Patent ID: 7342695

Claim:
An information management device that manages multiple printing apparatuses connecting with said information management device via a communication line, said information management device comprising: an information storage module that stores information therein; a receiver transmitter module that receives and transmits information via the communication line; a retouching request reception control module that controls said receiver transmitter module to receive retouching request information from one of the multiple printing apparatuses and stores the received retouching request information into said information storage module, where the retouching request information includes printing apparatus identification information for identifying the printing apparatus, image identification information for identifying an object image to be retouched, the object image identified by the image identification information, and retouching specification information regarding a specification of retouching to be performed on the object image; an image retouching device selection module that selects an image retouching device for a received image retouching request from one of multiple image retouching devices connecting with said information management device via the communication line based on the retouching specification information and a condition of the image retouching devices; an order information transmission control module that controls said receiver transmitter module to transmit order information to a selected image retouching device, where the order information includes at least the object image, the image identification information, and the retouching specification information among the retouching request information stored in said information storage module; a delivery information reception control module that controls said receiver transmitter module to receive delivery information, which includes a resulting image retouched in response to the transmitted order information, and the image identification information included in the order information, from the image retouching device, maps the received delivery information to the retouching request information, which includes the image identification information of the delivery information, and stores the mapped information into said information storage module; and a retouched image transmission control module that controls said receiver transmitter module to transmit at least the resulting retouched image, which is included in the delivery information stored in said information storage module, to the printing apparatus identified by the printing apparatus identification information, which is included in the retouching request information mapped to the delivery information.