Patent ID: 8639790

Claim:
An image forming apparatus, connectable to a plurality of user terminals on a network, the image forming apparatus comprising: an interface that facilitates information exchange among the user terminals connected via the network, the interface configured to receive shared information from one of the user terminals to be shared with the other user terminals; and a storage member configured to store the shared information; wherein the interface allows a user to write input information data to an announcement view shared with the other user terminals on the network; wherein the interface transmits the shared information, when a request for accessing the shared information is received from another one of the plurality of user terminals, to the user terminal transmitting the request, and the shared information is used to announce an instruction created by a user and transmitted to other users via the user terminals; and wherein the interface includes a message view, which allows a user to generate a list of users on the same image forming apparatus and select a specific user from the list of users to instant message.