Patent ID: 8825850

Claim:
An information processing apparatus coupled to a plurality of terminal devices through a communication channel, the information processing apparatus comprising: a communication unit configured to communicate with the plurality of terminal devices; an apparatus information obtaining unit configured to obtain apparatus information indicating a state of the information processing apparatus; and an information transmission controller which includes an information storage unit configured to store the apparatus information received from the apparatus information obtaining unit, wherein, when the communication unit receives a first information transmission request repeatedly transmitted from a first terminal device which transmitted the first information transmission request for requesting transmission of the apparatus information displayed on a first state monitoring screen among the plurality of terminal devices, the information transmission controller requests the apparatus information obtaining unit to obtain the apparatus information corresponding to the first information transmission request, receives the apparatus information from the apparatus information obtaining unit, stores the obtained apparatus information in the information storage unit, and controls the communication unit to transmit the apparatus information to the first terminal device, and after the communication unit receives the first information transmission request transmitted by another terminal device other than the first terminal device among the plurality of terminal devices, the information transmission controller controls the communication unit to transmit the apparatus information corresponding to the first information transmission request stored in the information storage unit to the another terminal device.