Patent ID: 7543050

Claim:
A network terminal connected to a network, comprising: a plurality of process portions; a plurality of hardware resources and software resources governed by the plurality of process portions; and a plurality of web servers connected to form a web server network within the network terminal, wherein each of the plurality of the web servers takes charge of at least one of the plurality of process portions, manages information available from the at least one of the plurality of process portions, stores location information to identify a location of the information, produces a web page based on the information managed by each of the plurality of web servers, and transmits a file representing the web page to a predetermined web server in the web server network, the file containing the information, wherein the predetermined web server comprises: a first determining unit that determines, if the predetermined web server receives a request from a requestor connected to the network for information available from a particular process portion in the plurality of process portions, whether or not the predetermined web server stores location information to identify a location of the requested information by the requestor; a first transmitting unit that produces, if the first determining unit determines that the predetermined web server stores the location information to identify the location of the requested information by the requestor, a web page containing the requested information identified by the location information and transmits a file representing the web page to the requestor; and a transferring unit that transfers, if the first determining unit determines that the predetermined web server does not store the location information to identify the location of the requested information by the requestor, the received request to another web server, other than the predetermined web server, in the web server network, wherein the another web server produces a web page containing the requested information to be transmitted in accordance with the request transferred from the predetermined web server and transmits a file representing the web page to the predetermined web server, and wherein the predetermined web server transmits the file transmitted from the another web server to requestor.