Patent ID: 7873834

Claim:
An image forming apparatus having a network communication function, comprising: a data input unit which receives and inputs digital image data; a data transmission unit which transmits the input digital image data to a data management server for management of data, the input digital image data being transmitted to the data management server without an associated time stamp; a digest generation unit which generates a digest of the input digital image data; a digest storage unit which stores the digest generated by said digest generation unit; a time stamp acquisition unit which acquires a time stamp for authentication of an input time of the input digital image data from a time stamp station; said time stamp acquisition unit issuing a time stamp request for acquiring the time stamp, including the stored digest, at a scheduled time; a data management directive unit which transmits the acquired time stamp to the data management server, the transmitted time stamp being used, by the data management server, to manage the previously transmitted digital image data associated with the acquired time stamp; and a schedule setting unit which sets the scheduled time for acquiring the time stamp; said schedule setting unit extracting schedule designation information based upon an analysis of the input digital image data, and setting, based on the extracted schedule designation information, the time schedule for acquiring the time stamp.