Patent ID: 8599404

Claim:
A network image processing system, including a plurality of apparatuses connected to a network, for performing jobs in a linkage process in which an upstream apparatus passes a workflow specifying a job to be completed, together with image data to be processed, to a downstream apparatus according to a procedure specified in the workflow, wherein the downstream apparatus comprising: a receiver that receives the workflow and the image data from the upstream apparatus; a processor that processes a predetermined job in the linkage process that is assigned to the downstream apparatus in accordance with the image data and the workflow received by the receiver; a completion notification transmitting unit that when the predetermined job has been processed completely by the downstream apparatus, transmits to the upstream apparatus a completion notification indicating that the predetermined job has been processed normally; a transmitter that, when the processing of the predetermined job by the processor has normally been completed and when there is a further apparatus which is positioned downstream of the downstream apparatus, transmits, to the further apparatus, the image data with which the predetermined job has been processed and the workflow received by the receiver, and the upstream apparatus comprising: a processor that processes another job in the linkage process that is assigned to the upstream apparatus; a transmitter that transmits the workflow and the image data to the downstream apparatus; and a linkage unit that if the completion notification is not received from the downstream apparatus in correspondence with the workflow and image data transmitted by the transmitter, updates the workflow to specify, as a new downstream apparatus, another apparatus among the plurality of apparatuses that is able to process the predetermined job, and passes, to the new downstream apparatus, the updated workflow together with the image data on which the another job has been processed, and wherein upon receiving the completion notification from the downstream apparatus or the new downstream apparatus, the linkage unit ends the linkage process for the upstream apparatus.