Patent ID: 7155413

Claim:
An image processing device including a plurality of elements, the image processing device comprising: a program storing section storing a first program that controls basic operations of said image processing device so that basic operations of the image processing device are executed by controlling elements of the image processing device via the first program, and a second program that is a subroutine and is accessed in said first program so as to control an additional operation of said image processing device so that the second program controls the additional operation that is different than the basic operations controlled by the first program, wherein the second program is available via elements of the image processing device that executes the basic operations via the first program; a control section implementing an operation by executing only said first program, or both said first and second programs; a system managing section that, in response to a releasing key operation that renders the additional operation implementable, makes said second program permanently accessible in said first program, and wherein said first program is accessible and operable both before and after the releasing key operation so that one releasing key operation makes the second program permanently accessible following said one releasing key operation, and wherein the second program is a subroutine of the first program; and wherein the image processing device is an image forming apparatus, a combination of the image forming apparatus and a peripheral device realizes an image forming system, wherein the first program is a program that controls the image forming apparatus and the second program is a program that controls the peripheral device that works with the image forming apparatus.