Patent ID: 8290978

Claim:
An information processing apparatus which provides a plurality of services, comprising: a plurality of authentication processing units configured to execute authentication processing of a user who requests to provide a service via a network; a memory configured to store association information indicating that authentication by one authentication processing unit of the plurality of authentication processing units is needed upon providing two or more services of the plurality of the services, the one authentication processing unit indicated by the association information being changeable by a user; a specifying unit configured to specify two or more services from the plurality of the services, based on a request from the user; and a determination unit configured to determine one authentication processing unit from the plurality of authentication processing units in accordance with the association information stored in the memory, the determined authentication processing unit being associated with the two or more services specified by the specifying unit, wherein when the determination unit determines the authentication processing unit upon providing the two or more services specified by the specifying unit and the user has been authenticated using the authentication processing unit determined by the determination unit, the two or more services specified by the specifying unit are provided.