Patent ID: 7124212

Claim:
An image reading apparatus comprising: a reader, reading an image on a document and generate image data based on the image; a connector, connecting said apparatus to a network which is connectable to a plurality of printers; a reception unit, receiving path information from an external device, the path information including a network address of a printer connected by said connector; a storage unit, storing the path information corresponding to each of the plurality of printers connected by said connector; a selection unit, selecting the path information designated by a user from among the plurality of path information stored by said storage unit; and a transmitting unit, transmitting the image data generated by said reader to the printer based on the network address which is included in the path information selected by said selection unit; wherein said transmitting unit directly transmits the image data generated by said reader to the printer without going through the external device based on the network address which is included in the path information selected by said selection unit.