the NB  1307  through the PCI bus  1319 . Also, NB  1305  connects with NIC  1311  (Network Interface Card) for controlling network communication, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) target  1312  capable of receiving data as a USB disk, an IEEE1394  1313  to be connected by a dedicate cable for IEEE1394, a centronics  1314  to be connected by a parallel cable, a serial port  1315  to be connected by a serial cable, a USB host  1316  capable of sending and receiving a large amount of image data by connecting with another USB target (for example, a personal computer).  
     [0078] The SB  1307  is a bridge to connect the NB  1305  with a ROM (Read Only Memory), a PCI device, and a peripheral device. SB  1307  includes an RTC (Real Time Clock)  1323  which measures a time in the controller  1300 . Moreover, SB  1307  includes a USB host inside. For example, SB  1307  can receive image data by connecting a camera that supports a USE connection. Moreover, SB  1307  can also receive data from other USB targets.  
     [0079] In the multi-functional business apparatus  1200 , data are sent and received through a plurality of ports: the SB  1307 , the NIC  1311 , the USB target  1312 , the IEEE1394  1313 , and the centronics  1314 , the serial port  1315 , the USB host  1316 , the G3 standard, the G3 option, and G4 option of the FCU  1320  Then, the data are accumulated and are managed unitary in the HDD  1303 .  
     [0080] The HDD  1303  is storage to store image data, programs, font data, forms, and a like. The operation panel  1310  is an operation part to receive an input operation from the operator and display information for the operator.  
     [0081] Therefore, in the ASIC  1301 , a RAM interface to connect to the MEM-C  1302  and a hardware interface to connect to the HDD  1303  are provided. When the image data is input or output to or from the MEM-C  1302  or the HOD  1303 , the ASTC  1301  switches to the RAM interface or the hardware interface.  
     [0082] The AGP  1308  is a bus interface for a graphic accelerator card, which is provided to improve a speed of a graphic process. The AGP  1308  can realize improved speed or the graphic accelerator card by directly accessing the system memory by a higher throughput.  
     [0083] In the following, various functional configurations realizing the Web service will be described according to the first embodiment of the present invention, in which the multi-functional business apparatus  1200 , which has the functional configuration shown in FIG. 1 and the hardware configuration shown in FIG. 2, provides the Web service. It should be noted that the Web service means that the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  conducts a predetermined process in response to a service request indicated by a HTTP request sent from the network apparatus and sends a process result indicated by a HTTP response. Body parts of the ETTP request and the HTTP response are described in an XML (extensible Markup Language).  
     [0084] A method for providing the Web service from the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  through the networks will be described in reference to FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a network configuration where the Web service is provided, according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 3, in order to schematically explain the method for providing the Web service, a detailed explanation of the functional configuration is omitted.  
     [0085] In FIG. 3, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  includes a Web server  1101  for controlling communications with the network apparatus  10 , a SOAP process  70  for exchanging messages of a request and a response of the Web service in accordance with a SOAP with the network apparatus  10 , a handler  1103  for executing the Web service functions  1400  based on an interface definition  211  and receiving the response from the Web service function  1400 , the Web service function (WSF)  1400  executed by the Web server  1101  for providing the Web service by executing a process. The SOAP processing part  70  may be included in the handler  1103  in a functional configuration described later.  
     [0086] The interface definition  211  is a WSDL (Web Service Description Language) which shows the service specification of the Web service registered to the UDDI server  100 , the handler  1103  realizes that Web service specification described by the WSDL. The multi-functional business apparatus  1200  may include a handler automatic generating part  210  for automatically generating the handler  1103  based on the interface definition  211 .  
     [0087] The UDDI server  100  manages the WSDL that shows the service specification of the Web service, which is conducted by the multi-functional business apparatus  1200 , received from the multi-functional business apparatus  1200 . The UDDI server  100  includes a function for providing the WSDL discovered in response to a retrieval request, and also includes a service broker  110  for intermediating with the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  and the network apparatus  10 , and a UDDI registry  112  for managing the WSDL registered from the multi-functional business apparatus  1200 .  
     [0088] A case in which the Web service requested by the network apparatus  10  is provided by the service broker  110  will be explained. In response to a request of the Web service from the network apparatus  10 , the service broker  110  searches WSDL corresponding to the request from the UDDI registry  112 . Then, the service broker  110  sends the request message showing the request of the Web service to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  in accordance to the SOAP based on the Web service specification described by the WSDL discovered by the UDDI registry  112  When the Web server  1101  of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  receives the request of the Web service, a request message is processed by the SOAP processing part  70 , and the handler  1103  executes the Web service function  1400  which conducts the process according to the message. When the handler  1103  receives the response from the Web service function  1400 , the response is processed by the SOAP processing part  70  as a response message in accordance with the SOAP, and is sent to the service broker  110  by the Web server  1101 .  
     [0089] The service broker  110  sends the response to the network apparatus  10 , when the service broker  110  receives the response message showing the response of the Web service from the Web server  1101 . Thus, the network apparatus  10  can request the Web service of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  by the-service broker  110  mediating between the network apparatus  10  and the multi-functional business apparatus  1200 , instead of obtaining the WSDL.  
     [0090] Moreover, the network apparatus  10  may obtain the WSDL corresponding to the Web service, which is desired by the network apparatus  10 , from the UDDI server  100 . In this case, the network apparatus  10  makes the UDDI server  100  to search for the WSDL corresponding to the desired Web service, and obtains the WSDL that the UDDI server  100  discovers in the UDDI registry  112 . And the network apparatus  10  sends the request message showing the request of the Web service to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  in accordance with the SOAP based on the specification of the Web service described by the WSDL.  
     [0091] When the Web server  1101  of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  receives the request of Web service, after the same process is conducted by the SOAP processing part  70  and the handler  1103 , the Web service function (WSF)  1400  which conducts the process according to the request message which shows the request of Web service is activated. When the Web server  1101  receives the response through the process by the handler  1103  and the SOAP processing part  70 , the Web server  1101  sends the response message which shows the response of the Web service in accordance with the SOAP to the network apparatus  10 . As described above, the network apparatus  10  requests a desired Web service of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  according to the SOAP based on an obtained WSDL.  
     [0092] Moreover, in the multi-functional business apparatus  1200 , the Web service function (WSF)  1400  may be configured so that the WSDL can describe. That is, the request of the Web service based on the WSDL can be processed and also, the request of the Web service in accordance with a predetermined protocol defined between the network apparatus  10  and the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  can be processed.  
     [0093] In the network configuration where the Web service is provided, a case in which the SOAP that is a message exchange protocol is used is described above. However, the message exchange protocol capable of providing the Web service is not limited to the SOAP. A predetermined message exchange protocol defined between the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  and the network apparatus  10  can be applied to realize the Web service.  
     [0094] Also, by automatically generating the handler  1103  based on the interface definition  211  in the multi-functional business apparatus  1200 , the Web service function (WSF)  1400  can be automatically generated based on the WSDL describing the Web service specification registered in the UDDI server  100 . In this case, based on the WSDL newly registered in the UDDI server  100 , the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  itself can dramatically generate the handler  1103  if required. For example, an operation environment of the handler  1103  is made to be the environment where a Java™ program can be executed. Alternatively, the handler automatic generating part  210  can be used in a program development environment, and then, an object code of the handler  1103  generated in the program development environment may be mounted in the multi-functional business apparatus  1200 . In this case, it is possible to reduce steps necessary to develop the handler  1103 .  
     [0095] An automatic generation process conducted by the handler automatic generating part  210  for generating the handler  1103  will be described with reference to FIG. 4 through FIG. 8. For example, the Web service function  1400  conducts a file management process and then, provides a result of the file management as the Web service. In this case, for example, the interface definition  211  for the Web service function  1400  is described as shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, A request message and a response message are described in XML.  
     [0096]FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 are diagrams showing an example of the interface definition by the WSDL, according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 4, a &lt;type&gt; tag  240  defining a data type defines a data type to describe a message and sets a schema definition. In this example, only &lt;/type&gt; is described to show that the data type is a basic type of a schema of the XML.  
     [0097] In a definition information  242  defined by a &lt;message&gt;tag  241  (&lt;message name=“filemanagementInput”&gt;) defining a message format, by &lt;part name-“fileld” type=“xs:unsignedInt”/&gt; and &lt;part name=“operationCode” type=“xs:unsignedInt”/&gt;, an input parameter (filemanagementInput) of a file management request defines so as to be formed by a “fileid” being a unsigned integer (unsignedInt) and a “operationCode” being a unsigned integer (unsignedInt). In a definition information  244  deined by a &lt;message&gt; tag  243  (&lt;message name=“filemanagementOutput”&gt;) defining the message format, by &lt;part name=“requestId” type=“xs:unsignedInt”/&gt;, an output parameter (filemanagementOutput) of the file management request is defined so as to be formed by a “requestId” being a unsigned integer (unsignedInt) by description.  
     [0098] In definition information  246  defined by a &lt;portType&gt; tag  245  (&lt;portType name=“netdocPortType”&gt;) defining an operation set (operation), an input message and an output message are defined for every operation. For example, in a definition information  248  defined by a &lt;operation&gt; tag  247  (&lt;operation name=“filemanagement”&gt;), the input message is defined to be a “filemanagementinput” by &lt;input message=“tns:filemanagementInput”/&gt; and the output massage is defined to be a “filemanagementoutput” by &lt;output message=“tns:filemanagementOutput”/&gt;. In this case, only a file management (filemanagement) is defined.  
     [0099] In a definition information  250  defined by a &lt;binding&gt; tag  249  (&lt;binding name=“netdocHttpBinding“type=” tns:netdocPortType”&gt;) mapping the operation and the message defined by the &lt;portType&gt; tag  245  to a specific protocol and a specific data format, for a port type defined by “netdocPortType”, a mapping method is defined to map the operation and the message to a protocol and a data format.  
     [0100] In the definition information  250 , by a &lt;sb:binding&gt;tag  251  (&lt;sb:binding transport=“http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/http” style-“rpc”/&gt;), usage of RPC (Remote Procedure Call) by SOAP HTTP binding is defined. By a &lt;operation&gt; tag  252  (&lt;operation name=“filemanagement”&gt;), a SOAP message concerning the file management (filemanagement) is defined as follows:  
     [0101] First, by a &lt;sb:operation&gt; tag  253  (&lt;sb:operation soapAction=“http://foo.bar.com/netdoc/filemanagement”/&gt;), a value of a SOAPAction header is defined as “http://foo.bar.com/netdoc/filemanagement” when the file management (filemanagement) is requested.  
     [0102] Next, in a definition information  255  defined by a &lt;input&gt; tag  254 , a “&lt;sb:body encodingStyle=“http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/”use=“literal” namespace=“http://foo.bar.com/netdoc/”/&gt;”, an encoding form at the time of an input is defined. In a definition information  257  defined by a &lt;output&gt; tag  256 , a “&lt;sb:body encodingStyle=“http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/”use=“literal” namespace=“http://foo.bar.com/netdoc/“/&gt;”, the encoding form at the time of an output is defined.  
     [0103] And in a definition information  259  defined by &lt;service&gt; tag  258  (&lt;service name=“netdoc”&gt;) defining a set of nodes of the network, by a &lt;port&gt; tag  260  (&lt;port name=“netdocPort”binding=“ tns :netdocHttpBinding”&gt;), a “netdocPort” to be one node of the network is defined and by a “&lt;sb:address location=“http://printer.foo.bar.com/netdoc”/&gt;”, an address of the node of the network is defined. That is, a binding of a service name “netdoc” is “netdocHttpBinding” and a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of service is defined by “http://printer.foo.bar.com/netdoc.” 
     [0104] As described above, by the interface definition  211  defined by the WSDL, the data type is defined, the operation is defined, and the URL and the SOAPAction header are defined.  
     [0105] Based on the interface definition  211 , the automatic generation process conducted by the handler automatic generating part  210  will be described based on a flowchart shown in FIG. 6 with reference to FIG. 7 and FIG. 8. FIG. 6 is a flowchart diagram for explaining the automatic generation process generating a source code of the handler according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a flowchart diagram for explaining a code example of structure definitions generated by the automatic generation process, according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 8 is a flowchart diagram for explaining an example of a function for calling a web service function, according to the first embodiment of the present invention.  
     [0106] In FIG. 6, the handler automatic generating part  210  generates codes of structure definitions (step S 151 ). In this case, the handler automatic generating part  210  generates a code defining a structure “Netdoc_filemanagementInput” used as an argument  30 , which is input to a file management function  301  executing a file management process shown in FIG. 8. A code like “typedef struct_netdoc_filemanagementInput” is generated as a declaration. Subsequently, based on the definition information  242  defined by the &lt;message&gt; tag  241  in FIG. 4, a code  261  shown in FIG. 7 is generated. That is, in the definition information  242  in FIG. 4, a code like “unsigned int fileId;” is generated as a unsigned integer by type=“unsignedint” from element “fileld”. Moreover, a code like “unsigned int operationCode;” is generated as a unsigned integer by type=“,unsignedInt” from an element “operationcode” by “name=“operationCode””. Then, a code is generated in that this structure definition “_nnetdoc_filemanagementInput” is applied to the structure “Netdoc_filemanagementInpput”. A structure for an input is defined by generating a code  261 .  
     [0107] Next, a code is generated in that a structure “Netdoc_filemanagementOutput” used as an argument  31  output from the file management function  301  is defined. A code like “typedef struct_netdoc_filemanagementOutput” is generated as a declaration. Subsequently, based on the definition information  242  defined by the &lt;message&gt; tag  241  of FIG. 4, a code  262  shown in FIG. 7 is generated. In the definition information  244 , a code like “unsigned int requestld;” is generated as a unsigned integer by “type=“unsignedlnt”” from the element “requested” by name=“requestld.” Then, a code is generated in that this structure definition “_netdoc_filemanagementOutput” is applied to the structure “Netdoc_filemanagementOutput.” 
     [0108] The handler automatic generation part  210  generates the function declaration for calling the file management function  301  (step S 152 ). In this case, based on the definition information  248  defined by the &lt;operation&gt;tag  247  of FIG. 4, for example, in order to call the file management function  301 , a code like “SoapFault netdoc_filemanagement; (Netdoc_filemanagementInput *in and Netdoc_filemanagementOutput *out)” is generated.  
     [0109] The handler automatic generation part  210  generates a code for converting the request message into a DOM (Document Object Model) tree that shows a relation between tags by a tree structure (step S 153 ). A code for calling the Web service function  1400  is generated (step S 154 ). That is, the handler automatic generation part  210  generates a code of the file management function  301  using the code of the function declaration generated at step S 151 .  
     [0110] Subsequently, the handler automatic generation part  210  generates a code for judging whether or not a process result from the Web service function  1400  shows an error, and a code for conducting a process if the process result shows the error (step S 155 ). Moreover, the handler automatic generation part  210  generates a code for converting the DOM tree into the response message (step S 156 ).  
     [0111] Consequently, the handler automatic generation part  210  can generate the handler  1103  based on the interface definition  211 . As described above, since the source code that realizes the handler  1103  can be automatically generated, it is not required for a programmer to make a DOM program that is simple but repeated many times. Accordingly, it is possible to develop software with high quality within a short time. In addition, since an input and an output of the Web service function  1400  can be made into the form that is easily developed by programming language, the programmer is not required to have knowledge of the XML and the HTTP to develop the Web service function  1400 . Accordingly, it is possible to reduce a cost required to educate the programmer. Furthermore, even if it is needed to add or change a protocol, it is possible to automatically generate the source code of the handler  1103  by changing the interface definition  211 . Therefore, higher maintainability can be realized.  
     [0112] In the following, a functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  that can provide the Web service will be described explaining the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  and the network apparatus  10 .  
     [0113] First, based on the message described in the XML, instead of using SOAP which is the message exchange protocol, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  that provides the Web service the network apparatus  10  connected through the network will be described. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a first function configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus that provides Web service. In FIG. 9, only main processing parts are illustrated among the processing parts of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  shown in FIG. 1, and other processing parts are omitted.  
     [0114] In FIG. 9, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  conducts a communication control in accordance with the HTTP and includes a Web server  500  for distributing a process to an internal Web service providing process part, a file management Web service providing process part  40  and another Web service providing process part  49  as a plurality of Web service providing process part, a handler  1103  for distributing a process, a scanner  1202 , a HDD  1303 , a plotter  1201 , an operation panel  1310 , a FAX control-unit  1530 , and a like. The Web server  500  includes a httpd  2  for conducting the communication control in accordance with the HTTP, a distributor  30  for distributing a process to the Web service providing process part corresponding to the HTTP request, and a like.  
     [0115] For example, the file management Web service providing process part  40  includes a file management executing part  400  for controlling the file management, such as a document accumulated to the HDD  1303 , as the Web service function  1400  (FIG. 3) that executes the Web service.  
     [0116] As shown in FIG. 3, based on the WSDL describing the Web service function of each of Web service providing process parts  40  and  49  provided by the interface definition  211 , the handler  1103  is a processing part generated by the handler automatic generation part  210  and includes a XML processing part  50  shared with a plurality of Web service providing process parts  40  and  49 , and a dispatcher  60  for dispatching the process concerning the Web service to the file management executing part  400  based on a process message that shows contents of a process of the Web service analyzed by the XML processing part  50 .  
     [0117] In the multi-functional business apparatus  1200 , for the sake of convenience, only the file management Web service providing process part  40  and another Web service providing process part  49  are shown as the plurality of Web service providing process parts. However, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  can further include a plurality of Web service providing process parts. In this case, the handler  1103  includes a plurality of dispatchers  60  for dispatching the process to each executing part of the plurality of Web service providing process parts. The XML processing part  50  is shared with the plurality of Web service providing process part in the handler  1103 .  
     [0118] Moreover, the network apparatus  10  connected to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  through a network  15  controls input data from an input unit, such as a keyboard or a mouse, and includes an input/output control part  11  for controlling output data displayed on a monitor  9 , an XML processing part  13  for processing the contents of the process of the Web service to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  and the process result of the Web service from the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  by the XML, a request/response processing part  14  for generating the request and analyzing the response in accordance with the HTTP. It is shown that the HTTP request requests the Web service by the data communication in accordance with the HTTP, and the HTTP response indicates the process result of this Web service. Moreover, in the first functional configuration, body parts of the HTTP request and the HTTP response show an example described in the XML.  
     [0119] A user using such the network apparatus  10  requests a desired Web service of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  from a screen for requesting of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  (step S 1 ). In response to a request of the Web service from the user, the input/output control part  11  sends the request data to the request/response processing part  14  (step S 2 ). The request/response processing part  14  generates the HTTP request based on the request data from the input/output control part  11  (step S 3 ). And the XML processing part  13  describes the contents of the process to the body part of the HTTP request in the XML. Then, the HTTP request is sent to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  through the network  15  (step S 4 ).  
     [0120] When the Web server  500  of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  receives the HTTP request by the httpd  2 , the Web server  500  distributes the HTTP request to the Web service providing process part, which is indicated by the header of the HTTP request, by the distributor  30  (step S 5 ). For example, when the file management Web service providing process part  40  is indicated by the header of the HTTP request, the file management Web service providing process part  40  is called by the distributor  30 .  
     [0121] In the file management Web service providing process part  40 , the handler  1103  obtains the contents of the process from the body part described in the XML by the XML processing part  50  of the HTTP request (step S 6 ). Then, the dispatcher  60  receives of the obtained contents of the process (step S 7 ). The dispatcher  60  distributes the process by the Web service to the file management executing part  400  in accordance to the contents of the process (step S 8 ). The file management executing part  400  executes the process to the HDD  1303  in accordance to the contents of the process, and obtains the process result (step S 9 ). For example, the document is added, updated, or deleted in accordance with the contents of the process. The file management executing part  400  sends the process result to the XML processing part  50  (step S 10 ). And the XML processing part  50  generates the body part of the HTTP response that shows the process result in the XML (step S 11 ). Then, the Web server  500  which received the HTTP response from the file management Web service providing process part  40  sends the HTTP response, in which the body part the process result is described in the XML, through the httpd  2  to the network apparatus  10  (step S 11 ).  
     [0122] When the HTTP response is received by the network apparatus  10 , the XML processing part  13  analyzes the body part of the HTTP response, and obtains the process result (step S 13 ). The request/response processing part  14  passes the obtained process result to the input/output control part  11  as output data displayed on the monitor  9  (step S 14 ). And the input/output control part  11  is controlled to display the output data on the monitor  9  (step S 15 ).  
     [0123] In the first functional configuration, by describing the contents of the process in the body part of the HTTP request in accordance with a description format by the XML defined beforehand, the network apparatus  10  can request the Web service from a remote place in respect to a multi-functional business apparatus  1200 . By describing process result in the body part of the HTTP response in accordance with a description format by the XML defined beforehand, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  can provide the Web service to the network apparatus  10  located in the remote place. The multi-functional business apparatus  1200  can also provide the Web service to a plurality of network apparatuses  10  through the network  15 .  
     [0124] Next, an example of another functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  that can provide the Web service in accordance with the SOAP will be described. In the following, each Web service providing process part illustrated in FIG. 10 is a function that executes the process (service) described based on the service specification described by the WSDL.  
     [0125] In the following, the example of the functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  that provides the Web service using the SOAP will be described. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the example of a second functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus that provides the Web service. In FIG. 10, parts that are the same as the ones in FIG. 9 are indicated by the same reference numerals and the explanation thereof will be omitted. Also, a process flow in FIG. 10 is similar to that in FIG. 9 and the explanation thereof will be omitted. In the second functional configuration shown in FIG. 10, in the handler  1103  corresponding to the file management Web service providing process part  40  and a plurality of Web service providing process parts of other Web service providing process-part  49 , the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  includes a SOAP processing part  70  shared with a plurality of Web service providing process parts. In a different point from the first functional configuration, the XML processing part  50  and a dispatcher  60  are included in the SOAP processing part  70 . Moreover, a network apparatus  10  includes a SOAP processing part  12  for exchanging messages to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  in accordance to the SOAP. In another different point from the first functional configuration, the XML processing part  13  that processes the message described in the XML is included in the SOAP processing part  12 .  
     [0126] In the multi-functional business apparatus  1200 . The SOAP processing part  70  analyzes a header of a HTTP request, and distributes a process by the dispatcher  60 . The SOAP processing part  70  obtains the contents of the process from the message described in the XML in the body part of a HTTP request, by the XML processing part  50 . For example, the dispatcher  60  distributes the process, which is to be conducted by the Web service, to the file management executing part  400 . Then, when the SOAP processing part  70  receives the process result from the file management executing part  400  which executed the process, the SOAP processing part  70  describes the process result in the XML by the XML processing part  50  to set the process result the body part of the HTTP request. The HTTP request is sent to the network apparatus  10  in accordance with the SOAP.  
     [0127] In the second functional configuration, the dispatcher  60  may be included in the XML processing part  50 .  
     [0128] As described above, in the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  and the network apparatus  10  to which the SOAP is applied, the network apparatus  10  can realize RPC (Remote Procedure Call) using the XML in respect to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200 .  
     [0129] The HTTP request and HTTP response, in which the messages are exchanged between the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  and the network apparatus  10  in accordance with the SOAP, will be described in FIG. 11. FIG. 11A and FIG. 11B are diagrams showing examples of the HTTP request and the HTTP response according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In the HTTP request shown in FIG. 11 (A) r a URI (Uniform Resource Indicator)  16  shows a URI to which the HTTP request is sent by a POST method. For example, the URI  16  indicates “netdoc.” Moreover, a URI in which a purpose of the request in SOAPAction  17  is indicated is shown. For example, “file management” is specified by “http://foo.bar.com/netdoc/filemanagement.” 
     [0130] The distributor  30  of the httpd  2  of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  in FIG. 10 calls the file management Web service providing process part  40  by a “filemanagement” specified by the SOAPAction  17 . The file management Web service providing process part  40  processes the HTTP request in accordance with the SOAP by the SOAP processing part  70 . In the SOAP processing part  70 , the dispatcher  60  distributes the process to the file management executing part  400  by the “filemanagement” specified by SOAPAction  17 . Moreover, the XML processing part  50  analyzes a message  18  described in the XML in the body of the SOAP envelope (from &lt;SOAP-ENV:Body&gt; to &lt;/SOAP-ENV:Body&gt;). For example, the message  18  is shown by between &lt;ns: filemanagement&gt; and &lt;/ns:filemanagement&gt;. The “filemanagement” shows a command. The contents of the process requested by the message  18  show that a process indicated by the operation code “3” specified between &lt;operationcode&gt; and &lt;/operationCode&gt; is processed in respect to a file of the file ID “123” specified between &lt;fileld&gt; and &lt;/filed&gt;. For example, an operation code “ 3 ” indicates to delete the file; an operation code “1” indicates to add the file, and an operation code “2” indicates to update the file.  
     [0131] In this case, the file management executing part  400 , to which the process is distributed by the dispatcher  60 , deletes a document of the file ID “123” from the HDD  1303  according to the contents of the process analyzed by the XML processing part  50 .  
     [0132] In the example of the HTTP request, by one command “filemanagement”, a management method of the file is specified by setting a &lt;operationCode&gt;. Alternatively, a process of file management is subdivided. For example, such as a file adding Web service, a file editing Web service, a file deleting Web service, and a like, a plurality of Web services can be included in the Web service process application  1215  as the Web service function  1400 . In this case, for example, such as “fileadd”, “fileedit”, and “filedelete”, a command uniquely corresponding to each Web service is set as the XML message  18 , so that operation code by &lt;operationcode&gt; is not needed.  
     [0133] The HTTP response shown in FIG. 11B is created based on the process result of the file management Web service providing process part  40 , by the SOAP processing part  70  of the file management Web service providing process part  40 . The SOAP processing part  70  sets “200” as a status code  20  and “O.K.” as an explanation  21  based on the process result of the file management Web service providing process part  40 . Moreover, the XML processing part  50  generates a message  22  described in the XML by the body of a SOAP envelope (between &lt;SOAP-ENV:Body&gt; and &lt;/SOAP-ENV:Body&gt;). The response of a command “filemanagement” is shown between &lt;ns:filemanagementRespo nse&gt; and C/ns:filemanagementRespo nse&gt;. For example, a request ID “10” is set between &lt;requestId&gt; and &lt;/requestId&gt;. When the network apparatus  10  receives this HTTP response, the network apparatus  10  confirms by processing the message  22  described in the XML by the XML processing part  13  that the process has been conducted normally.  
     [0134]FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a third functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus that provides the Web service, according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 12, parts that are the same as the ones in FIG. 10 are indicated by the same reference numerals and the explanation thereof will be omitted. Also, a process flow in FIG. 10 is similar to that in FIG. 10 and the explanation thereof will be omitted. In the third functional configuration shown in FIG. 12, similar to the second functional configuration shown in FIG. 10, in the handler  1103  corresponding to a plurality of Web service providing process parts of the file management Web service providing process part  40  and another Web service providing process part  49 , the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  includes the SOAP processing part  70  shared with the plurality of Web service providing process parts. However, in a different point from the second functional configuration, the XML processing part  50  independents of the SOAP processing part  70  and is shared with the plurality of Web service providing process parts. In the third functional configuration, similar to the second conventional configuration, the dispatcher  60  is included in the SOAP processing part  70 . However, the dispatcher  60  can be contained in the XML processing part  50 . The network apparatus  10  includes the same functional configuration as the network apparatus  10  shown in FIG. 10.  
     [0135] As described above, in the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  and the network apparatus  10  to which the SOAP is applied, the network apparatus  10  can realize the RPC using the XML in respect to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200 . The multi-functional business apparatus  1200  can include a plurality of the Web service providing process parts corresponding to a plurality of functions, respectively. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a fourth functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus that provides the Web service, according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 13, parts that are the same as the ones in FIG. 10 are indicated by the same reference numerals and the explanation thereof will be omitted. In the third functional configuration shown in FIG. 12, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  includes a file management Web service providing process part  40  for providing the Web service that manages the document accumulated in HDD  1303 , a scanner control Web service providing process part  41  for providing the Web service that controls a scanner  1202 , a print Web service providing process part  42  for providing the Web service that controls a plotter  1201 , an operation panel control Web service providing process part  43  for providing the Web service that controls the operation panel  1310 , and a like. Moreover, the file management Web service providing process part  40  includes the file management executing part  400  that executes a process to HDD  1303 . The scanner control Web service providing process part  41  includes the scanner control executing part  401  that executes a process to a scanner  1202 . The print web service providing process part  42  includes a plotter control executing part  402  that executes a process to the plotter  1201 . The operation panel control Web service providing process part  43  includes the operation panel control executing part  403  that executes a process to the operation panel  1310 .  
     [0136] Furthermore, in the handler  1103 , the XML processing part  50  and the SOAP processing part  70  are separated from each other and shared with the plurality of Web service providing process parts  40 - 43 . Moreover, the dispatchers  60 - 63  correspond to the plurality of Web service providing process parts  40 - 43 , respectively.  
     [0137] The network apparatus  10  includes the same functional configuration as the network apparatus  10  shown in FIG. 10.  
     [0138] In the fourth functional configuration, in the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  and the network apparatus  10  to which the SOAP is applied, the network apparatus  10  can realize the RPC using the XML in respect to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200 . Moreover, the network apparatus  10  can receive a desired Web service by transmitting the HTTP request corresponding to the desired Web service, from the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  that includes the plurality of Web service providing process parts  40 - 43 . Accordingly, it is possible for the network apparatus  10  to use various functions of the scanner  1202 , the HDD  1303 , the plotter  1201 , and the operation panel  1310  as the Web service, instead of installing a plurality of drivers for using the function of the image forming apparatus.  
     [0139] Next, an example of a functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  will be described in that the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  combines and executes the plurality of Web service providing process parts in response to a single HTTP request sent from the network apparatus  10 . FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a fifth functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus that provides the Web service, according to the first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 14, parts that are the same as the ones in FIG. 12 and FIG. 13 are indicated by the same reference numerals and the explanation thereof will be omitted. In the fourth functional configuration shown in FIG. 14, in a different point from the third functional configuration shown in FIG. 12, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  includes the file management Web service providing process part  40  and the print Web service providing process part  42 , and also includes a combined Web service providing process part  90  combining and controlling the file management Web service providing process part  40  and the print Web service providing process part  42 . In addition, in the handler  1103  of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200 , the file management Web service providing process part  40 , the print Web service providing process part  42 , the combined Web service providing process part  90 , and another Web service providing process part  49  share the XML processing part  50  and the SOAP processing part  70 . Moreover, the SOAP processing part  70  includes the dispatchers  60 ,  62 ,  68 , and  69  for dispatching the process to executing parts  400 ,  412 ,  80 , and a like.  
     [0140] Based on the process distributed by the dispatcher  60 , the file management executing part  400 , the Web service function  1400  (FIG. 3), of the file management Web service providing process part  40  executes the file management process in respect to the HDD  1303 , and executes the file management process specified by the combined Web service executing part  80 . Based on the process distributed by the dispatcher  62 , the file print executing part  412  of the print Web service providing process part  42  as the Web service function  1400  executes the print of a file, and the file specified is printed by the combined-Web-service executing part  80 .  
     [0141] The combined Web service providing process part  90  includes the combined Web service executing part  80  for combining and executing the file management Web service providing process part  40  and the print Web service providing process part  42 .  
     [0142] The network apparatus  10  includes the same functional configuration as the network apparatus  10  shown in FIG. 10.  
     [0143] In FIG. 14, for example, when the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  receives the HTTP request which requests a accumulation-and-print that stores and prints a document from the network apparatus  10  to the HDD  1303 , the combined Web service providing process part  90  calls the combined Web service executing part  80  to store the document to the HDD  1303  by the file management executing part  400 . Subsequently, the combined Web service executing part  80  conducts a sequence of processes so that the file-print executing part  412  executes a print process, by specifying the file ID of the accumulated document.  
     [0144] As described above, the combined-web-service executing part  80  makes the file management executing part  400  and the file print executing part  412  consecutively conducted the process. Therefore, by sending only one HTTP request, it is possible for the network apparatus  10  connected to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  to receive a sequence of the Web service provided by two or more Web service providing process parts. Moreover, the combined Web service executing part  80  itself does not need to be substantial process part as the Web service function  1400  for conducting a process for managing files and a print process. Therefore, it is possible to greatly reduce development steps. Furthermore, the network apparatus  10  can request the Web service only by the file management Web-service-providing process part  40 , and request the Web service only by the print Web service providing process part  42 .  
     [0145] Therefore, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  forms an image, and provides wider Web service by a plurality of executing parts conducting the Web service and also by combining the plurality of executing parts.  
     [0146] In the first functional configuration through the fifth functional configuration, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  provides the Web service to one network apparatus  10 . However, when connecting with a plurality of network apparatuses  10  through the network  15 , the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  can provides the Web service desired by each of the network apparatuses  10 .  
     [0147] Moreover, the network apparatus  10  can describe the message in the XML and exchange messages with the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  in accordance with the SOAP. Therefore, it is possible for the network apparatus  10  to receive the Web service regardless of the machine type and the operating system of the network apparatus  10 .  
     [0148] Furthermore, the user is not required to install various driver software to a computer terminal (network apparatus  10 ) in order to utilize the plurality of image forming functions, and the user can utilize various functions of the image forming apparatus as accessible and programmable application components by using various Web protocol that is an Internet standard.  
     [0149] Moreover, within the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  or between the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  and other apparatuses, it is possible to realize a distributed environment in that the Web service exchanges messages with other Web services.  
     [0150] According to the first embodiment of the present invention, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  controls the operation panel  1310 , conducts the print process, a scanner control, and a like, and processes various internal information concerning the image process, and then, can realize the Web service providing a process result to an apparatus that requested the Web service. It should be noted that the internal information can be various information concerning the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  and the image process, for example, image information, status information concerning the image information, information including control parameters to change settings of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  or a Network IP, or a like. According to the first embodiment, it is possible to realize to conduct a predetermined process for the internal information and provide the process result as the Web service.  
     [0151] In the first embodiment of the present invention, the httpd  2  corresponds to a network communication controlling part, the Web service providing process part  40 ,  43 ,  49  and  90  correspond to Web service providing process parts, and the file management executing part  400 , the scanner control executing part  401 , the plotter control executing part  402 , and the operation panel control executing part  403  correspond to Web service executing parts. And the SOAP processing part  70  corresponds to a protocol processing part, and the XML processing part  50  corresponds to a message processing part, in claims.  
     [0152] As described above, according to the present invention, instead of installing several driver software to a computer terminal of a user in order to utilize several image forming functions, the user only installs software supporting a standard Web service. Moreover, regardless of the machine type and the operating system of the computer terminal of the user, the computer terminal can send the process request to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  having the plurality of the image forming functions. Furthermore, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  can systematically process the process requests from other apparatuses.  
     [0153] [Second Embodiment] 
     [0154] In the following, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.  
     [0155] In the second embodiment of the present invention, the functional configuration shown in FIG. 1 and the hardware configuration shown in FIG. 2 can be applied to an image forming apparatus uniting various image forming functions (hereinafter, called a multi-functional business apparatus) Therefore, the explanation thereof will be omitted.  
     [0156] In the following, various functional configurations realizing the Web service will be described according to the second embodiment of the present invention, in which the multi-functional business apparatus  1200 , which has the functional configuration shown in FIG. 1 and the hardware configuration shown in FIG. 2, provides the Web service. It should be noted that the Web service means that the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  conducts a predetermined process in response to a service request indicated by a HTTP request sent from the network apparatus and sends a process result indicated by a HTTP response. Body parts of the HTTP request and the HTTP response are described in an XML (extensible Markup Language).  
     [0157] The multi-functional business apparatus  1200 , which includes a combined Web service providing process part that combines and executes a plurality of methods of one Web service providing process part, will be described. FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing a first functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus for providing a combined Web service, according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 15, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  mainly includes a httpd  2  for conducting the communication control in accordance with the HTTP, a distributor  30  for distributing a process to the Web service providing process part corresponding to the HTTP request, a file management Web service providing process part  40 , another Web service providing process part  49 , and a combined Web service providing process part  90  as a plurality of Web service providing process part, a XML processing part  50 , which is shared with the plurality of Web service providing process parts  40 ,  49  and  90 , for processing a message described in the XML (extensible Markup Language), a SOAP processing part  70 , which is shared with the plurality of Web service providing process parts  40 ,  49  and  90 , for exchanging messages with a network apparatus  10  in accordance with a SOAP (Simple object Access Protocol), an operation panel  1310 , a HDD (Hard Disk Drive)  1303 , a FCU (Fax Control Unit)  1320 , a plotter  1201 , a scanner  1202 , and a like.  
     [0158] The file management Web service providing process part  40  includes a document ID list obtaining method  401  for obtaining a list of document IDs identifying the documents accumulated in the HDD  1303 , and a bibliographic information obtaining method  402  for obtaining bibliographic information concerning the document accumulated in the HDD  1303  corresponding to the document ID. A method shows a unit of the process of the Web service by the file management Web service providing process part  40 . The file management Web service providing process part  40  realizes the Web service function  1400  shown in FIG. 1 by a plurality of methods, and provides the Web service in accordance with the request from the network apparatus  10 . In a case of the first functional configuration shown in FIG. 15, as the plurality of methods, it is not limited to the document ID list obtaining method  401  and the bibliographic information obtaining method  402 . It is also possible to include a plurality of methods in addition to these methods.  
     [0159] The document list creation combined method  800  of the combined Web service providing process part  90  includes a document ID list obtaining part  801  for obtaining the list of document IDs by using the document ID list obtaining method  401 , a bibliographic information obtaining part  802  for obtaining the bibliographic information corresponding to the document ID by using the bibliographic information obtaining method  402 , and a document list creating part  803  for creating the document list based on the obtained bibliographic information. Since the document list creation combined method  800  utilizes the document ID list obtaining method  401  and the bibliographic information obtaining method  402 , the document list creation combined method  800  does not have substantial methods. The portion developed in order to realize the document list creation combined method  800  is mainly only the document list creating part  803 . Therefore, it is possible to reduce steps necessary to develop the document list creation combined method  800 . Moreover, the combined Web service providing process part  90  includes a set of a plurality of process units in the document list creation combined method  800  and a plurality of process units by substantial methods, as the Web service function  1400  shown in FIG. 1.  
     [0160] The SOAP processing part  70  further includes dispatchers  60  and  68  for dispatching the process to each Web service providing process part. For example, the dispatcher  60  dispatches the process to each of methods  401  and  402  of the file management Web service providing process part  40 , and the dispatcher  68  dispatches the process to the document list creation combined method  800  of the combined Web service providing process part  90 . In the multi-functional business apparatus  1200 , for the sake of convenience, as a plurality of web service providing process parts, only the file management Web service providing process part  40 , the combined Web service providing process part  90 , and the other Web service providing process part  49  are shown. However, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  can include more Web service providing process parts. Also, the XML processing part  50  and the SOAP processing part  70  are shared with those Web service providing process parts.  
     [0161] Moreover, the network apparatus  10  connected to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  through a network  15  controls input data from input units, such as a keyboard or a mouse, and includes an input/output control part  11  for controlling output data displayed on a monitor  9 , a SOAP processing part  12  for exchanging messages to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  in accordance to the SOAP, a request/response processing part  14  for generating the request and analyzing the response in accordance with the HTTP. The SOAP processing part  12  includes an XML processing part  13  for processing the contents of the process of the Web service to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  and the process result of the Web service from the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  by the XML. It is shown that the HTTP request requests the Web service by the data communication in accordance with the HTTP, and the HTTP response indicates the process result of this Web service. Moreover, in the first functional configuration, body parts of the HTTP request and the HTTP response show an example described in the XML.  
     [0162] In FIG. 15, a user using such the network apparatus  10  requests a desired Web service of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  from a screen for requesting of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  (step S 1 ). For example, it is assumed that the user requests the Web service that provides a list of the document accumulated in the HDD  1303  of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  from the screen of the monitor  9 . In response to a request of the Web service from the user, the input/output control part  11  sends the request data to the request/response processing part  14  (step S 2 ). The request/response processing part  14  generates the HTTP request based on the request data from the input/output control part  11  (step S 3 ). And the XML processing part  13  describes the contents of the process to the body part of the HTTP request in the XML. Then, the HTTP request is sent to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  through the network  15  (step S 4 ).  
     [0163] When the Web server  500  of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  receives the HTTP request by the httpd  2 , the HTTP request received is distributed to the Web service providing process part specified by the header of the HTTP request (step SS). For example, when the combined Web service providing process part  90  is specified by the header of the HTTP request, the combined-Web-service providing process part  90  is executed by the distributor  30 .  
     [0164] The combined Web service providing process part  90  sends the HTTP request received from the network apparatus  10  to the SOAP processing part  70 , in order to process the HTTP request in accordance with SOAP (step S 6 ). The SOAP processing part  70  processes the HTTP request in accordance with the SOAP, and the dispatcher  68  distributes the process to the document list creation combined method  800  specified by the header of the HTTP request, and executes the XML processing part  50  in accordance to the method of the HTTP (step S 7 ). The XML processing part  50  converts the message showing the contents of the process in the body part of the HTTP request described in the XML into a data format that can be interpreted by the document list creation combined method  800 , and then, sends to the document list creation combined method  800  (step S 8 ).  
     [0165] First, the document list creation combined method  800  calls the document ID list obtaining method  401  of the file management Web service providing process part  40  by the document ID list obtaining part  801  (step S 9 ). The document ID list obtaining method  401  obtains the document ID identifying the document managed in the HDD  1303 , and creates the document ID list. In this case, it is assumed that the document ID list obtaining method  401  (listID (docIDList)) obtains a document ID “101”, “102”, and “103. ” A document ID list (docIDList) is set as follows:  
     [0166] docIDList=(101, 102, 103, and 0) (“0 (zero)” shows an end),  
     [0167] and the document ID list is sent to the document ID list obtaining part  801  (step S 10 ).  
     [0168] Subsequently, the document list creation combined method  800  calls the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  of the file management Web service providing process part  40  by the bibliographic information obtaining part  802  (step S 11 ). In respect to the document managed in the HDD  1303 , the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  inquires the bibliographic information by the document ID received from the bibliographic information obtaining part  802 , and creates bibliographic information. For example, in a case in that the bibliographic information is obtained for the document ID “101”, the bibliographic information obtaining part  802  executes the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  (getProps (docID, props)) by calling getProps ( 101  props).  
     [0169] The bibliographic information obtaining method  402  inquires the bibliographic information by the specified document ID in respect to the HDD  1303 , and sends the bibliographic information to the bibliographic information obtaining part  802  (step S 12 ). That is, the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  obtains the bibliographic information from the HDD  1303  by the document ID “101” received from the bibliographic information obtaining part  802 . The bibliographic information obtaining method  402  creates the bibliographic information to send to the bibliographic information obtaining part  802 . For example, the bibliographic information is created as follows:  
     [0170] prop={a document ID, a document name, pagination, an owner, and 0} (“0 (zero)” shows the end of bibliographic information).  
     [0171] In this case, prop={101, the “accumulated document 1”, 3, “a user 1”, and 0) is set for the document ID “101”. The bibliographic information obtaining method  402  sends a creation result of the bibliographic information for the specified document ID, to the bibliographic information obtaining part  802  of the document list creation combined method  800 .  
     [0172] The bibliographic information obtaining part  802  of the document list creation combined method  800  repeats the same process as described above, for other document IDs “102” and “103”, and then, obtains all document information.  
     [0173] The document list creation combined method  800  further creates the document list by the document list creating part  803 , and sends the document list to the XML processing part  50  in order to describe in the XML (step S 13 ). That is, for example, the document list creating part  803  creates a document list as follows:  
     [0174] docList={{101, the “accumulated document 1”, 3, “a user 1”, and 0}, {102, the “accumulated document 2”, 10, “a user 2” and 0}, and {103, the “accumulated document 3”, 1, “a user 1”, 0}, 0).  
     [0175] The document list (docList) is sent to the XML processing part  50 . When the document list (docList) is received, the XML processing part  50  describes the document list (docList) in the XML and sends to the SOAP processing part  70  (step S 14 ). When the SOAP processing part  70  receives the document list described in the XML, the SOAP processing part  70  sets the document list described in XML to the body part of the HTTP response, and generates the HTTP response in accordance to SOAP (step S 15 ).  
     [0176] In the first functional configuration, by the document list creation combined method  800 , the combined Web service providing process part  90  can process the sequence of Web services combining the plurality of methods, without having a substantial document ID list obtaining method  401  and a substantial bibliographic information obtaining method  402 . Therefore, the network apparatus  10  can receive the sequence of Web services by a single HTTP request, without considering the unit of the Web service that the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  can provide.  
     [0177] The XML processing part  50  shown in FIG. 15 describes he document list (docList) in XML as shown in FIG. 16. FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of the document list described in the XML by the XML processing part, according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 16, a description  53  shows the bibliographic information of the document ID “101”, a description  54  shows the bibliographic information of the document ID “102”, and a description  55  shows the bibliographic information of the document ID “103.” For example, in the description  53 , the bibliographic information of a document ID “101” shows that a document name is “the accumulated document 1” the number of pages is “31” pages, an owner is “a user 1.” 
     [0178] Moreover, it is created by the SOAP processing part  12  of the network apparatus  10 , and the HTTP request sent to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  is described as shown in FIG. 17. FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an example of the HTTP request in accordance with the SOAP, according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In a HTTP header  73  of the HTTP request shown in FIG. 17, a URI  74  shows a URI to which the HTTP request is sent by a POST method, for example, the URI  74  is “netdoc.” Furthermore, an URI expressing a purpose of the request by a SOAPAction  75  is shown, for example, “A document list” is specified by “http://foo.bar.com/netdoc/documentList.” The httpd  2  of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  receives the HTTP request, and the SOAP processing part  70  analyzes the HTTP header  75 . The SOAP processing part  70  analyzes from &lt;SOAP-ENV: Envelope&gt; to &lt;/SOAP-ENV:Envelope&gt;. The SOAP processing part  70  obtains the message which shows the contents of the process described in the XML from &lt;ns:documentList&gt; to &lt;/ns:documentList&gt;. In an XML message, for example, in a case in that “1” set in&lt;listtype&gt; indicates to create a list of all documents, based on directions of the message, the document list creation combined method  800  obtains the list of all documents managed by the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  by the document ID list obtaining part  801 , the bibliographic information obtaining part  802 , and the document list creating part  803 .  
     [0179] After the document list is described in the XML by the XML processing part  50 , the HTTP response including the document list by the SOAP processing part  70 . The HTTP response including the document list is shown as in FIG. 18. FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example of the HTTP response by SOAP, according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In the example of the HTTP response shown in FIG. 18, the SOAP processing part  70  creates the HTTP header  78 , and creates the HTTP body part  79 . As a HTTP body part  79 , &lt;SOAP-ENV:Envelope&gt; to &lt;/SOAP-ENV:Envelope&gt; is created. A message  91  shown between &lt;ns:documentListResponse&gt; and &lt;/ns:documentListResponse&gt; is a message describing the document list from the document list creation combined method  800 , in the XML by the XML processing part  50 .  
     [0180] Such this HTTP response is sent to the network apparatus  10 . A message  91  is retrieved from between &lt;SOAP-ENV:Body&gt; and &lt;/SOAP-ENV:Body&gt; by the SOAP processing part  12 . The document list information which should be displayed on the monitor  9  is retrieved from the taken-out message  91 , and sent to the request/response processing part  14  by the XML processing part  13 . Furthermore, the document list information is processed by the request/response processing part  14  as screen data. For example, the document list is displayed on the monitor  9  by the input/output control part  11 .  
     [0181]FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed at the network apparatus, according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 19, a screen  92  displays the list of the information of the document name, the number of pages, the owner, and a like for each document.  
     [0182] Furthermore, in FIG. 15, it is also possible to provide the Web service by the file management Web service providing process part  40  itself. That is, when the httpd  2  receives the HTTP request from a network apparatus  10  (step S 4 ), in response to a request of the Web service for obtaining the bibliographic information that is indicated in the header part of the HTTP request, the distributor  30  distributes the HTTP request to the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  of the file management Web service providing process part  40  (step S 5 - 3 ).  
     [0183] The file management Web service providing process part  40  sends the HTTP request to the SOAP processing part  70 , in order to process the HTTP request in accordance with the SOAP (step S 6 - 3 ). The SOAP processing part  70  processes the HTTP request in accordance to the SOAP. The dispatcher  60  dispatches the process to the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  specified by the header of the HTTP request, and executes the XML processing part  50  according to the method of HTTP (step S 7 - 3 ). The XML processing part  50  converts the message showing the contents of the process in the body part of the HTTP request described in the XML into the data format that can be interpreted by the bibliographic information obtaining method  402 , and sends to the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  (step S 8 - 3 ).  
     [0184] In respect to the document managed in the HDD  1303 , the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  inquires the bibliographic information by the document ID specified by the message processed by the XML processing part  50 . And the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  sends to the XML processing part  50 , in order to describe the bibliographic information in the XML (step S 13 - 3 ). Furthermore, in the SOAP processing part  70 , the bibliographic information described in the XML is set in the body part of the HTTP response, and the HTTP response is generated in accordance with the SOAP (step S 15 - 3 ). Then, the HTTP response is sent from the httpd  2  to the network apparatus  10  (steps S 16 - 3  and S 17 ).  
     [0185] As described above, in response to the HTTP request for providing the bibliographic information from the network apparatus  10 , the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  can execute the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  itself. Moreover, it is also possible to execute the document ID list obtaining method  401  itself.  
     [0186] Therefore, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  forms an image, and provides wider Web service by a plurality of methods conducting the Web service and also by combining the plurality of methods.  
     [0187] In the first functional configuration, the functional configuration and process flow of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200 , which includes the combined Web service providing process part for combining and executing the plurality of methods in one Web service providing process part, are described above. In the following, a case where the combined Web service providing process part for combining and executing the plurality of methods of one Web service providing process part and other Web providing process parts will be described.  
     [0188]FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an example of a second functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus for providing the combined Web service, according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 20, steps that are the same as the ones in FIG. 15 are indicated by the same reference numerals and the explanation thereof will be omitted. In FIG. 20, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  further includes an operation panel Web service providing process part  48  for providing information currently displayed on the operation panel  1310  to the network apparatus  10 , in addition to the parts in of the first functional configuration shown in FIG. 15.  
     [0189] In the second functional configuration, a case where the document list is displayed on the operation panel  1310  by the request from the operation panel  1310  will be described. In response to a request from the operation panel  1310 , due to an event internally generated and requesting the document list, the combined Web service providing process part  90  executes the document list creation combined method  800  (step S 1 - 5 ). The document list creation combined method  800  obtains the document ID list from the document ID list obtaining method  401  by the document ID list obtaining part  801  (steps S 9  and S 10 ) The document list creation combined method  800  The document list creation combined method  800  obtains the bibliographic information corresponding to each document ID from the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  by the bibliographic information obtaining part  802  (steps S 11  and S 12 ). And the document list created by the document list creating part  803  is sent to the operation panel control Web service providing process part  48  (step S 12 - 5 ). And the operation panel control Web service providing process part  48  sends the document list to the operation panel  1310  as display information. The document list is displayed on the operation panel  1310 .  
     [0190] Next, a case where the document list displayed on the operation panel  1310  is currently displayed on the monitor  9  in response to the request from the network apparatus  10  will be described. When the document list creation combined method  800  receives the contents of a process changed into data format which can be interpreted by the document list creation combined method  800  in the message from the XML processing part  50 , the document list creation combined method  800  obtains the current display information on the operation panel  1310  from the operation panel control Web service providing process part  48  (step S 6 - 7 ). As described above, based on the display information, the document ID list is obtained from the document ID list obtaining method  401  by the document ID list obtaining part  801  (steps S 9  and S 10 ). The bibliographic information corresponding to each document ID is obtained from the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  by the bibliographic information obtaining part  802  (steps S 11  and S 12 ).  
     [0191] And the document list created by the document list creating part  803  is sent to the XML processing part  50  (step S 13 ). For example, the document list described in the XML is description as shown in FIG. 16, and the description in the XML is sent to the SOAP processing part  70  (step S 14 ). The document list described in the XML is formed in the HTTP response as shown in FIG. 18 (step S 15 ), and is sent to the network apparatus  10  from the httpd  2  by the SOAP processing part  70  (steps S 16  and S 17 ).  
     [0192] In the network apparatus  10 , a screen  92  as shown in FIG. 19 at the monitor  9  is displayed by this HTTP response. This screen  92  has the same configuration as the operation panel  1310 .  
     [0193] In such an example of the second functional configuration, the XML processing part  50  and the SOAP processing part  70  can be included in the combined Web service providing process part  90 .  
     [0194] In the first and second functional configuration, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  provides the Web service to one network apparatus  10 . However, when connecting with a plurality of network apparatuses  10  through the network  15 , the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  can provides the Web service desired by each of the network apparatuses  10 .  
     [0195] Moreover, the network apparatus  10  can describe the message in the XML and exchange messages with the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  in accordance with the SOAP. Therefore, it is possible for the network apparatus  10  to receive the Web service regardless of the machine type and the operating system of the network apparatus  10 .  
     [0196] Furthermore, the combined-Web-service providing process part  90  of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  includes the document list creation combined method  800 . Therefore, it is possible to provide the Web service combining the plurality of method in a single Web service providing process. Also, it is possible to provide the Web service combining the plurality of the Web service providing process parts. Accordingly, the network apparatus  10  does not need to generate a plurality of HTTP requests for requesting of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  according to the request from the user because of difference between a request unit of the user and a process unit of multi-functional business apparatus  1200 . Therefore, the network apparatus  10  only processes a single HTTP response in respect to a single HTTP request. The network apparatus  10  is not required to conduct a special process for the request of the user.  
     [0197] Furthermore, the user is not required to install various driver software to a computer terminal (network apparatus  10 ) in order to utilize the plurality of image forming functions, and the user can utilize various functions of the image forming apparatus as accessible and programmable application components by using various Web protocol that is an Internet standard.  
     [0198] Moreover, within the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  or between the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  and other apparatuses, it is possible to realize a distributed environment in that the Web service exchanges messages with other Web services.  
     [0199] According to the first embodiment of the present invention, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  controls the operation panel  1310 , conducts the print process, a scanner control, and a like, and processes various internal information concerning the image process, and then, can realize the Web service providing a process result to an apparatus that requested the Web service. It should be noted that the internal information can be various information concerning the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  and the image process, for example, image information, status information concerning the image information, information including control parameters to change settings of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  or a Network IP, or a like. According to the first embodiment, it is possible to realize to conduct a predetermined process for the internal information and provide the process result as the Web service.  
     [0200] In the second embodiment of the present invention, the httpd  2  corresponds to a network communication controlling part, the file management Web service providing process part  40  corresponds to a Web-service-providing process part, and each of the document-ID list obtaining method  401  and the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  corresponds to a process unit. The combined Web service providing process part  90  corresponds to a combined Web service providing process part, and the document list creation combined method  800  corresponds to a combining process executing part, in claims. Moreover, the operation panel control Web service providing process part  48  corresponds to an internal Web service providing process part, in claims. Moreover, the SOAP processing part  70  corresponds to a protocol process part, and the XML processing part  50  corresponds to a message-processing part, in claims.  
     [0201] As described above, according to the present invention, instead of installing several driver software to a computer terminal of a user in order to utilize several image forming functions, the user only installs software supporting a standard Web service. Moreover, regardless of the machine type and the operating system of the computer terminal of the user, the computer terminal can send the process request to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  having the plurality of the image forming functions. Furthermore, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  can systematically process the process requests from other apparatuses. Moreover, since a combined Web service controls a combination of a plurality of the Web service formed by small units, it is possible to provide various variations of the Web services. Furthermore, it is possible to reuse the same Web service between different Web services.  
     [0202] [Third Embodiment] 
     [0203] In the following, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.  
     [0204] An image forming apparatus uniting various image forming functions (hereinafter, called a multi-functional business apparatus) has a functional configuration as shown in FIG. 21. FIG. 21 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus uniting various image forming functions according to the third embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 21, parts that are the same as the ones in FIG. 1 are indicated by the same reference numerals and the explanation thereof will be omitted.  
     [0205] In FIG. 21, the Web service process application  1215  includes a Web server  500  for processing a HTTP request of a GET METHOD or a POST METHOD and sending a HTTP response including an HTML, a Web service function (WSF)  1400  for conducting a predetermined process by using the control service  1250  through an API (Application Program Interface) and providing a process result trough a WS-API (Web Service Application Program Interface) as the Web service.  
     [0206] In the third embodiment of the present invention, the functional configuration shown in FIG. 21 and the hardware configuration shown in FIG. 2 can be applied the image forming apparatus  1200 .  
     [0207] In the following, various functional configurations realizing the Web service will be described according to the third embodiment of the present invention, in which the multi-functional business apparatus  1200 , which has the functional configuration shown in FIG. 21 and the hardware configuration shown in FIG. 2, provides the Web service. It should be noted that the Web service means that the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  conducts a predetermined process in response to a service request indicated by the HTTP request sent from the network apparatus and sends a process result indicated by the HTTP response. Body part of the HTTP response is described in an HTML ((Hypertext Markup Language).  
     [0208]FIG. 22 is a block diagram showing an example of a first functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus including the Web server, according to the third embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 22, only main processing parts are illustrated among the processing parts of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  shown in FIG. 21, and other processing parts are omitted. In FIG. 22, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  mainly includes a file management Web service providing process part  40  and another Web service providing process part  49 , a Web server  500  for controlling a message exchange by the HTTP request and the HTTP response, an operation panel  1310 , a HDD (Hard Disk Drive)  1303 , a FCU (Fax Control Unit)  1320 , a plotter  1201 , a scanner  1202 , and a like.  
     [0209] The file management Web service providing process part  40  includes a file management executing part  400  for accumulating and managing a document in the HDD  1303 , as the Web service function  1400  (FIG. 22) The Web server  500  includes a httpd  2  for conducting the communication control in accordance with the HTTP, a distributor  30  for distributing a process to the Web service providing process part corresponding to the HTTP request, an HTTP request processing part  501  for processing the HTTP request by the GET METHOD or the POST METHOD received from the network  15 , a dispatcher  60  for dispatching the process concerning the Web service, which is indicated by the HTTP request, to the file management executing part  400 , an HTML (HyperTest Markup Language) showing a process result received from the file management executing part  400 .  
     [0210] The network apparatus  10  connected to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  through the network  15  includes a Web browser  23  including an input/output control part  11  for controlling the output data displayed at the monitor  9  while controlling the input data from an input unit, such as a keyboard or a mouse.  
     [0211] A user using the network apparatus  10  requests desired the Web service of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  from a screen, which is displayed on the monitor  9 , for requesting the Web service of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200 , and the input/output control part  11  receives the request data (step  521 ). Based on the request data received by the input/output control part  11 , the Web browser  23  generates the HTTP request indicating the GET METHOD or the POST METHOD, and sends the HTTP request to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  through the network  15  (step S 22 ).  
     [0212] When the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  receives the HTTP request from the network apparatus  10 , the HTTP request is analyzed by the Web server  500 . That is, when the httpd  2  which conducts the network communication control receives the HTTP request, the HTTP request is distributed to the HTTP request processing part  501 , so as to analyze the HTTP request corresponding a method (the GET METHOD or the POST METHOD), which is indicated in the header part of the HTTP request (step S 23 ). The HTTP request processing part  501  obtains the contents of a process from a body part according to a method. For example, in a case in which the file management Web service is indicated by a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) or a URI (Uniform Resource Indicator) by the header part, the dispatcher  60  dispatches the process in accordance to the contents of the process to the file management executing part  400  (step S 24 ).  
     [0213] The file management executing part  400  executes the process in respect to the HDD  1303  in accordance to the contents of the process, and obtains the process result (step S 25 ). For example, the document indicated by the contents of the process is added, updated, or deleted. The file management executing part  400  sends the process result to the Web server  500  (step S 26 ).  
     [0214] When the Web server  500  receives a process result from the file management executing part  400 , the Web server  500  creates an UTML  24  for displaying the process result at the monitor  9  so as to display the process result at the monitor  9  by the Web browser  23  of the network apparatus  10 , by the HTML creating part  502 . Then, the httpd  2  is requested to send the HTML  24  to the network apparatus  10  (step S 26 - 1 ). The httpd  2  sends the HTML  24  to the network apparatus  10  in accordance with the HTTP (step S 27 ).  
     [0215] When the HTTP response is received by the network apparatus  10 , the Web browser  23  displays the HTML  24  on the monitor  9  by the input/output control part  11  (step S 28 ).  
     [0216] In the first functional configuration, the network apparatus  10  does not need the special message exchange method with the multi-functional business apparatuses  1200 . Only using the web browser, the network apparatus  10  can receive the Web service from the multi-functional business apparatus  1200 , and can realize an RPC (Remote Procedure Call).  
     [0217] In the first functional configuration, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  can be configured so that an XML is created based on the process result received from the file management executing part  400  as a Web service function (WSF), and an HTML form is created from the XML by using a predetermined XSL (eXtensible Stylesheet Language). In the following, a second functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  including the Web server will be described with reference to FIG. 23.  
     [0218]FIG. 23 is a block diagram showing the second functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  including the Web server, according to the third embodiment of the invention. In FIG. 23, parts that are the same as the ones in FIG. 22 are indicated by the same reference numerals and the explanation thereof will be omitted. Also, a process flow in FIG. 23 is similar to that in FIG. 22 and the explanation thereof will be omitted. In the second functional configuration shown in FIG. 23, in a different point from the first functional configuration, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  includes an XML processing part  50  shared with a plurality of Web service providing process parts such as the file management Web service providing process part  40  and another Web service providing process part  49 , and the Web server  500  includes an XSL processor  503  for converting the XML generated by the XML processing part  50  into the HTML form.  
     [0219] In such the multi-functional business apparatus  1200 , the XML processing part  50  creates an XML  26  based on the process result from the file management executing part  400 , and sends the XML  26  to the HTML creating part  502 . The HTML creating part  502  converts the XML  26  into the HTML form by the XSL processor  503  based on the XSL  25  showing the predetermined style list. The HTML creating part  502  creates the HTML  24  showing the process result in accordance with this HTML form.  
     [0220] In the second functional configuration, by the Web server  500  with the XSL  25  according to the characteristics of the process in the executing part of each Web service, in case in that the process result is displayed at the network apparatus  10 , it is possible to provide a display screen for each Web service.  
     [0221] Moreover, in the second functional configuration, the XML processing part  50  creates the XML showing the contents of the process of the body part of the HTTP request, and corresponds to the contents of the process. For example, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  can be configured so that the file management executing part  400  is executed by a function call. In the following, a third embodiment of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  including the Web server will be described with reference to FIG. 24.  
     [0222]FIG. 24 is a diagram showing an example of the third functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus including the Web server, according to the third embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 24, parts that are the same as the ones in FIG. 22 and FIG. 23 are indicated by the same reference numerals and the explanation thereof will be omitted. Also, a process flow in FIG. 24 is similar to that in FIG. 23 and the explanation thereof will be omitted. In the third functional configuration shown in FIG. 24, the Web server  500  sends the contents of the process to the XML processing part  50 , and the XML processing part  50  creates an XML  27  showing the contents of the process and calls the file management executing part  400 . The process after the notice of the process result by the file management executing part  400  is conducted as the same as that in the above-mentioned second functional configuration in the third embodiment of the present invention.  
     [0223] In the third functional configuration, since the Web server  500  can transmit the contents of the process to the XML processing part  50  and can receive the process result from the XML processing part  50 , the Web server  500  does not need to know each Web service providing process part. The XML processing part  50  shared with the plurality of Web service providing process parts serves as an interface between the Web server  500  and each Web service providing process part.  
     [0224] At the network apparatus  10  connected through the network  15  to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  including any one of the first, the second, the third functional configurations, for example, the process result by the file management Web service providing process part  40  is displayed at the screen as shown in FIG. 19.  
     [0225] According to the third embodiment of the present invention, the network apparatus  10  does not need the special message exchange method with the multi-functional business apparatuses  1200 . Only using the web browser, the network apparatus  10  can receive the Web service from the multi-functional business apparatus  1200 , and can realize an RPC (Remote Procedure call).  
     [0226] Moreover, for example, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  can be configured so that the XML is created based on the process result received from the file management executing part  400  as the Web service function (WSF), and the HTML form is created from the XML by using the predetermined XSL (extensible Stylesheet Language) by the Web server  500  with the XSL  25  according to the characteristics of the process in the executing part of each Web service, in case in that the process result is displayed at the network apparatus  10 , it is possible to provide a display screen for each Web service.  
     [0227] Furthermore, the XML processing part  50  creates the XML showing the contents of the process of the body part of the HTTP request, and corresponds to the contents of the process. For example, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  can be configured so that the file management executing part  400  is executed by a function call. Thus, the web server  500  can transmit the contents of the process to the XML processing part  50 , and can receive the process result from the XML processing part  50 . The Web server  500  does not need to know each Web service providing process part, since the XML processing part  50  shared with the plurality of Web service providing process parts serves as an interface between the Web server  500  and each Web service providing process part.  
     [0228] Moreover, the present invention is not limited to the Web service concerning the file management. In the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  for forming images, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  controls the operation panel  1310 , conducts the print process, a scanner control, and a like, and processes various internal information concerning the image process, and then, can realize the web service providing a process result to an apparatus that requested the Web service. It should be noted that the internal information can be various information concerning the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  and the image process, for example, image information, status information concerning the image information, information including control parameters to change settings of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  or a Network IP, or a like. According to the first embodiment, it is possible to realize to conduct a predetermined process for the internal information and provide the process result as the Web service.  
     [0229] In the third embodiment of the present invention, the Web server  500  corresponds to a Web service communication control part, each of the Web service providing process parts  40  and  49  corresponds to a Web-service-providing process part, and a file management executing part  400  corresponds to a Web service executing part, in claims.  
     [0230] As described above, according to the present invention, instead of installing several driver software to a computer terminal of a user in order to utilize several image forming functions, the user only installs software supporting a standard Web service. Moreover, regardless of the machine type and the operating system of the computer terminal of the user, the computer terminal can send the process request to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  having the plurality of the image forming functions. It is possible to conduct the process request by using the Web browser from the user to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  including several image forming functions, regardless of the machine type and the operating system of the computer terminal. Furthermore, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  can systematically process the process requests from other apparatuses.  
     [0231] [Fourth Embodiment] 
     [0232] In the following, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.  
     [0233] In the fourth embodiment of the present invention, the functional configuration shown in FIG. 21 and the hardware configuration shown in FIG. 2 can be applied to an image forming apparatus uniting various image forming functions (hereinafter, called a multi-functional business apparatus). Therefore, the explanation thereof will be omitted.  
     [0234] In FIG. 21, the Web service process application  1215  includes a Web server  500  for processing a HTTP request of a GET METHOD or a POST METHOD and sending a HTTP response including an HTML, a Web service function (WSF)  1400  for conducting a predetermined process by using the control service  1250  through an API (Application Program Interface) and providing a process result trough a WS-API (Web Service Application Program Interface) as the Web service.  
     [0235] The multi-functional business apparatus  1200  including a combined Web service providing process part for providing a document list will be described in that the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  combines and executes a plurality of methods of one Web service providing process part. FIG. 25 is a block diagram showing a first functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus including the Web server according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 25, only main processing parts are illustrated among the processing parts of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  shown in FIG. 21, and other processing parts are omitted. In FIG. 25, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  mainly includes a file management Web service providing process part  40  and another Web service providing process part  49 , a combined Web service providing process part  90  combining a plurality of methods of the file management Web service providing process part  40 , an XML processing part  50  being shared with the Web service providing process parts  40 ,  49  and  90 , a Web server  500  for controlling the message exchange by the HTTP request and the HTTP response, an operation panel  1310 , a HDD (Hard Disk Drive)  1303 , a FCU (Fax Control Unit)  1320 , a plotter  1201 , a scanner  1202 , and a like. In the multi-functional business apparatus  1200 , for the sake of convenience, as a plurality of Web service providing process parts, only the file management Web service providing process part  40 , the combined Web service providing process part  90 , and the other Web service providing process part  49  are shown. However, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  can include more Web service providing process parts. Also, the XML processing part  50  is shared with those Web service providing process parts.  
     [0236] The file management Web service providing process part  40  includes a document ID list obtaining method  401  for obtaining a list of document IDs that specify the documents accumulated in the HDD  1303 , and a bibliographic information obtaining method  402  for obtaining bibliographic information concerning the document accumulated in the HDD  1303  corresponding to the document ID. A method shows a unit of the process of the Web service by the file management Web service providing process part  40 . The file management Web service providing process part  40  realizes the Web service function  1400  shown in FIG. 21 by a plurality of methods, and provides the Web service in accordance with the request from the network apparatus  10 . In a case of the first functional configuration shown in FIG. 25, as the plurality of methods, it is not limited to the document ID list obtaining method  401  and the bibliographic information obtaining method  402 . It is also possible to include a plurality of methods in addition to these methods.  
     [0237] The document list creation combined method  800  of the combined Web service providing process part  90  includes a document ID list obtaining part  801  for obtaining the list of document IDs by using the document ID list obtaining method  401 , a bibliographic information obtaining part  802  for obtaining the bibliographic information corresponding to the document ID by using the bibliographic information obtaining method  402 , and a document list creating part  803  for creating the document list based on the obtained bibliographic information. Since the document list creation combined method  800  utilizes the document ID list obtaining method  401  and the bibliographic information obtaining method  402 , the document list creation combined method  800  does not have substantial methods. The portion developed in order to realize the document list creation combined method  800  is mainly only the document list creating part  803 . Therefore, it is possible to reduce steps necessary to develop the document list creation combined method  800 . Moreover, the combined Web service providing process part  90  includes a set of a plurality of process units in the document list creation combined method  800  and a plurality of process units by the methods having the substantial method, as the Web service function  1400  shown in FIG. 21.  
     [0238] The Web server  500  includes a httpd  2  for conducting the communication control in accordance with the HTTP, a distributor  30  for distributing a process to the Web service providing process part corresponding to the HTTP request, an HTTP request processing part  501  for processing the HTTP request by the GET METHOD or the POST METHOD received from the network  15 , dispatchers  60  and  68  for dispatching the process concerning the Web service, which is indicated by the HTTP request, to each Web service providing process, an HTML creating part  502  for creating an HTML  24  showing the process result in accordance with this HTML form. The HTML creating part  502  receives the process result described in the XML from the combined Web service providing process part  90 . The HTML creating part  502  converts the XML  26  into the HTML form by the XSL processor  503  based on the XSL  25  showing the-predetermined style list.  
     [0239] The network apparatus  10  connected to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  through the network  15  includes a Web browser  23  including an input/output control part  11  for controlling the output data displayed at the monitor  9  while controlling the input data from an input unit, such as a keyboard or a mouse.  
     [0240] In such the first functional configuration in the fourth embodiment, the process flow of the Web service for providing the document list accumulated in the HDD  1303  will be described. A user using the network apparatus  10  requests desired the Web service of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  from a screen, which is displayed on a monitor  9 , for requesting the Web service of a multi-functional business apparatus  1200 , and the input/output control part  11  receives the request data (step S 51 ). Based on the request data received by the input/output control part  11 , the Web browser  23  generates the HTTP request indicating the GET METHOD or the POST METHOD, and sends the HTTP request to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  through the network  15  (step S 52 ). For example, the web browser  23  sends the HTTP request by the GET METHOD such as  
     [0241] GET/documentListDcgi HTTP/1.1.  
     [0242] When the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  receives the HTTP request from the network apparatus  10 , the distributor  30  distributes this HTTP request to the HTTP request processing part  501  which processes the HTTP request by the GET METHOD based on the GET METHOD of the HTTP request (step S 53 ). The HTTP request processing part  501  dispatches the process to the document list creation combined method  800  specified by the header of the HTTP request, by the dispatcher  68  (step S 54 ). For example, the document list creation combined method  800  equivalent to “documentList.cgi” is executed by “documentList.cgi.” 
     [0243] First, the document list creation combined method  800  calls the document ID list obtaining method  401  of the file management Web service providing process part  40  by the document ID list obtaining part  801  (step S 55 ). The document ID list obtaining method  401  obtains the document ID identifying the document managed by the HDD  1303  (step S 56 ), and creates a document ID list.  
     [0244] Subsequently, the document list creation combined method  800  calls the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  of the file management Web service providing process part  40  by the bibliographic information obtaining part  802  (step S 58 ). The bibliographic information obtaining method  402  inquires the bibliographic information by the document ID sent from the bibliographic information obtaining part  802  to the document managed in the HDD  1303 , and creates the bibliographic information. For example, in a case in that the bibliographic information is obtained for the document ID “101”, the bibliographic information obtaining part  802  executes the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  (getProps (docID, props)) by calling getProps (101 props).  
     [0245] The bibliographic information obtaining method  402  inquires the bibliographic information by the specified document ID in respect to the HDD  1303 , and sends the bibliographic information to the bibliographic information obtaining part  802  (step S 59 ). That is, the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  obtains the bibliographic information from the HDD  1303  by the document ID “101” received from the bibliographic information obtaining part  802 . The bibliographic information obtaining method  402  creates the bibliographic information to send to the bibliographic information obtaining part  802 . For example, the bibliographic information is created as follows:  
     [0246] props={a document ID, a document name, pagination, an owner, and 0} (“0 (zero)” shows the end of bibliographic information). In this case, prop={101, the “accumulated document 1”, 3, “a user 1”, and 0) is set for the document ID “101”. The bibliographic information obtaining method  402  sends a creation result of the bibliographic information for the specified document ID, to the bibliographic information obtaining part  802  of the document list creation combined method  800 .  
     [0247] The bibliographic information obtaining part  802  of the document list creation combined method  800  repeats the same process as described above, for other document IDs “102” and “103”, and then, obtains all document information.  
     [0248] The document list creation combined method  800  further creates the document list by the document list creating part  803 , and sends the document list to the XML processing part  50  in order to describe in the XML (step S 60 ). That is, for example, the document list creating part  803  creates a document list as follows:  
     [0249] docList={{101, the “accumulated document 1”, 3, “a user 1”, and 0}, {102, the ” accumulated document 2”, 10, “a user 2” and 0}, and {103, the “accumulated document 3”, 1, “a user 1”, 0}, 0}.  
     [0250] The document list (docList) is sent to the XML processing part  50 . When the document list (docList) is received, the XML processing part  50  sends an XML  26  described in the XML to the Web server  500  (step S 61 ). When the Web server  500  receives the XML  26 , the Web server  500  executes the HTML creating part  502 . The HTML creating part  502  converts the XML  26  into the HTML form by the XSL processor  503  based on the XSL  25  showing the predetermined style list. The HTML creating part  502  creates the HTML  24  showing the process result in accordance with this HTML form, and sends the HTTP response by the httpd  2  (step S 62 ). Then, the httpd  2  sends the HTTP response to the network apparatus  10  through the network  15  (Step S 63 ).  
     [0251] When the HTTP response is received by the network apparatus  10 , the web browser  23  displays the HTML  24  on the monitor  9  by the input/output control part  11  (step S 64 ).  
     [0252] In the first functional configuration in the fourth embodiment, the network apparatus  10  is not required to conduct a special message exchanging method with the multi-functional business apparatuses  1200 . By using only the Web browser, the network apparatus  10  receives the Web service from the multi-functional business apparatuses  1200 , and can realize an RPC (Remote Procedure Call). Moreover, the combined web service providing process part  90  can process a sequence of Web services combining a plurality of methods by the document list creation combined method  800 , without having the substantial document ID list obtaining method  401  and the bibliographic information obtaining method  402 . Therefore, by combining a plurality of methods, it is possible to conduct a sequence of web services. Therefore, the network apparatus  10  can receive the sequence of web services by a single HTTP request, without considering the unit of the Web service that the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  can provide.  
     [0253] Moreover, the first functional configuration, the XML processing part  50  can be included in the combined Web service providing process part  90 .  
     [0254] The XML processing part  50  shown in FIG. 25 describes a document list (docList) in the XML as shown in FIG. 16.  
     [0255] Moreover, the document list described in the XML shown in FIG. 16 is converted into the document list described by the XSL processor  503  of the HTML creating part  502  in the HTML based on XSL  25  as shown in FIG. 26. FIG. 26 is a diagram showing the document list described in the HTML by the HTML creating part, according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 26, a description  93  shows the header of the HTTP response and a description  99  shows the body part of the HTTP response.  
     [0256] In a description  99 , a description  94  shows the header of HTML and is description for displaying the title “a document list” corresponding to the Web service which the user of the network apparatus  10  requested. A description  95  is a description for displaying a subject name of the document list. A description  96  is a description in the HTML converted from the description  53  in the XML shown in FIG. 16. A description  97  is a description in the HTML converted from the description  54  in the XML shown in FIG. 16. A description  98  is a description in the HTML converted from the description  55  in the XML shown in FIG. 16.  
     [0257] By these descriptions converted into HTML, a screen as shown in FIG. 19 is displayed on the monitor  9  of the network apparatus  10 .  
     [0258] In FIG. 25, it is also possible to provide the Web service by the file management Web service providing processing part  40  itself. That is, when the httpd  2  receives the HTTP request from the network apparatus  10  (step S 52 ), the distributor  30  distributes this HTTP request to the HTTP request processing part  501  for processing the HTTP request by the GET method based on the GET method of the HTTP request (step S 53 ). The HTTP request processing part  501  dispatches the process to the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  specified by the dispatcher  60  by the header of the HTTP request (step S 54 - 3 ).  
     [0259] In respect to the document managed by the HDD  1303 , the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  inquires the bibliographic information by the document ID specified by the HTTP request, creates bibliographic information, and sends to the XML processing part  50  in order for XML to describe the bibliographic information (step S 60 - 3 ). By steps S 61 -S 63 , the bibliographic information is provided to the network apparatus  10 .  
     [0260] Thus, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  can execute the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  itself having a substantial method according to the HTTP request for providing the bibliographic information from the network apparatus  10 . Similarly, it is possible to execute the document ID list obtaining method  401  itself.  
     [0261] Therefore, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  can provide wider Web service by a plurality of methods conducting the Web service and also by combining the plurality of methods.  
     [0262] In the first functional configuration, the functional configuration and process flow of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200 , which includes the combined Web service providing process part for combining and executing the plurality of methods in one Web service providing process part, are described above. In the following, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200 , which includes the combined Web service providing process part for combining and executing the plurality of Web service providing process part and prints out the document list, will be described with reference to FIG. 27. FIG. 27 is a diagram showing a second functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus including the Web server, according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention In FIG. 27, only main processing parts are illustrated among the processing parts of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  shown in FIG. 21, and other processing parts are omitted. In FIG. 27, parts that are the same as the ones in FIG. 25 are indicated by the same reference numerals and the explanation thereof will be omitted. Also, a process flow in FIG. 27 is similar to that in FIG. 25 and the explanation thereof will be omitted.  
     [0263] In the second functional configuration shown in FIG. 27, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  includes a file management Web service providing process part  40 , and a print Web service providing process part  42 . In a different point from the first functional configuration, the combined Web service executing part  80  of the combined Web service providing process part  90  combines and executes an executing part  400  of the file management Web service providing process part  40  and an executing part  412  of the print Web service providing process part  42 .  
     [0264] In the second functional configuration, the file management Web service providing process part  40  includes the file management executing part  400  for controlling the HDD  1303  which accumulates a document as the Web service function  1400  shown in FIG. 21. As the Web service function  1400 , the print Web service providing process part  42  includes the file print executing part  412  for controlling the plotter  1201 , in order to print the document. Since the combined Web service executing part  80  just utilizes the file management executing part  400  and the file print executing part  412 , the combined Web service executing part  80  does not have a substantial executing part as the Web service function  1400 . Therefore, it is possible to greatly reduce development time and cost for the combined Web service executing part  80 .  
     [0265] In the second functional configuration, when the Web server  500  receives the request of the Web service for printing the document accumulated in the HDD  1303  from the network apparatus  10  by the HTTP request, in a case in which the dispatcher  68  dispatches the process, the combined Web service executing part  80  of the Web service providing process part  90  executes the file management executing part  400  (step S 55 - 3 ). The file management executing part  400  obtains the document list by accessing the HDD  1303  (step S 56 ) And the combined Web service executing part  80  obtains the document list from the HDD  1303  (step S 57 - 3 ).  
     [0266] The combined Web service executing part  80  sends the request for printing the document list obtained from the file management executing part  400  to the file print executing part  402  of the file print Web service providing process part  42  (step S 59 - 3 ). The file print executing part  402  conducts a print control of the document list sent from the combined Web service executing part  80  to the plotter  1201 , and sends the process result to the combined Web service executing part  80  (step S 59 - 3 ). The same process as the first functional configuration is conducted, and the information concerning the print process of the document list is displayed on the monitor  9  of the network apparatus  10 .  
     [0267] As described above, in the second functional configuration, the combined Web service executing part  80  of the combined Web service providing process part  90  controls a plurality of Web service providing process parts. Therefore, the network apparatus  10  can receive the sequence of Web services by a single HTTP request, without considering the unit of the Web service that the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  can provide. The multi-functional business apparatus  1200  can provide wider Web service by the Web service providing process part itself and by combining the plurality of Web service providing process parts.  
     [0268] In the second functional configuration, the Web service by combining the file management Web service providing process  40  and the file print Web service providing process part  42  is described. However, it is not limited to this combination. For example, it is possible to provide a Web service for obtaining the document list by the file management Web service providing process part  40  and sends to a destination by he FCU  1320 .  
     [0269] Similar to the first functional configuration, when the dispatcher  6 - 0  dispatches the process to the file management executing part  400 , the file management executing part  400  obtains the document list from the HDD  1303 , and provides the document list as the Web service by the Web server to the network apparatus  10 . Also, when the dispatcher  61  dispatches the process to the file print executing part  400 , the file print executing part  400  obtains the document from the HDD  1303 , print the document by the plotter  1201 , and sends a print result as the Web service by the Web server to the network apparatus  10 .  
     [0270] As described above, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  can also execute the substantial file management executing part  400  and the substantial file print executing part  41 .  
     [0271] In the first and the second functional configurations, it is possible for a plurality of network apparatuses  10  to be connected to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  through the network  15 , and to conduct the Web service according to the HTTP request from each network apparatus  10  by the HTTP response.  
     [0272] By using only the Web browser, the network apparatus  10  receives the Web service from the multi-functional business apparatuses  1200 , and can realize an RPC (Remote Procedure Call).  
     [0273] Furthermore, for example, the multi-functional business apparatuses  1200  can be configured so that the XML is created from the process result by the file management executing part  400  as the Web service function (WSF) and the HTML format is generated based on predetermined XSL. By the Web server  500  with the XSL  25  according to the characteristics of the process in the executing part of each Web service, in case in that the process result is displayed at the network apparatus  10 , it is possible to provide a display screen for each Web service.  
     [0274] Moreover, the present invention is not limited to the Web service concerning the file management. In the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  for forming images, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  controls the operation panel  1310 , conducts the print process, a scanner control, and a like, and processes various internal information concerning the image process, and then, can realize the Web service providing a process result to an apparatus that requested the Web service. It should be noted that the internal information can be various information concerning the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  and the image process, for example, image information, status information concerning the image information, information including control parameters to change settings of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  or a Network IP, or a like. According to the first embodiment, it is possible to realize to conduct a predetermined process for the internal information and provide the process result as the Web service.  
     [0275] In the second embodiment of the present invention, the httpd  2  corresponds to a network communication control part, the file management Web service providing process part  40  corresponds to a web service providing process part, and each of the document-ID list obtaining method  401  and the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  corresponds per process. The combined Web service providing process part  90  corresponds to the combined Web service providing process part, and the document list creation combined method  800  corresponds to a combining process executing part. Moreover, the operation panel control Web service providing processing part  48  corresponds to an internal Web service providing process part.  
     [0276] As described above, according to the present invention, instead of installing several driver software to a computer terminal of a user in order to utilize several image forming functions, the user only installs software supporting a standard Web service. Moreover, regardless of the machine type and the operating system of the computer terminal of the user, the computer terminal can send the process request to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  having the plurality of the image forming functions. It is possible to conduct the process request by using the Web browser from the user to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  including several image forming functions, regardless of the machine type and the operating system of the computer terminal. Furthermore, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  can systematically process the process requests from other apparatuses.  
     [0277] [Fifth Embodiment] 
     [0278] In the following, a fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.  
     [0279] In the fifth embodiment of the present invention, the functional configuration shown in FIG. 21 and the hardware configuration shown in FIG. 2 can be applied to an image forming apparatus uniting various image forming functions (hereinafter, called a multi-functional business apparatus). Therefore, the explanation thereof will be omitted.  
     [0280] In FIG. 21, the Web service process application  1215  includes a Web server  500  for processing a HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) request of and sending a HTTP response, a Web service function (WSF)  1400  for conducting a predetermined process by using the control service  1250  through an API (Application Program Interface) and providing a process result trough a WS-API (Web Service Application Program Interface) as the Web service.  
     [0281] In the following, the functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  that can provide the Web service by the SOAP and the HTML will be described with reference to FIG. 2B. FIG. 28 is a diagram showing a first functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus for providing Web service, according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 28, only main processing parts are illustrated among the processing parts of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  shown in FIG. 21, and other processing parts are omitted. The multi-functional business apparatus  1200  is connected to a network apparatus  10 A which receives the Web service by the SOAP, and a network apparatus  10 B which receives the Web service by the HTML through the network  15 .  
     [0282] The multi-functional business apparatus  1200  includes a Web server  500  for distributing the process to an internal Web service providing process part while conducting communication control in accordance with the HTTP, a file management Web service providing process part  40  and another Web service providing process part  49  as a plurality of Web service providing process part, a scanner  1202 , a HDD  1303 , a plotter  1201 , an operation panel  1310 , a FAX control-unit  1530 , and a like. The plurality of Web service providing process parts  40  and  49  include the Web service function (WSF)  1400 , respectively.  
     [0283] In the case of the first functional configuration shown in FIG. 28, the file management Web service providing process part  40  includes a file management executing part  400  for controlling the file management, such as a document accumulated to the HDD  1303 , as the Web service function  1400  that executes the Web service. Also, the plurality of the Web service providing process part  40  and  49  are included in the Web service process application  1215 .  
     [0284] The Web server  500  includes a httpd  2  for conducting the communication control in accordance with the HTTP, a distributor  30  for distributing a process to the Web service providing process part corresponding to the HTTP request, an HTTP request processing part  501  for processing the HTTP request by the GET METHOD or the POST METHOD received from the network  15 , a dispatcher  60 B for dispatching the process concerning the Web service, which is indicated by the HTTP request, to the file management executing part  400 , an HTML (HyperTest Markup Language) showing a process result received from the file management executing part  400 . The HTTP request is a request of the web service by a data communication in accordance with the HTTP, and the HTTP response is a response showing a process result of the Web service.  
     [0285] The distributor  30  includes a judging part for judging whether or not the HTTP request is the HTTP request indicating the SOAP. When the HTTP request indicates the SOAP, the distributor  30  distributes the process to the Web service providing process part  40  or  49  indicated by a SOAPAction. On the other hand, when the HTTP request does not indicate the SOAP, that is, the HTTP request indicates a GET METHOD or POST METHOD, the distributor  30  distributes the HTTP request to the HTTP request processing part  501 .  
     [0286] Furthermore, the HTML creating part  502  includes an XSL processor  503  for converting XML generated by the XML processing part  50  into an HTML format by using a predetermined XSL (extensible Stylesheet Language)  25 . The multi-functional business apparatus  1200  includes a XML processing part  50  for processing a message described in the XML and a SOAP processing part  70 , which are shared with the plurality of the Web service providing parts  40  and  49 .  
     [0287] The XML processing part  50  generates the body part of the HTTP response, which does not specify SOAP, by describing in the XML by the same method for generating the body part of the HTTP response indicating the SOAP. Furthermore, the SOAP processing part  70  includes a dispatcher  60 A for dispatching to the file management executing part  400  based on the process message showing the contents of a process of Web service.  
     [0288] In the multi-functional business apparatus  1200 , for the sake of convenience, as a plurality of Web service providing process parts, only the file management Web service providing process part  40 , and the other Web service providing process part  49  are shown. However, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  can include more Web service providing process parts. In this case, the SOAP processing part  70  includes a plurality of dispatcher  60 A for dispatching the process to each executing part of the plurality of Web service providing process parts. Also, the XML processing part  50  and the SOAP processing part  70  are shared with the plurality of Web service providing process parts. A plurality of dispatchers  60 B are corresponded to the plurality of Web service providing process parts.  
     [0289] Moreover, the network apparatus  10 A connected to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  through a network  15  controls input data from input units, such as a keyboard or a mouse, and includes an input/output control part  11 A for controlling output data displayed on a monitor  9 A, a SOAP processing part  12  for exchanging messages to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  in accordance to the SOAP, a request/response processing part  14  for generating the request and analyzing the response in accordance with the HTTP. The SOAP processing part  12  includes an XML processing part  13  for processing the contents of the process of the Web service to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  and the process result of the Web service from the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  by the XML. The network apparatus  10 A connected to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  through a network  15  controls input data from input units, such as a keyboard or a mouse, and includes an input/output control part  11 B for controlling output data displayed on a monitor  9 B, and a Web browser  23  for generating a request displaying a response in accordance with the HTTP.  
     [0290] First, the process flow which provides Web service according to the request from the network apparatus  10 A will be described. The user using the network apparatus  10 A requests a desired Web service of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  from the screen for requesting of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  (step S 101 ). In response to the request of the Web service by the user, the input/output control part  11 A sends request data to the request/response processing part  14  (step S 102 ). The request/response processing part  14  generates the HTTP request based on the request data from the input/output control part  11 A (step S 103 ). When the XML processing part  13  describes the contents of the process to the body part of the HTTP request in the XML, and the HTTP request is sent to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  by the SOAP processing part  12  through the network  15  (step S 104 ).  
     [0291] When the Web server  500  of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  receives the HTTP request by the httpd  2 , the HTTP request is distributed to the Web service providing process part specified by the header of the HTTP request by the distributor  30  (step S 105 ). For example, when the file management Web service providing process part  40  is specified by the header of the HTTP request, the file management Web service providing process part  40  is called by the distributor  30 .  
     [0292] In the file management Web service providing process part  40 , the SOAP processing part  70  processes the HTTP request according to the SOAP, and sends to the dispatcher  60 A for dispatching the process to the file management executing part  400  specified by the SOAP header (step S 106 ). The dispatcher  60 A dispatches the contents of the process by the header of the HTTP request, and sends them to the XML processing part  50  (step  1107 ). The XML processing part  50  converts the message showing the contents of the process in the body part of the HTTP request described in the XML into a description which can be interpreted by the file management executing part  400 , and executes the file management executing part  400  (step S 108 ). The file management executing part  400  executes the process to the HDD  1303  in accordance with the contents of the process, and obtains the process result (step S 109 ); For example, the document indicated by the contents of the process is added, updated, or deleted.  
     [0293] The file management executing part  400  sends the process result to the XML processing part  50  (step S 110 ). The XML processing part  50  generates the XML  26  describing the process result in the XML, and sends to the SOAP processing part  70  in order to set in the body part of the HTTP response (step S 111 ). And Web server  500  sends the HTTP response in accordance with the SOAP through the httpd  2  in the body part to the network apparatus  10 A (step S 112 ). The HTTP response includes the process result described in the XML.  
     [0294] When the HTTP response is received at the network apparatus  10 A, the XML processing part  13  analyzes the body part of the HTTP response, and obtains the process result (step S 113 ). The request/response processing part  14  passes the obtained process result to the input/output control part  11 A as output data displayed on the monitor  9 A (step S 114 ). And the input/output control part  11 A is controlled to display the received output data on the monitor  9 A (step S 115 ).  
     [0295] The network apparatus  10 A describes the contents of the process to the body part of the HTTP request in accordance with the description format of the XML that is defined beforehand. Thus, the Web service can be requested from a remote place from the multi-functional business apparatus  1200 . Thus, it is possible to provide the Web service to the network apparatus  10 A in a remote place. A multi-functional business apparatus  1200  can also provide the Web service to a plurality of network apparatuses  10 A through the network  15 .  
     [0296] A process flow, in which the Web service is provided in response to the request from the network apparatus  10 B, will be described. The user using the network apparatus  10 B requests a desired Web service of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  from the screen for requesting the Web service displayed on the monitor  9 B of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200 . The input/output control part  11 B receives the request data (step S 121 ). Based on the request data received by the input/output control part  11 B, the web browser  23  generates the HTTP request by the GET METHOD or the POST METHOD, and sends to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  through the network  15  (step S 122 ).  
     [0297] The multi-functional business apparatus  1200  analyzes the HTTP request by the web server  500 , when the HTTP request is received from the network-apparatus  10 B. That is, when the httpd  2  for conducting the network communication control receives the HTTP request, the HTTP request is distributed to the HTTP request processing part  501  by-the distributor  30 , so as to analyze the HTTP request in accordance with the method (GET METHOD or POST METHOD) indicated by the header of the HTTP request (step S 123 ).  
     [0298] The HTTP request processing part  501  obtains the contents of the process from the body part in accordance to the method. For example, when the file management Web service is specified by a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) or a URI (Uniform Resource Indicator) by the header, the process according to the contents of the process is distributed to the file management executing part  400  by the dispatcher  60 B (step S 124 ). The file management executing part  400  executes the process to the HDD  1303  according to the contents of the process, and obtains the process result (step S 125 ). For example, the document is added, updated, or deleted in accordance with the contents of the process.  
     [0299] The file management executing part  400  for obtaining the process result sends the process result to the XML processing part  50  (step S 126 ). In the same method for generating the body part of the HTTP response in accordance with the SOAP, the XML processing part  50  generates the XML  26  showing the process result in the XML, and sends the HTML creating part  502  of the Web server  500  in order to set in the body part of a HTTP response (step S 127 ). The HTML creating part  502  generates the HTML  24  converted into the HTML format by using a predetermined XSL  25  by the XSL processor  503 , and sends the HTML  24  by the httpd  2  (step S 128 ). The httpd  2  sends the HTML  24  to the network apparatus  10 B in accordance with the http (step S 129 ).  
     [0300] When the HTTP response is received in the network apparatus  10 B, the web browser  23  displays the HTML  24  on the monitor  9 B by the input/output control part  11 B (step S 130 ).  
     [0301] By using only the Web browser  23 , the network apparatus  10 B receives the Web service from the multi-functional business apparatuses  1200 , and can realize an RPC (Remote Procedure Call). By the Web server  500  with the XSL  25  according to the characteristics of the process in the executing part of each Web service, in case in that the process result is displayed at the network apparatus  10 , it is possible to provide a display screen for each Web service.  
     [0302] Therefore, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  can provide the web service by the same file management executing part  400  to the network apparatus  10 A which can conduct the message exchange in accordance with the SOAP, and also the network apparatus  10 B using the web browser  23 . The file management Web service providing process part  40  for including the file management executing part  400  can share with the process requests according to different protocols, respectively. Accordingly, it is not necessary to develop the file management Web service providing process part  40  to support each protocol of the process request.  
     [0303] Moreover, in the multi-functional business apparatus  1200 , the Web server  500  uses the XSL  25 , so that a process for describing the body part of the HTTP response indicating the SOAP can be the same as that for describing the body part of the HTTP response indicating other than the SOAP, in the XML processing part  50 . Thus, a single process for describing the body part of the HTTP response can be shared with the HTTP responses indicating different protocols, respectively.  
     [0304] The examples of the HTTP request and the HTTP response in accordance with the SOAP are shown in FIG. 11A and FIG. 11B. Thus, the explanation thereof will be omitted.  
     [0305] The multi-functional business apparatus  1200  including a combined Web service providing process part for providing a document list will be described in that the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  combines and executes a plurality of methods of one Web service providing process part. FIG. 29 is a block diagram showing a second functional configuration of the multi-functional business apparatus including a combined Web service, according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 29, only main processing parts are illustrated among the processing parts of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  shown in FIG. 21, and other processing parts are omitted. The multi-functional business apparatus  1200  is connected to a network apparatus  10 A which receives the Web service by the SOAP, and a network apparatus  10 B which receives the Web service by the HTML through the network  15 .  
     [0306] In FIG. 29, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  includes a Web server  500  for distributing the process to an internal Web service providing process part while conducting communication control in accordance with the HTTP, a file management Web service providing process part  40 , another Web service providing process part  49 , and combined-Web-service providing process part  90  as a plurality of Web service providing process part, an XML processing part  50  for processing the message described in the XML, a SOAP processing part  70  for exchanging the message in accordance with the SOAP between the network apparatuses  10 A and  10 B, a scanner  1202 , a HDD  1303 , a plotter  1201 , an operation panel  1310 , a FAX control-unit  1530 , and a like.  
     [0307] The XML processing part  50  and the SOAP processing part  70  are shared the plurality of Web service providing process parts  40 ,  49 , and  90 . Moreover, the plurality of Web service providing process parts  40 ,  49 , and  90  are included in the Web service process application  1215  shown in FIG. 21.  
     [0308] The Web server  500  includes a httpd  2  for conducting a communication control in accordance with the HTTP, a distributor  30  for distributing the process to the Web service providing process part corresponding to the HTTP request, an HTTP request processing part  501  for processing the HTTP request by the GET METHOD or the POST METHOD received from the network  15 , dispatchers  60 A and  68 A for dispatching the process of the Web service indicated by the HTTP request for each Web service providing process part, an HTML creating part  502  for creating the process result, which is sent from each of the Web service providing process parts  40 ,  90 , and  49  and is described in the XML by the HTML  24 . The HTML creating part  502  includes the XSL processor  503  for converting the XML generated by the XML processing part  50  into a HTML format. The HTTP request is a request of the Web service by a data communication in accordance with the HTTP and the HTTP response is a response showing a process result of the Web service.  
     [0309] The distributor  30  includes a judging part for judging whether or not the HTTP request is the HTTP request indicating the SOAP. When the HTTP request indicates the SOAP, the distributor  30  distributes the process to the Web service providing process part  40  or  49  indicated by a SOAPAction. On the other hand, when the HTTP request does not indicate the SOAP, that is, the HTTP request indicates a GET METHOD or POST METHOD, the distributor  30  distributes the HTTP request to the HTTP request processing part  501 .  
     [0310] The file management Web-service-providing processing part  40  includes a document ID list obtaining method  401  for obtaining the list of document IDs identifying the document accumulated in the HDD  1303 , and bibliographic information obtaining method  402  for obtaining bibliographic information concerning the document accumulated in the HDD  1303  corresponding to the document ID. A method shows a unit of the process of the Web service by the file management web service providing process part  40 . The file management Web service providing process part  40  realizes the Web service function  1400  shown in FIG. 21 by a plurality of methods, and provides the Web service in accordance with the request from the network apparatus  10 . In a case of the second functional configuration shown in FIG. 29 as the plurality of methods, it is not limited to the document ID list obtaining method  401  and the bibliographic information obtaining method  402 . It is also possible to include a plurality of methods in addition to these methods.  
     [0311] The document list creation combined method  800  of the combined Web service providing process part  90  includes a document ID list obtaining part  801  for obtaining the list of document IDs by using the document ID list obtaining method  401 , a bibliographic information obtaining part  802  for obtaining the bibliographic information corresponding to the document ID by using the bibliographic information obtaining method  402 , and a document list creating part  803  for creating the document list based on the obtained bibliographic information. Since the document list creation combined method  800  utilizes the document ID list obtaining method  401  and the bibliographic information obtaining method  402 , the document list creation combined method  800  does not have substantial methods. The portion developed in order to realize the document list creation combined method  800  is mainly only the document list creating part  803 . Therefore, it is possible to reduce steps necessary to develop the document list creation combined method  800 . Moreover, the combined Web service providing process part  90  include a set of a plurality of process units in the document list creation combined method  800  and a plurality of process units by the methods having the substance thereof, as the Web service function  1400  shown in FIG. 21.  
     [0312] Moreover, the SOAP processing part  70  includes the dispatchers  60 A and  68 A for dispatching the process to each of the Web service providing process parts  40  and  90 . For example, the SOAP processing part  70  includes the dispatcher  60 A for dispatching the process to each of methods  401  and  402  of the file management Web service providing process part  40 , the dispatcher  68 A for dispatching the process to the document list creation combined method  800  of the combined Web service providing process part  90 , and other dispatchers (not shown in FIG. 29) for dispatching the process to a method of the other Web service providing process part  49 . In the multi-functional business apparatus  1200 , for the sake of convenience, as a plurality of Web service providing process parts, only the file management Web service providing process part  40 , the combined Web service providing process part  90 , and the other Web service providing process part  49  are shown. However, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  can include more Web service providing process parts. Also, the XML processing part  50  and the SOAP processing part  70  are shared with those Web service providing process parts.  
     [0313] Since the second functional configurations of the network apparatuses  10 A and  10 B connected to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  through the network  15  are the same as those of the network apparatuses  10 A and  10 B shown in FIG. 28, the explanation will be omitted.  
     [0314] First, the process flow for providing the Web service according to the request from the network apparatus  10 A will be described. A user using such the network apparatus  10 A requests a desired Web service of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  from a screen for requesting of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  (step S 31 ). For example, it is assumed that the user requests the Web service that provides a list of the document accumulated in the HDD  1303  of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  from the screen of the monitor  9 A. In response to a request of the Web service from the user, the input/output control part  11 A sends the request data to the request/response processing part  14  (step S 32 ). The request/response processing part  14  generates the HTTP request based on the request data from the input/output control part  11 A, and sends to the SOAP processing part  12  (step S 33 ). The SOAP processing part  12  describes the contents of the process of the Web service in the XML by the XML processing part  13  and sets in the body part of the HTTP request, so as to generate the HTTP request in accordance with the SOAP. Then, the HTTP request is sent to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  through the network  15  (step S 34 ).  
     [0315] When the httpd  2  of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  receives the HTTP request, the httpd  2  distributes the HTTP request to the Web service providing process part, which is indicated by the header of the HTTP request, by the distributor  30  (step S 35 ). For example, when the combined Web service providing process part  90  is specified by the header of the HTTP request, the combined Web service providing process part  90  is executed by the distributor  30 .  
     [0316] The combined Web service providing process part  90  sends the HTTP request to the SOAP processing part  70 , in order to process the HTTP request in accordance with SOAP (Step S 36 ). The SOAP processing part  70  processes a HTTP request in accordance with SOAP. And the dispatcher  68  distributes the process to the document list creation combined method  800  specified by the header of the ETTP request, and executes the XML processing part  50  according to the method of HTTP (Step S 37 ). The XML processing part  50  converts the message, which is described in the XML and shows the contents of the process in the body part of the HTTP request, into a description which can be interpreted by the document list creation combined method  800 . Then, the XML processing part  50  sends the message to the document list creation combined method  800  (Step S 38 ).  
     [0317] First, the document list creation combined method  800  calls the document ID list obtaining method  401  of the file management Web service providing process part  40  by the document ID list obtaining part  801  (Step S 39 ). The document ID list obtaining method  401  obtains the document ID identifying the document managed by the HDD  1303 , and creates the document ID list. In this case, it is assumed that the document ID list obtaining method  401  (listID (docIDList)) obtains a document ID “101”, “102”, and “103.” A document ID list (docIDList) is set as follows:  
     [0318] docIDList={101, 102, 103, and 0} (“0 (zero)” shows an end),  
     [0319] and the document ID list is sent to the document ID list obtaining part  801  (step S 40 ).  
     [0320] Subsequently, the document list creation combined method  800  calls the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  of the file management Web service providing process part  40  by the bibliographic information obtaining part  802  (step S 41 ). In respect to the document managed in the HDD  1303 , the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  inquires the bibliographic information by the document ID received from the bibliographic information obtaining part  802 , and creates bibliographic information. For example, in a case in that the bibliographic information is obtained for the document ID “101”, the bibliographic information obtaining part  802  executes the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  (getProps (docID, props)) by calling getProps ( 101  props).  
     [0321] The bibliographic information obtaining method  402  inquires the bibliographic information by the specified document ID in respect to the HDD  1303 , and sends the bibliographic information to the bibliographic information obtaining part  802  (step S 42 ). That is, the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  obtains the bibliographic information from the HDD  1303  by the document ID “101” received from the bibliographic information obtaining part  802 . The bibliographic information obtaining method  402  creates the bibliographic information to send to the bibliographic information obtaining part  802 . For example, the bibliographic information is created as follows:  
     [0322] prop={a document ID, a document name, pagination, an owner, and 0} (“0 (zero)” shows the end of bibliographic information).  
     [0323] In this case, prop=(101, the “accumulated document 1”, 3, “a user 1”, and 0} is set for the document ID “101”. The bibliographic information obtaining method  402  sends a creation result of the bibliographic information for the specified document ID, to the bibliographic information obtaining part  802  of the document list creation combined method  800  (step S 42 ).  
     [0324] The bibliographic information obtaining part  802  of the document list creation combined method  800  repeats the same process as described above, for other document IDs “102” and “103”, and then, obtains all document information.  
     [0325] The document list creation combined method  800  further creates the document list by the document list creating part  803 , and sends the document list to the XML processing part  50  in order to describe in the XML (step S 43 ). That is, for example, the document list creating part  803  creates a document list as follows:  
     [0326] docList={{101, the “accumulated document 1”, 3, “a user 1”, and 0}, {102, the “accumulated document 2”, 10, “a user 2” and 0}, and {103, the “accumulated document 3”, 1, “a user 1”, 0}, 0}.  
     [0327] The document lint (docList) is sent to the XML processing part  50  when the document list (docList) is received, the XML processing part  50  describes the document list (docList) in the XML and sends to the SOAP processing part  70  (step  544 ). When the SOAP processing part  70  receives the document list described in the XML, the SOAP processing part  70  sets the document list described in XML to the body part of the HTTP response, and generates the HTTP response in accordance to SOAP (step S 45 ).  
     [0328] The SOAP processing part  70  sends the HTTP response to the httpd  2  (step S 46 ), and then the HTTP response is sent to the network apparatus  10 A (step S 47 ).  
     [0329] At the network apparatus  10 A receives the HTTP response, the SOAP processing part  12  processes the HTTP response by using the XML processing part  13 . The XML processing part  13  analyzes the body part of the HTTP response, and obtains the process result, and sends to the request/response processing part  14  (step S 48 ). The request/response processing part  14  passes the obtained process result to the input/output control part  11 A as output data displayed on the monitor  9 A (step S 50 ).  
     [0330] In the second functional configuration, by the document list creation combined method  800 , the combined Web service providing process part  90  can process the sequence of Web services combining the plurality of methods, without having a substantial document ID list obtaining method  401  and a substantial bibliographic information obtaining method  402 . Therefore, the network apparatus  10 A can receive the sequence of Web services by a single HTTP request, without considering the unit of the Web service that the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  can provide.  
     [0331] Furthermore, in FIG. 29, it is also possible to provide the Web service by the file management Web service providing process part  40  itself. That is, when the httpd  2  receives the HTTP request from the network apparatus  10 A or  10 B (Step S 34 ), the distributor  30  distributes the HTTP request to the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  of the file management Web-service-providing processing part  40 , in response to a request of the Web service for obtaining the bibliographic information indicated in the header of the HTTP request (step S 35 - 3 ).  
     [0332] The file management Web service providing process part  40  sends the HTTP request to the SOAP processing part  70 , in order to process the HTTP request in accordance with SOAP (step S 36 - 3 ). The SOAP processing part  70  processes the HTTP request in accordance with the SOAP. The dispatcher  60 A dispatches the process to the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  specified by the header of the HTTP request, and executes the XML processing part  50  according to the method of HTTP (step S 37 - 3 ). The XML processing part  50  converts the message showing the contents of the process in the body part of the HTTP request described in the XML into the data format that can be interpreted by the bibliographic information obtaining method  402 , and sends to the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  (step S 38 - 3 ).  
     [0333] In respect to the document managed in the HDD  1303 , the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  inquires the bibliographic information by the document ID specified by the message processed by the XML processing part  50 . And the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  sends to the XML processing part  50 , in order to describe the bibliographic information in the XML (step S 43 - 3 ). The XML processing part  50  generates the XML  26  describing the bibliographic information in the XML and sends the XML  26  to the SOAP processing part  70  (step S 44 - 3 ). Furthermore, in the SOAP processing part  70 , the bibliographic information described in the XML is set in the body part of the HTTP response, and the HTTP response is generated in accordance with the SOAP (step S 45 - 3 ). Then, the HTTP response is sent to a network apparatus  10  from httpd 2  (Step S 46  and S 47 ).  
     [0334] As described above, in response to the HTTP request for providing the bibliographic information from the network apparatus  10 A, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  can execute the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  itself. Moreover, it is also possible to execute the document ID list obtaining method  401  itself.  
     [0335] Therefore, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  forms an image, and provides wider Web service by a plurality of methods conducting the Web service and also by combining the plurality of methods.  
     [0336] Next, a process flow for providing the Web service according to the request from the network apparatus  10 B will be described. A user using the network apparatus  10 B requests desired the Web service of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  from a screen, which is displayed on the monitor  9 B, for requesting the Web service of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200 , and the input/output control part  11  receives the request data (step S 51 ). Based on the request data received by the input/output control part  11 , the Web browser  23  generates the HTTP request indicating the GET METHOD or the POST METHOD, and sends the HTTP request to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  through the network  15  (step S 52 ). For example, the web browser  23  sends the HTTP request by the GET METHOD such as  
     [0337] GET/documentListDcgi HTTP1.1.  
     [0338] When the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  receives the HTTP request from the network apparatus  10 B, the distributor  30  distributes this HTTP request to the HTTP request processing part  501  which processes the HTTP request by the GET METHOD based on the GET METHOD of the HTTP request (step S 53 ). The HTTP request processing part  501  dispatches the process to the document list creation combined method  800  specified by the header of the HTTP request, by the dispatcher  68  (Step S 54 ). For example, the document list creation combined method  800  equivalent to “documentList.cgi” is executed by “documentList.cgi.” 
     [0339] First, the document list creation combined method  800  calls the document ID list obtaining method  401  of the file management Web service providing process part  40  by the document ID list obtaining part  801  (step S 55 ). The document ID list obtaining method  401  obtains the document ID identifying the document managed by the HDD  1303  (step S 56 ), and creates a document ID list. In this case, it is assumed that the document ID list obtaining method  401  (listID (docIDList)) obtains a document ID “101”, “102”, and “103.” A document ID list (docIDList) is set as follows:  
     [0340] docIDList={101, 102, 103, and 0) (“0 (zero)” shows an end},  
     [0341] and the document ID list is sent to the document ID list obtaining part  801  (step S 57 ).  
     [0342] Subsequently, the document list creation combined method  800  calls the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  of the file management Web service providing process part  40  by the bibliographic information obtaining part  802  (step S 58 ). The bibliographic information obtaining method  402  inquires the bibliographic information by the document ID sent from the bibliographic information obtaining part  802  to the document managed in the HDD  1303 , and creates the bibliographic information. For example, in a case in that the bibliographic information is obtained for the document ID “101”, the bibliographic information obtaining part  802  executes the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  (getProps (docID, props)) by calling getProps ( 101  props).  
     [0343] The bibliographic information obtaining method  402  inquires the bibliographic information by the specified document ID in respect to the HDD  1303 , and sends the bibliographic information to the bibliographic information obtaining part  802  (step S 59 ). That is, the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  obtains the bibliographic information from the HDD  1303  by the document ID “101” received from the bibliographic information obtaining part  802 . The bibliographic information obtaining method  402  creates the bibliographic information to send to the bibliographic information obtaining part  802 . For example, the bibliographic information is created as follows:  
     [0344] prop={a document ID, a document name, pagination, an owner, and 0} (“0 (zero)” shows the end of bibliographic information). In this case, prop={101, the “accumulated document 1”, 3, “a user 1”, and 0} is set for the document ID “101”. The bibliographic information obtaining method  402  sends a creation result of the bibliographic information for the specified document ID, to the bibliographic information obtaining part  802  of the document list creation combined method  800 .  
     [0345] The bibliographic information obtaining part  802  of the document list creation combined method  800  repeats the same process as described above, for other document IDs “102” and “103”, and then, obtains all document information.  
     [0346] The document list creation combined method  800  further creates the document list by the document list creating part  803 , and sends the document list to the XML processing part  50  in order to describe in the XML (step S 60 ). That is, for example, the document list creating part  803  creates a document list as follows:  
     [0347] docList={{101, the “accumulated document 1”, 3, “a user 1”, and 0}, }102, the “accumulated document 2”, 10, “a user 2” and 0}, and (103, the “accumulated document 3”, 1, “a user 1”, 0), 0}.  
     [0348] The document list (docList) is sent to the XML processing part  50 . When the document list (docList) is received, the XML processing part  50  sends an XML  26  described in the XML to the Web server  500  (step S 61 ). When the Web server  500  receives the XML  26 , the Web server  500  executes the HTML creating part  502 . The HTML creating part  502  converts the XML  26  into the HTML form by the XSL processor  503  based on the XSL  25  showing the predetermined style list. The HTML creating part  502  creates the HTML  24  showing the process result in accordance with this HTML form, and sends the HTTP response by the httpd  2  (step S 62 ). Then, the httpd  2  sends the HTTP response to the network apparatus  10 B through the network  15  (Step S 63 ).  
     [0349] When the HTTP response is received by the network apparatus  10 B, the web browser  23  displays the HTML  24  on the monitor  9  by the input/output control part  11 . (step S 64 ).  
     [0350] Furthermore, in FIG. 29, it is also possible to provide the Web service by the file management Web service providing process part  40  itself. That is, when the httpd  2  receives the HTTP request from the network apparatus  10 B, the distributor  30  distributes this HTTP request to the HTTP request processing part  501  which processes the HTTP request by the GET METHOD based on the GET METHOD of the HTTP request (step S 53 ). The HTTP request processing part  501  dispatches the process to the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  specified by the dispatcher  60  by the header of the HTTP request (step S 54 - 3 ).  
     [0351] In respect to the document managed by the HDD  1303 , the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  inquires the bibliographic information by the document ID specified by the HTTP request, creates bibliographic information, and sends to the XML processing part  50  in order for XML to describe the bibliographic information (step S 60 - 3 ). By steps S 61 -S 63 , the bibliographic information is provided to the network apparatus  10 B.  
     [0352] Thus, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  can execute the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  itself having a substantial method according to the HTTP request for providing the bibliographic information from the network apparatus  10 B. Similarly, it is possible similarly to execute the document ID list obtaining method  401  itself.  
     [0353] Therefore, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  can provide wider Web service by a plurality of methods conducting the Web service and also by combining the plurality of methods.  
     [0354] In the second functional configuration, the network apparatus  10 B does not need the special message exchange method with the multi-functional business apparatuses  1200 . Only using the web browser, the network apparatus  10  can receive the Web service from the multi-functional business apparatus  1200 , and can realize an RPC (Remote Procedure Call). Moreover, the combined Web service providing process part  90  can process a sequence of Web services combining a plurality of methods by the document list creation combined method  800 , without having the substantial document ID list obtaining method  401  and the bibliographic information obtaining method 402 . Therefore, by combining a plurality of methods, it is possible to conduct a sequence of Web services. Therefore, the network apparatus  10 B can receive the sequence of Web services by a single HTTP request, without considering the unit of the Web service that the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  can provide.  
     [0355] Furthermore, the combined Web service providing process part  90  can share by the process requests indicating different protocols. Therefore, it is not necessary to develop the combined Web service providing process part  90  for each protocol of the process request.  
     [0356] The XML processing part  50  includes the XSL  25 , so that the process for describing the body of the HTTP response that indicates the SOAP can be shared with the HTTP response that does not indicate the SOAP.  
     [0357] For example, the XML processing part  50  shown in FIG. 29 describes the document list (docList) in the XML as shown in FIG. 16. And the SOAP processing part  12  of the network apparatus  10 A creates the HTTP request as shown in FIG. 17 and the SOAP processing part  80  of the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  creates the HTTP response as shown in FIG. 18.  
     [0358] As described above, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  according to the present invention can provide the Web service by the message exchange by the SOAP and also by the HTML. Accordingly, it is possible to provide the same Web service to the users using the network apparatuses  10 A and  10 B.  
     [0359] Moreover, the same Web service function can be executed for both the HTTP request that indicates the SOAP and the HTTP request that does not indicate the SOAP. Furthermore, in respect to both the HTTP request that indicates the SOAP and the HTTP request that does not indicate the SOAP, it is possible to generate the body part by the XML  26  generated by the XML processing part  50 .  
     [0360] In the fifth embodiment, the above-mentioned example explains that the same Web service can support the SOAP and the Web browser. Alternatively, it is possible for the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  to support a third different protocol that is a special protocol defined between the network apparatus  10 A or  10 B and the multi-functional business apparatus  1200 . For-example, an XML in accordance with the special protocol can be set in the body part of the HTTP request and the HTTP response, and the same Web service can be provided to the network apparatus  10 A or  10 B in accordance with the special protocol.  
     [0361] As described above, according to the present invention, instead of installing several driver software to a computer terminal of a user in order to utilize several image forming functions, the user only installs software supporting a standard Web service. Moreover, regardless of the machine type and the operating system of the computer terminal of the user, the computer terminal can send the process request to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  having the plurality of the image forming functions. It is possible to conduct the process request by using the Web browser from the user to the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  including several image forming functions, regardless of the machine type and the operating system of the computer terminal. Furthermore, the multi-functional business apparatus  1200  can systematically process the process requests from other apparatuses.  
     [0362] [Sixth Embodiment] 
     [0363] In the following, a fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.  
     [0364] An information processing apparatus has a hardware configuration as shown in FIG. 30. FIG. 30 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the information processing apparatus according to the sixth embodiment of the present invention.  
     [0365] In FIG. 30, the information processing apparatus  200  is an apparatus, which is controlled by a computer, for executing a print process, and includes a CPU (central processing unit)  51 , a memory unit  52 , a display unit  53 , an input unit  54 , a communication unit  55 , a storage unit  56 , and a driver  57 , which are mutually connected through a system bus B.  
     [0366] The CPU  51  controls an information processing apparatus  200  in accordance to a program stored in the memory unit  52 . The memory unit  52  includes a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read-Only Memory), and a like, and stores programs executed by the CPU  51 , and data required for the process by the CPU  51 , data obtained by the process by the CPU  51 , and a like. Also, the memory unit  52  is partially used as a work area for the CPU  51 .  
     [0367] The display unit  53  displays various information needed by the user under control of the CPU  51 . The input unit  54  includes a mouse, a keyboard, and the like, and is used to input various information necessary for conducting the process by the CPU  51 . The communication unit  55  is a unit for conducting a communication control between the information processing apparatus  200  and a plurality of network apparatuses, in a case of connecting the plurality of the network apparatuses through Internet the Internet, a LAN (Local Area Network) or a like. For example, the storage unit  56  includes a hard disk unit, and stores the program for executing various processes, document data, or a like.  
     [0368] For example, the program realizing the print process conducted by the information processing apparatus  200  can be provided to the information processing apparatus  200  by a recording medium  58  such as a CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read-Only Memory) or the like. That is, when the recording medium  58  recording the program is inserted in the drive unit  57 , the drive unit  57  reads the program from the recording medium  58 , the program read from the recording medium  58  is installed to the storage unit  56  via the system bus B. When program is executed, the CPU  51  starts the process in accordance to the program installed in the storage  56  it should be noted that the recording medium  58  is not limited to the CD-ROM, but any medium readable for the computer is used as the recording medium  58 . The program realizing the print process according to the present invention can be downloaded through the network by the communication unit  55 , and the program can be installed into the storage  56 .  
     [0369] A first functional configuration of the information processing apparatus  200  including the hardware configuration shown in FIG. 30 will be described. It should be noted that the Web service means that the information processing apparatus  200  conducts a predetermined process in response to a service request indicated by a HTTP request sent from the network apparatus and sends a process result indicated by a HTTP response.  
     [0370] In the following, first functional configuration of the information processing apparatus  200  that can provide the Web service by the SOAP and the HTML. FIG. 31 is a diagram showing the first functional configuration of the information processing apparatus for providing the Web service, according to the sixth embodiment of the present invention. The information processing apparatus  200  is connected to a network apparatus  110 A which receives the Web service by the SOAP, and a network apparatus  10 B which receives the Web service by the HTML through the network  15 .  
     [0371] In FIG. 31, the information processing apparatus  200  includes a Web server  500  for distributing the process to an internal Web service providing process part while conducting communication control in accordance with the HTTP, a file management Web service providing process part  40  and another Web service providing process part  49  as a plurality of Web service providing process part, and a like. The plurality of Web service providing process parts  40  and  49  include the Web service function (WSF)  1400 , respectively.  
     [0372] In the case of the first functional configuration shown in FIG. 31, the file management Web service providing process part  40  includes a file management executing part  400  for controlling the file management, such as a document accumulated to the storage unit  56 , as the Web service function  1400  that executes the Web service.  
     [0373] The Web server  500  includes a httpd  2  for conducting the communication control in accordance with the HTTP, a distributor  30  for distributing a process to the Web service providing process part corresponding to the HTTP request, an HTTP request processing part  501  for processing the HTTP request by the GET METHOD or the POST METHOD received from the network  15 , a dispatcher GOB for dispatching the process concerning the Web service, which is indicated by the HTTP request, to the file management executing part  400 , an HTML (HyperTest Markup Language) showing a process result received from the file management executing part  400 . The HTTP request is a request of the Web service by a data communication in accordance with the HTTP, and the HTTP response is a response showing a process result of the Web service.  
     [0374] The distributor  30  includes a judging part for judging whether or not the HTTP request is the HTTP request indicating the SOAP. When the HTTP request indicates the SOAP, the distributor  30  distributes the process to the Web service providing process part  40  or  49  indicated by a SOAPAction. On the other hand, when the HTTP request does not indicate the SOAP, that is, the HTTP request indicates a GET METHOD or POST METHOD, the distributor  30  distributes the HTTP request to the HTTP request processing part  501 ;  
     [0375] Furthermore, the HTML creating part  502  includes an XSL processor  503  for converting XML generated by the XML processing part  50  into an HTML format by using a predetermined XSL (extensible Stylesheet Language)  25 . The information processing apparatus  200  includes a XML processing part  50  for processing a message described in the XML and a SOAP processing part  70 , which are shared with the plurality of the Web service providing parts  40  and  49 .  
     [0376] The XML processing part  50  generates the body part of the HTTP response, which does not specify SOAP, by describing in the XML by the same method for generating the body part of the HTTP response indicating the SOAP. Furthermore, the SOAP processing part  70  includes a dispatcher  60 A for dispatching to the file management executing part  400  based on the process message showing the contents of a process of Web service.  
     [0377] In the information processing apparatus  200 , for the sake of convenience, as a plurality of Web service providing process parts, only the file management Web service providing process part  40 , and the other Web service providing process part  49  are shown. However, the information processing apparatus  200  can include more Web service providing process parts. In this case, the SOAP processing part  70  includes a plurality of dispatcher  60 A for dispatching the process to each executing part of the plurality of Web service providing process parts. Also, the XML processing part  50  and the SOAP processing part  70  are shared with the plurality of Web service providing process parts. A plurality of dispatchers SOB are corresponded to the plurality of Web service providing process parts.  
     [0378] Moreover, the network apparatus  10 A connected to the information processing apparatus  200  through a network  15  controls input data from input units, such as a keyboard or a mouse, and includes an input/output control part  11 A for controlling output data displayed on a monitor  9 A, a SOAP processing part  12  for exchanging messages to the information processing apparatus  200  in accordance to the SOAP, a request/response processing part  14  for generating the request and analyzing the response in accordance with the HTTP. The SOAP processing part  12  includes an XML processing part  13  for processing the contents of the process of the Web service to the information processing apparatus  200  and the process result of the Web service from the information processing apparatus  200  by the XML. The network apparatus  10 A connected to the information processing apparatus  200  through a network  15  controls input data from input units, such as a keyboard or a mouse, and includes an input/output control part  11 B for controlling output data displayed on a monitor  9 B, and a Web browser  23  for generating a request displaying a response in accordance with the HTTP.  
     [0379] First, the process flow which provides Web service according to the request from the network apparatus  10 A will be described. The user using the network apparatus  10 A requests a desired Web service of the information processing apparatus  200  from the screen for requesting of the information processing apparatus  200  (step S 101 ). In response to the request of the Web service by the user, the input/output control part  11 A sends request data to the request/response processing part  14  (step S 102 ). The request/response processing part  14  generates the HTTP request based on the request data from the input/output control part  11 A (step S 103 ) when the XML processing part  13  describes the contents of the process to the body part of the HTTP request in the XML, and the HTTP request is sent to the information processing apparatus  200  by the SOAP processing part  12  through the network  15  (step  3104 ).  
     [0380] When the Web server  500  of the information processing apparatus  200  receives the HTTP request by the httpd  2 , the HTT? request is distributed to the Web service providing process part specified by the header of the HTTP request by the distributor  30  (step S 105 ). For example, when the file management Web service providing process part  40  is specified by the header of the HTTP request, the file management Web service providing process part  40  is called by the distributor  30 .  
     [0381] In the file management Web service providing process part  40 , the SOAP processing part  70  processes the HTTP request according to the SOAP, and sends to the dispatcher  60 A for dispatching the process to the file management executing part  400  specified by the SOAP header (step S 106 ). The dispatcher  60 A dispatches the contents of the process by the header of the HTTP request, and sends them to the XML processing part  50  (step S 107 ). The XML processing part  50  converts the message showing the contents of the process in the body part of the HTTP request described in the XML into a description which can be interpreted by the file management executing part  400 , and executes the file management executing part  400  (step S 108 ). The file management executing part  400  executes the process to the storage unit  56  in accordance with the contents of the process, and obtains the process result (step S 109 ). For example, the document indicated by the contents of the process is added, updated, or deleted.  
     [0382] The file management executing part  400  sends the process result to the XML processing part  50  (step S 110 ). The XML processing part  50  generates the XML  26  describing the process result in the XML, and sends to the SOAP processing part  70  in order to set in the body part of the HTTP response (step S 111 ). And Web server  500  sends the HTTP response in accordance with the SOAP through the httpd  2  in the body part to the network apparatus  10 A (step S 112 ). The HTTP response includes the process result described in the XML.  
     [0383] When the HTTP response is received at the network apparatus  10 A, the XML processing part  13  analyzes the body part of the HTTP response, and obtains the process result (step S 113 ). The request/response processing part  14  passes the obtained process result to the input/output control part  11 A as output data displayed on the monitor  9 A (step S 114 ). And the input/output control part  11 A is controlled to display the received output data on the monitor  9 A (step S 115 ).  
     [0384] The network apparatus  10 A describes the contents of the process to the body part of the HTTP request in accordance with the description format of the XML that is defined beforehand. Thus, the Web service can be requested from a remote place from the information processing apparatus  200 . Thus, it is possible to provide the Web service to the network apparatus  10 A in a remote place. The information processing apparatus  200  can also provide the Web service to a plurality of network apparatuses  10 A through the network  15 .  
     [0385] A process flow, in which the Web service is provided in response to the request from the network apparatus  108 , will be described. The user using the network apparatus  10 B requests a desired Web service of the information processing apparatus  200  from the screen for requesting the Web service displayed on the monitor  9 B of the information processing apparatus  200 . The input/output control part  118  receives the request data (step S 121 ). Based on the request data received by the input/output control part  11 B, the web browser  23  generates the HTTP request by the GET METHOD or the POST METHOD, and sends to the information processing apparatus  200  through the network  15  (step S 122 ).  
     [0386] The information processing apparatus  200  analyzes the HTTP request by the Web server  500 , when the HTTP request is received from the network-apparatus  10 B. That is, when the httpd  2  for conducting the network communication control receives the HTTP request, the HTTP request is distributed to the HTTP request processing part  501  by the distributor  30 , so as to analyze the HTTP request in accordance with the method (GET METHOD or POST METHOD) indicated by the header of the HTTP request (step S 123 ).  
     [0387] The HTTP request processing part  501  obtains the contents of the process from the body part in accordance to the method. For example, when the file management Web service is specified by a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) or a URI (Uniform Resource Indicator) by the header, the process according to the contents of the process is distributed to the file management executing part  400  by the dispatcher  60 B (step S 124 ). The file management executing part  400  executes the process to the storage unit  56  according to the contents of the process, and obtains the process result (step S 125 ). For example, the document is added, updated, or deleted in accordance with the contents of the process.  
     [0388] The file management executing part  400  for obtaining the process result sends the process result to the XML processing part  50  (step S 126 ). In the same method for generating the body part of the HTTP response in accordance with the SOAP, the XML processing part  50  generates the XML  26  showing the process result in the XML, and sends the HTML creating part  502  of the Web server  500  in order to set in the body part of a HTTP response (step S 127 ). The HTML creating part  502  generates the HTML  24  converted into the HTML format by using a predetermined XSL  25  by the XSL processor  503 , and sends the HTML  24  by the httpd  2  (step S 128 ). The httpd  2  sends the HTML  24  to the network apparatus  10 B in accordance with the http (step S 129 ).  
     [0389] When the HTTP response is received in the network apparatus  10 B, the web browser  23  displays the HTML  24  on the monitor  9 B by the input/output control part  11 B (step  3130 ).  
     [0390] By using only the Web browser  23 , the network apparatus ion receives the Web service from the information processing apparatus  200 , and can realize an RPC (Remote Procedure Call). By the Web server  500  with the XSL  25  according to the characteristics of the process in the executing part of each Web service, in case in that the process result is displayed at the network apparatus  10 , it is possible to provide a display screen for each Web service.  
     [0391] Therefore, the information processing apparatus  200  can provide the Web service by the same file management executing part  400  to the network apparatus  10 A which can conduct the message exchange in accordance with the SOAP, and also the network apparatus  10 B using the web browser  23 . The file management Web service providing process part  40  for including the file management executing part  400  can share with the process requests according to different protocols, respectively. Accordingly, it is not necessary to develop the file management Web service providing process part  40  to support each protocol of the process request.  
     [0392] Moreover, in the information processing apparatus  200 , the Web server  500  uses the XSL  25 , so that a process for describing the body part of the HTTP response indicating the SOAP can be the same as that for describing the body part of the HTTP response indicating other than the SOAP, in the XML processing part  50 . Thus, a single process for describing the body part of the HTTP response can be shared with the HTTP responses indicating different protocols, respectively.  
     [0393] The examples of the HTTP request and the HTTP response in accordance with the SOAP are shown in FIG. 11A and FIG. 11B. Thus, the explanation thereof will be omitted.  
     [0394] The information processing apparatus  200  including a combined Web service providing process part for providing a document list will be described in that the information processing apparatus  200  combines and executes a plurality of methods of one Web service providing process part. FIG. 32 is a block diagram showing a second functional configuration of the information processing apparatus including a combined Web service, according to the sixth embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 32, only main processing parts are illustrated among the processing parts of the information processing apparatus  200  shown in FIG. 21, and other processing parts are omitted. The information processing apparatus  200  is connected to a network apparatus  10 A which receives the Web service by the SOAP, and a network apparatus  10 B which receives the Web service by the HTML through the network  15 .  
     [0395] In FIG. 32, the information processing apparatus  200  includes a Web server  500  for distributing the process to an internal Web service providing process part while conducting communication control in accordance with the HTTP, a file management Web service providing process part  40 , another Web service providing process part  49 , and combined-Web-service providing process part  90  as a plurality of Web service providing process part, an XML processing part  50  for processing the message described in the XML, a SOAP processing part  70  for exchanging the message in accordance with the SOAP between the network apparatuses  10 A and  10 B, and a like The XML processing part  50  and the SOAP processing part  70  are shared the plurality of Web service providing process parts  40 ,  49 , and  90 .  
     [0396] The Web server  500  includes a httpd  2  for conducting a communication control in accordance with the HTTP, a distributor  30  for distributing the process to the Web service providing process part corresponding to the HTTP request, an HTTP request processing part  501  for processing the HTTP request by the GET METHOD or the POST METHOD received from the network  15 , dispatchers  60 A and  68 A for dispatching the process of the Web service indicated by the HTTP request for each Web service providing process part, an HTML creating part  502  for creating the process result, which is sent from each of the Web service providing process parts  40 ,  90 , and  49  and is described in the XML by the HTML  24 . The HTML creating part  502  includes the XSL processor  503  for converting the XML generated by the XML processing part  50  into a HTML format. The HTTP request is a request of the Web service by a data communication in accordance with the HTTP and the HTTP response is a response showing a process result of the Web service.  
     [0397] The distributor  30  includes a judging part for judging whether or not the HTTP request is the HTTP request indicating the SOAP. When the HTTP request indicates the SOAP, the distributor  30  distributes the process to the Web service providing process part  40  or  49  indicated by a SOAPAction. On the other hand, when the HTTP request does not indicate the SOAP, that is, the HTTP request indicates a GET METHOD or POST METHOD, the distributor  30  distributes the HTTP request to the HTTP request processing part  501 .  
     [0398] The file management Web-service-providing processing part  40  includes a document ID list obtaining method  401  for obtaining the list of document IDs identifying the document accumulated in the storage unit  56 , and bibliographic information obtaining method  402  for obtaining bibliographic information concerning the document accumulated in the storage unit  56  corresponding to the document ID. A method shows a unit of the process of the Web service by the file management Web service providing process part  40 . The file management Web service providing process part  40  realizes the Web service function  1400  shown in FIG  0 . 21  by a plurality of methods, and provides the Web service in accordance with the request from the network apparatus  10 . In a case of the second functional configuration shown in FIG. 29 as the plurality of methods, it is not limited to the document ID list obtaining method  401  and the bibliographic information obtaining method  402 . It is also possible to include a plurality of methods in addition to these methods.  
     [0399] The document list creation combined method  800  of the combined Web service providing process part  90  includes a document ID list obtaining part  801  for obtaining the list of document IDs by using the document ID list obtaining method  401 , a bibliographic information obtaining part  802  for obtaining the bibliographic information corresponding to the document ID by using the bibliographic information obtaining method  402 , and a document list creating part  803  for creating the document list based on the obtained bibliographic information. Since the document list creation combined method  800  utilizes the document ID list obtaining method  401  and the bibliographic information obtaining method  402 , the document list creation combined method  800  does not have substantial methods. The portion developed in order to realize the document list creation combined method  800  is mainly only the document list creating part  803 . Therefore, it is possible to reduce steps necessary to develop the document list creation combined method  800 . Moreover, the combined Web service providing process part  90  include a set of a plurality of process units in the document list creation combined method  800  and a plurality of process units by the methods having the substance thereof, as the Web service function  1400  shown in FIG. 21.  
     [0400] Moreover, the SOAP processing part  70  includes the dispatchers  60 A and  68 A for dispatching the process to each of the Web service providing process parts  40  and  90 . For example, the SOAP processing part  70  includes the dispatcher  60 A for dispatching the process to each of methods  401  and  402  of the file management Web service providing process part  40 , the dispatcher  68 A for dispatching the process to the document list creation combined method  800  of the combined Web service providing process part  90 , and other dispatchers (not shown in FIG- 29 ) for dispatching the process to a method of the other Web service providing process part  49 . In the information processing apparatus  200 , for the sake of convenience, as a plurality of Web service providing process parts, only the filemanagement Web service providing process part  40 , the combined Web service providing process part  90 , and the other Web service providing process part  49  are shown. However, the information processing apparatus  200  can include more Web service providing process parts. Also, the XML processing part  50  and the SOAP processing part  70  are shared with those Web service providing process parts.  
     [0401] Since the second functional configurations of the network apparatuses  10 A and  10 B connected to the information processing apparatus  200  through the network  15  are the same as those of the network apparatuses  10 A and  10 B shown in FIG. 28, the explanation will be omitted.  
     [0402] First, the process flow for providing the Web service according to the request from the network apparatus  10 A will be described. A user using such the network apparatus  10 A requests a desired Web service of the information processing apparatus  200  from a screen for requesting of the information processing apparatus  200  (step S 31 ). For example, it is assumed that the user requests the Web service that provides a list of the document accumulated in the storage unit  56  of the information processing apparatus  200  from the screen of the monitor  9 A. In response to a request of the Web service from the user, the input/output control part  11 A sends the request data to the request/response processing part  14  (step S 32 ). The request/response processing part  14  generates the HTTP request based on the request data from the input/output control part  11 A, and sends to the SOAP processing part  12  (step S 33 ). The SOAP processing part  12  describes the contents of the process of the Web service in the XML by the XML processing part  13  and sets in the body part of the HTTP request, so as to generate the HTTP request in accordance with the SOAP. Then, the HTTP request is sent to the information processing apparatus  200  through the network  15  (step S 34 ).  
     [0403] When the httpd  2  of the information processing apparatus  200  receives the HTTP request, the httpd distributes the HTTP request to the Web service providing process part, which is indicated by the header of the HTTP request, by the distributor  30  (step S 35 ). For example, when the combined Web service providing process part  90  is specified by the header of the HTTP request, the combined Web service providing process part  90  is executed by the distributor  30 .  
     [0404] The combined Web service providing process part  90  sends the HTTP request to the SOAP processing part  70 , in order to process the HTTP request in accordance with SOAP (Step S 36 ) The SOAP processing part  70  processes a HTTP request in accordance with SOAP. And the dispatcher  68  distributes the process to the document list creation combined method  800  specified by the header of the HTTP request, and executes the XML processing part  50  according to the method of HTTP (Step S 37 ). The XML processing part  50  converts the message, which is described in the XML and shows the contents of the process in the body part of the HTTP request, into a description which can be interpreted by the document list creation combined method  800 . Then, the XML processing part  50  sends the message to the document list creation combined method  800  (Step S 38 ).  
     [0405] First, the document list creation combined method  800  calls the document ID list obtaining method  401  of the file management Web service providing process part  40  by the document ID list obtaining part  801  (Step S 39 ). The document ID list obtaining method  401  obtains the document ID identifying the document managed by the storage unit  56 , and creates the document ID list. In this case, it is assumed that the document ID list obtaining method  401  (listID (docIDList)) obtains a document ID “101”, “102”, and “103.” A document ID list (docIDList) is set as follows:  
     [0406] docIDList={101, 102, 103, and 0) (“0 (zero)” shows an end},  
     [0407] and the document ID list is sent to the document ID list obtaining part  801  (step S 40 ).  
     [0408] Subsequently, the document list creation combined method  800  calls the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  of the file management Web service providing process part  40  by the bibliographic information obtaining part  802  (step S 41 ). In respect to the document managed in the storage unit  56 , the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  inquires the bibliographic information by the document ID received from the bibliographic information obtaining part  802 , and creates bibliographic information. For example, in a case in that the bibliographic information is obtained for the document ID “101”, the bibliographic information obtaining part  802  executes the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  (getProps (docID, props)) by calling getProps ( 101  props).  
     [0409] The bibliographic information obtaining method  402  inquires the bibliographic information by the specified document ID in respect to the storage unit  56 , and sends the bibliographic information to the bibliographic information obtaining part  802  (step S 42 ). That is, the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  obtains the bibliographic information from the storage unit  56  by the document ID “101” received from the bibliographic information obtaining part  802 . The bibliographic information obtaining method  402  creates the bibliographic information to send to the bibliographic information obtaining part  802 . For example, the bibliographic information is created as follows:  
     [0410] prop={a document ID, a document name, pagination, an owner, and 0} (“0 (zero)” shows the end of bibliographic information).  
     [0411] In this case, prop={101, the “accumulated document 1”, 3, “a user 1”, and 0} is set for the document ID “101”. The bibliographic information obtaining method  402  sends a creation result of the bibliographic information for the specified document ID, to the bibliographic information obtaining part  802  of the document list creation combined method  800  (step S 42 ).  
     [0412] The bibliographic information obtaining part  802  of the document list creation combined method  800  repeats the same process as described above, for other document IDs “102” and “103”, and then, obtains all document information.  
     [0413] The document list creation combined method  800  further creates the document list by the document list creating part  803 , and sends the document list to the XML processing part  50  in order to describe in the XML (step S 43 ) That is, for example, the document list creating part  803  creates a document list as follows;  
     [0414] docList={101, the “accumulated document 1”, 3, “a user 1”, and 0}, {102, the “accumulated document 2”, 10, “a user 2” and 0}, and {103, the “accumulated document 3”, 1, “a user 1”, 0), 0}.  
     [0415] The document list (docList) is sent to the XML processing part  50 . When the document list (docList) is received, the XML processing part  50  describes the document list (docList) in the XML and sends to the SOAP processing part  70  (step  544 ). When the SOAP processing part  70  receives the document list described in the XML, the SOAP processing part  70 O sets the document list described in XML to the body part of the HTTP response, and generates the HTTP response in accordance to SOAP (step S 45 ).  
     [0416] The SOAP processing part  70  sends the HTTP response to the httpd  2  (step S 46 ), and then the HTTP response is sent to the network apparatus  10 A (step S 47 ).  
     [0417] At the network apparatus  10 A receives the HTTP response, the SOAP processing part  12  processes the HTTP response by using the XML processing part  13 . The XML processing part  13  analyzes the body part of the HTTP response, and obtains the process result, and sends to the request/response processing part  14  (step S 48 ). The request/response processing part  14  passes the obtained process result to the input/output control part  11 A as output data displayed on the monitor  9 A (step S 50 ).  
     [0418] In the second functional configuration, by the document list creation combined method  800 , the combined Web service providing process part  90  can process the sequence of Web services combining the plurality of methods, without having a substantial document ID list obtaining method  401  and a substantial bibliographic information obtaining method  402 . Therefore, the network apparatus  10 A can receive the sequence of Web services by a single HTTP request, without considering the unit of the Web service that the information processing apparatus  200  can provide.  
     [0419] Furthermore, in FIG. 29, it is also possible to provide the Web service by the file management Web service providing process part  40  itself. That is, when the httpd  2  receives the HTTP request from the network apparatus  10 A or  10 B (Step S 34 ), the distributor  30  distributes the HTTP request to the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  of the file management Web-service-providing processing part  40 , in response to a request of the Web service for obtaining the bibliographic information indicated in the header of the HTTP request (step S 35 - 3 ).  
     [0420] The file management Web service providing process part  40  sends the HTTP request to the SOAP processing part  70 , in order to process the HTTP request in accordance with SOAP (step S 36 - 3 ). The SOAP processing part  70  processes the HTTP request in accordance with the SOAP. The dispatcher  60 A dispatches the process to the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  specified by the header of the HTTP request, and executes the XML processing part  50  according to the method of HTTP (step S 37 - 3 ). The XML processing part  50  converts the message showing the contents of the process in the body part of the HTTP request described in the XML into the data format that can be interpreted by the bibliographic information obtaining method  402 , and sends to the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  (step S 38 - 3 ).  
     [0421] In respect to the document managed in the storage unit  56 , the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  inquires the bibliographic information by the document ID specified by the message processed by the XML processing part  50 . And the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  sends to the XML processing part  50 , in order to describe the bibliographic information in the XML (step S 43 - 3 ). The XML processing part  50  generates the XML  26  describing the bibliographic information in the XML and sends the XML  26  to the SOAP processing part  70  (step S 44 - 3 ). Furthermore, in the SOAP processing part  70 , the bibliographic information described in the XML is set in the body part of the HTTP response, and the HTTP response is generated in accordance with the SOAP (step S 45 - 3 ). Then, the HTTP response is sent to a network apparatus  10  from httpd 2  (Step S 46  and S 47 ) As described above, in response to the HTTP request for providing the bibliographic information from the network apparatus  10 A, the information processing apparatus  200  can execute the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  itself. Moreover, it is also possible to execute the document ID list obtaining method  401  itself.  
     [0422] Therefore, the information processing apparatus  200  forms an image, and provides wider Web service by a plurality of methods conducting the Web service and also by combining the plurality of methods.  
     [0423] Next, a process flow for providing the Web service according to the request from the network apparatus  10 B will be described. A user using the network apparatus LOB requests desired the Web service of the information processing apparatus  200  from a screen, which is displayed on the monitor  9 B, for requesting the Web service of the information processing apparatus  200 , and the input/output control part  11  receives the request data (step S 51 ). Based on the request data received by the input/output control part  11 B, the Web browser  23  generates the HTTP request indicating the GET METHOD or the POST METHOD, and sends the HTTP request to the information processing apparatus  200  through the network  15  (step S 52 ). For example, the web browser  23  sends the HTTP request by the GET METHOD such as  
     [0424] GET/documentListDcgi HTTP/1.1.  
     [0425] When the information processing apparatus  200  receives the HTTP request from the network apparatus  10 B, the distributor  30  distributes this HTTP request to the HTTP request processing part  501  which processes the HTTP request by the GET METHOD based on the GET METHOD of the HTTP request (step S 53 ). The HTTP request processing part  501  dispatches the process to the document list creation combined method  800  specified by the header of the HTTP request, by the dispatcher  6 B (Step S 54 ). For example, the document list creation combined method  800  equivalent to “documentList.cgi” is executed by “documentList.cgi.” 
     [0426] First, the document list creation combined method  800  calls the document ID list obtaining method  401  of the file management Web service providing process part  40  by the document ID list obtaining part  801  (step S 55 ). The document ID list obtaining method  401  obtains the document ID identifying the document managed by the storage unit  56  (step S 56 ), and creates a document ID list. In this case, it is assumed that the document ID list obtaining method  401  (listID (docIDList)) obtains a document ID “101”, “102”, and “103.” A document ID list (docIDList) is set as follows:  
     [0427] docIDList={101, 102, 103, and 0} (“0 (zero)” shows an end),  
     [0428] and the document ID list is sent to the document ID list obtaining part  801  (step S 57 ).  
     [0429] Subsequently, the document list creation combined method  800  calls the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  of the file management Web service providing process part  40  by the bibliographic information obtaining part  802  (step S 58 ). The bibliographic information obtaining method  402  inquires the bibliographic information by the document ID sent from the bibliographic information obtaining part  802  to the document managed in the storage unit  56 , and creates the bibliographic information. For example, in a case in that the bibliographic information is obtained for the document ID “101”, the bibliographic information obtaining part  802  executes the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  (getprops (docID, props)) by calling getProps ( 101  props).  
     [0430] The bibliographic information obtaining method  402  inquires the bibliographic information by the specified document ID in respect to the storage unit  56 , and sends the bibliographic information to the bibliographic information obtaining part  802  (Step S 59 ). That is, the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  obtains the bibliographic information from the storage unit  56  by the document ID “101” received from the bibliographic information obtaining part  802 . The bibliographic information obtaining method  402  creates the bibliographic information to send to the bibliographic information obtaining part  802 . For example, the bibliographic information is created as follows:  
     [0431] prop={a document ID, a document name, pagination, an owner, and 0} (“0 (zero))” shows the end of bibliographic information). In this case, prop={101, the “accumulated document 1”, 3, “a user 1”, and 0} is set for the document ID “101”. The bibliographic information obtaining method  402  sends a creation result of the bibliographic information for the specified document ID, to the bibliographic information obtaining part  802  of the document list creation combined method  800 .  
     [0432] The bibliographic information obtaining part  802  of the document list creation combined method  800  repeats the same process as described above, for other document IDs “102” and “103”, and then, obtains all document information.  
     [0433] The document list creation combined method  800  further creates the document list by the document list creating part  803 , and sends the document list to the XML processing part  50  in order to describe in the XML (step S 60 ) That is, for example, the document list creating part  803  creates a document list as follows:  
     [0434] docList={{101, the “accumulated document 1”, 3, “a user 1”, and 0}, {102, the “accumulated document 2”, 10, “a user 2” and 0}, and {103, the “accumulated document 3”, 1, “a user 1”, 0}, 0}.  
     [0435] The document list (docList) is sent to the XML processing part  50 . When the document list (docList) is received, the XML processing part  50  sends an XML  26  described in the XML to the Web server  500  (step S 61 ). When the Web server  500  receives the XML  26 , the Web server  500  executes the HTML creating part  502 . The HTML creating part  502  converts the XML  26  into the HTML form by the XSL processor  503  based on the XSL  25  showing the predetermined style list. The HTML creating part  502  creates the HTML  24  showing the process result in accordance with this HTML form, and sends the HTTP response by the httpd  2  (step S 62 ). Then, the httpd  2  sends the HTTP response to the network apparatus  10 B through the network  15  (Step S 63 ).  
     [0436] When the HTTP response is received by the network apparatus  10 B, the web browser  23  displays the HTML  24  on the monitor  9  by the input/output control part  11  (step S 64 ).  
     [0437] Furthermore, in FIG. 29, it is also possible to provide the Web service by the file management Web service providing process part  40  itself. That is, when the httpd  2  receives the HTTP request from the network apparatus  10 B, the distributor  30  distributes this HTTP request to the HTTP request processing part  501  which processes the HTTP request by the GET METHOD based on the GET METHOD of the HTTP request (step S 53 ). The HTTP request processing part  501  dispatches the process to the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  specified by the dispatcher  60  by the header of the HTTP request (step S 54 - 3 ).  
     [0438] In respect to the document managed by the storage unit  56 , the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  inquires the bibliographic information by the document ID specified by the HTTP request, creates bibliographic information, and sends to the XML processing part  50  in order for XML to describe the bibliographic information (step  560 - 3 ). By steps S 61 -S 63 , the bibliographic information is provided to the network apparatus  10 B.  
     [0439] Thus, the information processing apparatus  200  can execute the bibliographic information obtaining method  402  itself having a substantial method according to the HTTP request for providing the bibliographic information from the network apparatus  10 B. Similarly, it is possible similarly to execute the document ID list obtaining method  401  itself.  
     [0440] Therefore, the information processing apparatus  200  can provide wider Web service by a plurality of methods conducting the Web service and also by combining the plurality of methods.  
     [0441] In the second functional configuration, the network apparatus  10 B does not need the special message exchange method with the information processing apparatus  200 . Only using the web browser, the network apparatus  10  can receive the Web service from the information processing apparatus  200 , and can realize an RPC (Remote Procedure Call) Moreover, the combined Web service providing process part  90  can process a sequence of Web services combining a plurality of methods by the document list creation combined method  800 , without having the substantial document ID list obtaining method  401  and the bibliographic information obtaining method  402 . Therefore, by combining a plurality of methods, it is possible to conduct a sequence of Web services. Therefore, the network apparatus  10 B can receive the sequence of Web services by a single HTTP request, without considering the unit of the Web service that the information processing apparatus  200  can provide.  
     [0442] Furthermore, the combined Web service providing process part  90  can share by the process requests indicating different protocols. Therefore, it is not necessary to develop the combined Web service providing process part  90  for each protocol of the process request.  
     [0443] The XML processing part  50  includes the XSL  25 , so that the process for describing the body of the HTTP response that indicates the SOAP can be shared with the HTTP response that does not indicate the SOAP.  
     [0444] For example, the XML processing part  50  shown in FIG. 32 describes the document list (docList) in the XML as shown in FIG. 16. And the SOAP processing part  12  of the network apparatus  10 A creates the HTTP request as shown in FIG. 17 and the SOAP processing part  80  of the information processing apparatus  200  creates the HTTP response as shown in FIG. 18.  
     [0445] As described above, the information processing apparatus  200  according to the present invention can provide the Web service by the message exchange by the SOAP and also by the HTML. Accordingly, it is possible to provide the same Web service to the users using the network apparatuses  10 A and  10 B.  
     [0446] Moreover, the same Web service function can be executed for both the HTTP request that indicates the SOAP and the HTTP request that does not indicate the SOAP. Furthermore, in respect to both the HTTP request that indicates the SOAP and the HTTP request that does not indicate the SOAP, it is possible to generate the body part by the XML  26  generated by the XML processing part  50 .  
     [0447] In the sixth embodiment, the above-mentioned example explains that the same Web service can support the SOAP and the Web browser. Alternatively, it is possible for the information processing apparatus  200  to support a third different protocol that is a special protocol defined between the network apparatus  10 A or  10 B and the information processing apparatus  200 . For example, an XML in accordance with the special protocol can be set in the body part of the HTTP request and the HTTP response, and the same Web service can be provided to the network apparatus  10 A or  10 B in accordance with the special protocol.  
     [0448] As described above, according to the present invention, instead of installing several driver software to a computer terminal of a user in order to utilize several image forming functions, the user only installs software supporting a standard Web service. Moreover, regardless of the machine type and the operating system of the computer terminal of the user, the computer terminal can send the process request to the information processing apparatus  200  having the plurality of the image forming functions. It is possible to conduct the process request by using the Web browser from the user to the information processing apparatus  200  including several image forming functions, regardless of the machine type and the operating system of the computer terminal. Furthermore, the information processing apparatus  200  can systematically process the process requests from other apparatuses.  
     [0449] The present invention is not limited to the specifically disclosed embodiments, and variations and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.  
     [0450] The present application is based on the Japanese priority applications No.2002-084556 filed on Mar. 25, 2002, No.2002-255333 filed on Aug. 30, 2002, No.2002-255334 filed on August 30, No.2002-084555 filed on Mar. 25, 2002, NO.2002-255335 filed on August 30, No.2002-255336 filed on Aug. 30, 2002, No.2002-327061 filed on Nov. 11, 2002, No.2003-74119 filed on Mar. 18, 2003 and No.2003-74120 filed on Mar. 18, 2003, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.