Patent ID: 8176024

Claim:
An information apparatus connected to an information terminal having application software installed in the information terminal, the information apparatus comprising: an information storage unit to store information therein, said information terminal being configured to use said application software installed in said information terminal to access the information stored in said information storage unit of said information apparatus, a reception unit to receive an access request from said information terminal by means of the application software installed in said information terminal; a type storage unit to store a plurality of different types of communication protocols to be used by the application software installed in said information terminal to transmit the access request to said reception unit of said information terminal, each of the plurality of communication protocols stored in said type storage unit being respectively associated with at least one of (i) a type of the application software installed in said information terminal to access the information stored in said information storage unit, and (ii) a function of the type of the application software used by said information terminal to access the information stored in said information storage unit; an access unit to access the information stored in said storage unit based on the access request received by said reception unit; a determination unit to determine, from among the plurality of communication protocols stored in said type storage unit, a communication protocol utilized by the application software used by said information terminal to transmit the access request received by said reception unit to access the information stored in said storage unit; a specification unit to specify at least one of the application software and the function of the application software used by said information terminal to access the information stored in said storage unit, by specifying at least one of the application software and the function of the application software used by said information terminal based on (i) the communication protocol determined by said determination unit to be established between said information apparatus and said information terminal when said reception unit receives the access request, and (ii) the at least one of the application software and the function of the application software associated with, in said type storage unit, the communication protocol determined by said determination unit to be established between the information apparatus and said information terminal; and a history storage unit to store the at least one of the application software and the function of the application software specified by said specification unit as a history in said information apparatus.