Patent ID: 7590559

Claim:
An information providing system on a network including an order accepting apparatus which receives image data from a customer terminal, stores the received image data and accepts a plurality of orders to print the stored image data from the customer terminal, and a plurality of printing apparatuses which print the ordered image data, at least one of said printing apparatuses being specified in each of the plurality of orders by the customer terminal, wherein each of said printing apparatuses comprises: accepting means for accepting, from the order accepting apparatus, a temporary order to print the image data; calculation means for calculating a charge amount to be paid in exchange for printing the image data on print media in accordance with the temporary order accepted by said accepting means; and notification means for notifying said order accepting apparatus of the charge amount calculated by said calculation means, and wherein said order accepting apparatus comprises: order accepting means for accepting, from the customer terminal, the plurality of orders in each of which at least one of said printing apparatuses is specified by the customer terminal; transfer means for transferring temporary orders corresponding to each of the plurality of orders accepted by the order accepting means to the at least one of said printing apparatuses specified in the respective order; reception means for receiving a plurality of calculated charge amounts from said notification means of each of the plurality of printing apparatuses to which the temporary orders are transferred by the transfer means; totaling means for totaling the plurality of calculated charge amounts received by said reception means to obtain a total charge amount; total charge transmission means for transmitting the total charge amount to the customer terminal; order approval reception means for receiving, from the customer terminal, a notification indicating approval of the order to print the image data; formal print order issuing means for issuing formal print orders to each of the plurality of printing apparatuses specified in the respective order to print the image data; counting means for counting a number of print media which are printed according to the formal orders; and settlement request means for requesting, to a settlement apparatus, settlement of the total charge resulting from totaling by said totaling means, when the counted number of print media exceeds a predetermined number.