Patent ID: 8422051

Claim:
A device which can communicate with an information processing apparatus via a network, comprising: a management unit constructed to manage identification information to be used as a search condition in a search request for the device, wherein the identification information is arbitrarily inputted into the device by a user; a communication unit constructed to receive a search request for the device from the information processing apparatus; a determination unit constructed to determine whether or not the search request received by said communication unit includes identification information as the search condition; and a control unit constructed to, when said determination unit determines that the search request includes the identification information and under conditions where the same identification information is managed by said management unit, control said communication unit to transmit a response to the search request and control said management unit to stop managing the identification information, and when said determination unit determines that the search request does not include the identification information and regardless of whether or not the same identification information is managed by said management unit, control said communication unit to transmit a response to the search request and control said management unit to continue managing the identification information.