Patent ID: 7603451

Claim:
A network system comprising: a plurality of network terminals connected to a network, each of the plurality of network terminals having an IP address different from one another; and an administrator terminal connected to the network to manage the plurality of network terminals; and a gateway, provided between the network and the administrator terminal, for restricting direct communication between the administrator terminal and the plurality of network terminals and allowing the administrator terminal to directly communicate with one of the plurality of network terminals, wherein the administrator terminal includes: a finding unit that causes the one of the plurality of network terminals to research information as to another of the plurality of network terminals that is capable of communicating directly with the one of the plurality of network terminals; a determination unit that determines based on the information whether the another of the plurality of network terminals has a first IP address that is allowed by the gateway to directly communicate with the administrator terminal; a transmission unit that transmits a command to the one of the plurality of network terminals, the command being for changing an IP address of the another of the plurality of network terminals to a different IP address that is allowed by the gateway to directly communicate with the administrator terminal, if the determination unit determines that the another of the plurality of network terminals does not have the first IP address; and a direct communication unit that establishes direct communication with the another of the plurality of network terminals, if the determination unit determines that the another of the plurality of network terminals has the first IP address, and the one of the plurality of network terminals includes: a command receiver that receives the command from the administrator terminal over the network; and a command transmitter that transmits the command received by the command receiver to the another of the plurality of network terminals.