Patent ID: 8908208

Claim:
An image processing apparatus connected via a data communication channel to an information processing apparatus, the image processing apparatus comprising: a storing unit configured to store comparison data; an analysis unit configured to analyze a print job sent by a requesting user from the information processing apparatus to obtain user information of the requesting user; a setting unit configured to set the user information to be obtained by the analysis unit, wherein the analysis unit is configured to obtain the user information set by the setting unit by analyzing the print job; a comparison unit configured to compare the obtained user information with the comparison data to determine whether registered user information corresponding to the obtained user information is present in the comparison data; a registration unit configured to register the obtained user information as the comparison data of an authorized user if the registered user information corresponding to the obtained user information is not present in the comparison data, wherein the comparison unit is configured to control execution of a printing process and/or an error process if the registered user information corresponding to the obtained user information is present in the comparison data, the setting unit is configured to set the user information including user identification information and user related information, the analysis unit is configured to obtain the user identification information and the user related information by analyzing the print job, the registration unit is configured to register the user identification information and the user related information in association with each other as the comparison data, and the comparison unit is configured to identify the user related information of the requesting user in the comparison data based on the user identification information obtained by analyzing the print job, and compare the user related information obtained by analyzing the print job with the identified user related information in the comparison data to determine whether the requesting user is the authorized user; a recording unit configured to record usage history information indicating a history of usage of a printing function of the image processing apparatus by the requesting user; and an update condition determining unit configured to determine whether to update the registered user information in the comparison data, wherein the setting unit is further configured to set an update condition for the registered user information in the comparison data, and when the comparison unit determines that the requesting user is not the authorized user, the update condition determining unit determines whether to update the registered user information of the requesting user by determining whether the update condition is satisfied based on the usage history information of the requesting user.