Patent ID: 8325366

Claim:
An image forming system, comprising: an image forming apparatus connected to a computer network; and a client apparatus connected to the computer network, the image forming apparatus comprising: a data storage device that stores a user registration information item and a user group registration information item as address book data; a first communication processing section that receives a registration request message that is described in Extensible Markup Language (XML), and includes the plurality of user registration information items for a plurality of users and the plurality of user group registration information items for a plurality of user groups, wherein one user registration information item includes a plurality of attribute information items, and the plurality of user registration information items for the plurality of users are described by repeatedly describing XML elements of one user registration information item described as one XML element, and wherein one user group registration information item includes a plurality of user IDs belonging to a user group, and the plurality of user group registration information items for the plurality of user groups are described by repeatedly describing XML elements of one user group registration information item described as one XML element; a first message processing section that extracts, when the first communication processing section receives the registration request message from the client apparatus, the plurality of user registration information items and the plurality of user group registration information items specified in the registration request message; and a registration processing section that registers the plurality of user registration information items and the plurality of user group registration information items extracted by the first message processing section in the address book data, the client apparatus comprising: a second communication processing section that transmits the registration request message; and a second message processing section that causes the second communication processing section to transmit the registration request message to the image forming apparatus.