Patent ID: 8718058

Claim:
A device search server connectable to a network including a plurality of subnets, the device search server on a first subnet of the plurality of subnets and configured to receive a request for device search from a device search apparatus connected to the network and transmit, as a search result, device information held in the device search server to the device search apparatus, the device search server comprising: a holding unit configured to hold pieces of information about respective ones of a plurality of devices and a plurality of device search servers on the plurality of subnets; a first determination unit configured to determine whether a device/server type of each of the pieces of information held in said holding unit coincides with a device/server type represented by the request for device search received from the device search apparatus on a second subnet of the plurality of subnets different than the first subnet; a creation unit configured to create response data according to a result of determination by said first determination unit; a transmission unit configured to transmit, as the search result, the created response data to the device search apparatus; a second determination unit configured to determine whether the received request for device search is a multicast; and a third determination unit configured to determine whether DiscoveryProxy is specified in the request for device search in a case where it is determined by said second determination unit that the request for device search is multicast, wherein said creation unit is configured to create response data based on the pieces of information held in said holding unit in a case where it is determined by said third determination unit that DiscoveryProxy is not specified in the request for device search, and wherein said transmission unit transmits the created response data as a Hello message.