Patent ID: 8422059

Claim:
An information processing apparatus comprising: an acquisition unit adapted to acquire information about an expiration date of the information processing apparatus; a first determination unit adapted to determine whether the expiration date of the apparatus expires or not based on the information acquired by said acquisition unit; a limitation unit adapted to limit use of the information processing apparatus when said first determination unit determines that the expiration date expires; a registration unit adapted to register a specific processing procedure that is executed by the information processing apparatus as work flow information; a second determination unit adapted to determine whether the work flow information has been registered; a third determination unit adapted to determine whether a user instructs an execution of the previously registered specific processing procedure of the work flow information concerned when said second determination unit determines that the work flow information has been registered; and an execution unit adapted to execute the previously registered specific processing procedure described in the work flow information under the condition where the use of the information processing apparatus is limited by said limitation unit, when said third determination unit determines that the user instructs the execution of the previously registered specific processing procedure, wherein the use of the processing apparatus remains limited after the execution unit executes the previously registered specific processing procedure.