Patent ID: 8194259

Claim:
An information processing apparatus connected to a client apparatus and an image forming apparatus, the information processing apparatus comprising: a large capacity memory device; a common interface device; a reception part compatible with the common interface device; a transmission part compatible with the common interface device, and a data conversion part configured to convert a format of the data stored in the large capacity memory device, said data conversion part including an emulating part configured to emulate a particular function of the image forming apparatus upon receiving the data, and a conversion part configured to convert the format of the data so as to be compatible with the particular function upon transmitting the data, wherein the information processing apparatus is configured to function as an emulator of the image forming apparatus to the client apparatus, and function as an emulator of the client apparatus to the image forming apparatus, wherein the reception part receives data for an image forming request from the client apparatus via the common interface device and stores the data on the large capacity memory device, and the transmission part transmits the data for the image forming request stored on the large capacity memory device to the image forming apparatus via the common interface device.