Patent ID: 7054899

Claim:
An image processing apparatus which can be connected to an external apparatus via a network, said image processing apparatus comprising: reception control means for controlling a reception process of receiving agent information including a command train in which a work flow is programmed describing a series of processes to be executed in a plurality of image processing apparatuses, wherein the work flow further describes a first image process to be executed in said image processing apparatus and a second image process to be executed in an external image processing apparatus which is different in mechanism from said image processing apparatus, and wherein the work flow can be programmed such that the second image process is executed after execution of the first image process; control means for controlling an image processing mechanism of said image processing apparatus by executing, based on the command train included in the received agent information, a control program that controls the image processing mechanism; memory management means for managing a memory area for executing the command train included in the received agent information; transmission control means for controlling, responsive to said control means terminating execution of the control program based on the command train, a transmission process of transmitting a process end notice to the external apparatus; and obtainment means for obtaining a reply to the process end notice from the external apparatus, wherein said memory management means releases the memory area for executing the command train included in the received agent information in response to said obtainment means obtaining the reply from the external apparatus.