Patent ID: 7668799

Claim:
An information processing apparatus connected via a network to another information processing apparatus, the information processing apparatus comprising: a storing device configured to store an electronic file information storing table for storing first information regarding one or more electronic files and a past history storing table for storing second information indicating operations performed on the one or more electronic files; a processing unit configured through one or more programs of instructions to include: a selection recognizing unit configured to receive a selection of an electronic file by a first user; a reference user selecting unit configured to receive a selection of a second user to be referenced in a past history storing table in said another information processing apparatus, the selected second user being a user other than the first user who selected the electronic file; an electronic file information obtaining unit configured to obtain, from the electronic file information storing table, the first information regarding the selected electronic file, the selection of which was received by the selection recognizing unit; and a possible selection suggesting unit configured to calculate a degree of similarity between the selected electronic file selected by the first user and another electronic file for which additional information is stored in an electronic file information storing table in said another information processing apparatus, said another electronic file having been used by the selected second user, the calculation being based on the first information regarding the selected electronic file and the additional information regarding said another electronic file, and said possible selection suggesting unit determining one or more possible operations to perform to the selected electronic file selected by the first user, based on operations information indicating operations performed on said another electronic file with a high degree of calculated similarity, the operations information having been obtained from the past history storing table in said another information processing apparatus used by the selected second user; and a displaying device configured to display the one or more possible operations, determined by said possible selection suggesting unit, as available selections of operations to perform on said another electronic file by the possible selection suggesting unit.