Patent ID: 8613063

Claim:
An apparatus configured to be connected via a network to an authentication device and an electric device, the apparatus comprising: an authentication unit configured to execute user authentication process by the authentication device; a request receiving unit configured to receive a request for executing a function from the electric device or from the apparatus; an executing unit configured to execute a function in response to the request of authenticated user by the authentication device; an authentication control unit configured to control and to execute or not to execute the authentication unit before the executing unit executes the function in response to the request received by the request receiving unit, wherein when the requested user has already been authenticated at the electric device by the authentication device and the request receiving unit has received the request of the requested user from the electric device, the authentication control unit controls the authentication unit not to execute the user authentication process, and the executing unit executes the function without executing the user authentication process by the authentication control unit controlling the authentication unit.