Patent ID: 7779120

Claim:
A method for controlling, by a controller connected to a network, a plurality of terminals connected to the network, the method comprising the steps of: selecting one of the terminals through the controller based on a user's designation; causing the controller to request the selected terminal to transmit information relating to the selected terminal; causing the selected terminal to transmit the information relating to the selected terminal to the controller in accordance with the request; causing the controller to receive the information relating to the selected terminal and to display the information relating to the selected terminal on a display, the controller displaying on the display an icon which the user can press to obtain, via the network, link information from the network relating to each of other terminals, among the plurality of terminals, to which the selected terminal is mutually communicable via the network; causing the controller to obtain, via the network, the link information from the network relating to each of the other terminals mutually communicable with the selected terminal via the network when the icon is pressed; and causing the controller to display the obtained link information from the network relating to each of the other terminals as a pressable list on the display, wherein when one of the other terminals displayed on the list as the link information from the network is pressed, the controller requests via the network, to the pressed terminal, information relating to one of state and setting of the pressed terminal; the pressed terminal transmits, via the network, the information relating to one of the state and the setting thereof to the controller in accordance with the request; the controller obtains, via the network, the information relating to one of the state and the setting of the pressed terminal transmitted in accordance with the request; and the controller displays on the display the information relating to one of the state and setting of the pressed terminal, obtained via the network.