Patent ID: 8125662

Claim:
A printing management system for managing use of a printing apparatus based on identification information, said system comprising: an input unit which is constructed to input a first type of identification information and a second type of identification information; an acquisition unit constructed to acquire, from the printing apparatus, information indicating a capability of authentication processing of the printing apparatus; a first determination unit constructed to determine, based on the information acquired by said acquisition unit, whether the printing apparatus is or is not capable of processing the first type of identification information; a requesting unit responsive to a determination that the printing apparatus is capable of processing the first type of identification information, wherein said requesting unit is constructed to request the printing apparatus to perform the authentication processing based on the identification information input by said input unit no matter whether the input identification information is the first type of identification information or the second type of identification information; a second determination unit responsive to a determination that the printing apparatus is not capable of processing the first type of identification information, wherein said second determination unit is constructed to determine whether the identification information input by said input unit is the first type of identification information or the second type of identification information; and a display control unit responsive to a determination that the input identification information is the first type of identification information and to a determination that the printing apparatus is not capable of processing the first type of identification information, wherein said display control unit is constructed to display on a display unit a message indicating incapability of performing the authentication processing, wherein the display is performed without requesting the printing apparatus to perform the authentication processing, wherein the first type of identification information includes an alphabetic character, and the second type of identification information does not include an alphabetic character.