Patent ID: 8161300

Claim:
An information processing system comprising: an instructing device that instructs execution of predetermined processing; and a plurality of processing devices that are able to execute the predetermined processing, wherein the instructing device includes: a power information reception unit operable to receive a plurality of power information pieces that are in one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of processing devices, each power information piece relating to power supply of the corresponding processing device and being stored by the corresponding processing device; a selection unit operable to select, from among the processing devices, a processing device to be instructed to execute the predetermined processing, in accordance with the power information pieces received by the power information reception unit; and an instruction transmission unit operable to transmit an instruction to execute the predetermined processing to the processing device selected by the selection unit, wherein each processing device includes: an instruction reception unit operable to receive the instruction to execute the predetermined processing transmitted by the instructing device; an execution unit operable to execute the predetermined processing if the instruction reception unit has received the instruction to execute the predetermined processing; and a power information transmission unit operable to transmit the power information piece that relates to power supply to the own processing device, wherein the power information transmission unit of each processing device includes: a storage subunit storing therein the power information piece relating to the own processing device; a detection subunit operable to detect a change in a state of power supply to the own processing device; and an update subunit operable to, each time the detection subunit detects a change in the state of power supply, update the power information piece stored in the storage subunit so that a result of the detection is reflected in the power information piece, wherein if the update unit has updated the power information piece, the power information transmission unit transmits the updated power information piece, wherein each power information piece includes a cut-off count indicating the number of times that power supply to the own processing device has been cut off, wherein the detection subunit of the power information transmission unit detects a start of power supply to the own processing device, wherein the update subunit of the power information transmission unit increments the cut-off count by one each time the detection subunit performs the detection, and wherein the selection unit of the instructing device selects the processing device to be instructed to execute the predetermined processing, in accordance with the cut-off counts received by the power information reception unit of the instructing device.