Patent ID: 8856297

Claim:
A device control apparatus configured to control a device based on device information acquired from the device, the device control apparatus comprising: a storage unit; and a processing unit comprising: a search part configured to search for an information processing apparatus that is coupled to a network to which the device control apparatus is coupled, the device being locally coupled to the information processing apparatus via a predetermined interface; a remote control availability determining part configured to make a determination on whether the information processing apparatus searched by the search part is remotely controllable; and a device information acquiring part configured to acquire device information of the device locally coupled to the information processing apparatus via the predetermined interface by remotely controlling the information processing apparatus based on the determination made by the remote control availability determining part, wherein the device information acquiring part uses a remote control function provided by an operating system operated in the information processing apparatus in order to acquire, via a kernel of the operating system, the device information of the device locally coupled to the information processing apparatus; wherein the search part, the remote control availability determining part, and the device information acquiring part are stored in the storage unit.