Patent ID: 7584246

Claim:
An image forming apparatus connected to a network, the apparatus comprising: a processor and a memory unit coupled to said processor; a reception unit constructed to receive service information provided by a second image forming apparatus which includes location information indicating a location of the second image forming apparatus registered in a server apparatus; a determination unit configured to determine whether the location of the second image forming apparatus and a location of said image forming apparatus are identical to each other, based on the location information received by said reception unit; and a transmission unit constructed to transmit, via the network, without waiting for a request from the server apparatus, the service information received by said reception unit and service information indicating a service that said image forming apparatus can provide to the server apparatus such that the service information for the second image forming apparatus and the service information for said image forming apparatus are related with each other and registered in the server apparatus, if said determination unit determines that the location of the second image forming apparatus indicated by the received location information and the location of said image forming apparatus are identical to each other, wherein said transmission unit does not transmit, via the network, the service information received and the service information indicating the service, if said determination unit determines that the location of the second image forming apparatus indicated by the received location information and the location of said image forming apparatus are not identical to each other.