Patent ID: 7689512

Claim:
A license management apparatus comprising: a reception unit that receives a grant request for a license for an operational function to be used from one of plural devices connected to a network, the requested license being among plural licenses for each operational function shared by a plurality of devices connected to a network; a determination unit that determines whether or not the license for which said grant request has been received is available; a control unit that controls an order of grant of said license based on a determination result from said determination unit and grant request information included in said grant request; and a reservation unit that reserves a use for a license determined to be unavailable by said determination unit, manages the use reservation based on whether contention exists with another use reservation for the unavailable license, and changes a reservation for the license to a time at which no contention for the license occurs, so that the reservation for the license agrees with an interrelation of an execution timing of plural jobs designated by said grant request to execute a workflow.