Patent ID: 8145955

Claim:
A monitoring apparatus comprising: a reception section that receives, respectively, use mode information pieces from a plurality of information processing apparatuses; a storage section that stores, respectively, the use mode information pieces received by the reception section; a transmission section that, if the reception section receives a trouble information piece contained in a use mode information piece from a faulty one of the plurality of information processing apparatuses, then transmits an information piece concerning countermeasures against a fault indicated by the trouble information piece to the faulty one of the plurality of information processing apparatuses; a first collecting section that collects from the storage section, first use mode information pieces of first ones of the plurality of information processing apparatuses having a same model as the faulty one of the plurality of information processing apparatuses; and a second collecting section that collects from the storage section, second use mode information pieces of second ones of the plurality of information processing apparatuses having the same model as the faulty one of the plurality of information processing apparatuses; wherein the first use mode information pieces contain trouble information pieces indicating the same fault as the fault indicated by the faulty one of the plurality of information processing apparatuses, wherein the second use mode information pieces do not contain trouble information pieces, thereby indicating that corresponding second ones of the plurality of information processing apparatuses operate normally, and wherein the transmission section transmits the information piece concerning the countermeasures to the faulty one of the plurality of information processing apparatuses on the basis of a determination using the first use mode information pieces and the second use mode information pieces.