Patent ID: 8572703

Claim:
A method for authenticating a user of an image processing system, comprising: receiving user credentials at an authentication device corresponding to an image processing device; transmitting the user credentials to a monitoring server remotely connected to the image processing device via a network; judging, at the monitoring server, validity of the user credentials by comparing the received user credentials to stored user data; allowing access to a document manager server remotely connected to each of the monitoring server and the image processing device based on a result of said judging; requesting, at the image processing device, access to at least one of a plurality of backend applications available at an application server remotely connected to each of the monitoring server, the document manager server and the image processing device via the network; determining, at the document manager server, that the at least one of a plurality of backend applications requires user authentication; generating, at the document manager server, a template indicating user credential information necessary for a user to be authenticated at the at least one of a plurality of backend applications; transmitting, from the document manager sever, a request for at least the user credentials to the monitoring server; and completing, by the document manager server, the template indicating user credential information using the user credentials received from the monitoring server, which were previously transmitted to the monitoring server from the authentication device.