Patent ID: 7352483

Claim:
A network printing apparatus that communicates with at least a first monitoring apparatus and a second monitoring apparatus via a network, comprising: an inquiry receiver that receives a first inquiry from the first monitoring apparatus regarding status information of the network printing apparatus and a second inquiry from the second monitoring apparatus regarding the status information of the network printing apparatus; a status information transmitter that transmits the status information to the first monitoring apparatus and the second monitoring apparatus in response to said first inquiry and said second inquiry, respectively; an interval determiner that determines a first interval value for the first monitoring apparatus and a second interval value for the second monitoring apparatus according to a frequency of the first inquiry from the first monitoring apparatus and a frequency of the second inquiry from the second monitoring apparatus; and an interval value transmitter that transmits the first interval value and the second interval value to the first monitoring apparatus and the second monitoring apparatus, respectively, the first monitoring apparatus accessing said network printing apparatus according to the first interval value, and the second monitoring apparatus accessing said network printing apparatus according to the second interval value, wherein the first interval value differs from the second interval value.