Patent ID: 7436552

Claim:
An information processing apparatus for managing usage of an image processing apparatus, the information processing apparatus comprising: a managing unit for managing log information that indicates the usage of the image processing apparatus; a registering unit for registering image-processing-apparatus user information concerning an image-processing-apparatus user in the log information managed by the managing unit; a first acquiring unit for acquiring a limit value of an amount used that is input in response to the registration of the image-processing-apparatus user information by the registering unit; a setting unit for automatically setting the limit value acquired by the first acquiring unit as a limit value of a usage fee for the image-processing-apparatus user; a second acquiring unit for acquiring, from an external information processing apparatus that manages a system user registered in a network system, information indicating a system group to which the system user belongs; and a decision unit for deciding whether a group that is a management target for the log information managed by the managing unit coincides with the system group based on the information acquired by the second acquiring unit, wherein, when the decision unit decides that the group that is the management target for the log information coincides with the system group, the registering unit registers the image-processing-apparatus user as a new user who belongs to the group that is the management target for the log information.