Patent ID: 7965403

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: a first tangible communication port which performs data communication with an information processing terminal; a second tangible communication port which performs data communication with a second information processing terminal when the second information processing terminal is communicably connected to the second communication port; an image forming unit that forms an image on a recording medium; a determining unit that determines, when an inquiry of a device state is received from a first information processing terminal connected to the first tangible communication port, whether the second tangible communication port is communicably connected with the second information processing terminal, and determines, when it is determined that the second tangible communication port is communicably connected with the second information processing terminal, whether, among the communication ports connected to information processing terminals, the first tangible communication port has a highest priority according to a priority order set in advance for the communication ports; and a status information sending controlling unit that sends status information indicating an operating state of the image forming apparatus through the first tangible communication port to the first information processing terminal, when the determining unit determines that the second tangible communication port is not communicably connected with the second information processing terminal or that the second tangible communication port is communicably connected with the second information processing terminal and the first tangible communication port has the highest priority, and that does not send the status information through the first tangible communication port to the first information processing terminal, when the determining unit determines that the second tangible communication port is communicably connected with the second information terminal and the first tangible communication port does not have the highest priority.