Patent ID: 8020086

Claim:
An information processing method performed by an information processing apparatus that includes a central processing unit for transmitting, to a partner apparatus over a network, document data that includes link information for referring to reference data at a link destination external to the document data, the method comprising steps of: receiving at least one of an embedding request and an archiving request from the partner apparatus; embedding the reference data into the document data, upon determining that the embedding request is received, that a description to embed the reference data is present in the document data, and that the link information does not include a description to inhibit transmission of the reference data at the link destination; archiving the reference data together with the document data, upon determining that the archiving request is received, that a description to archive the reference data is present in the document data, and that the link information does not include a description to inhibit transmission of the reference data at the link destination; and transmitting, to the partner apparatus, (i) the document data into which the reference data is embedded, upon determining that the embedding request is received and (ii) the document data with which the reference data is archived, upon determining that the archiving request is received, wherein at least one of the above steps is performed, at least in part, by the central processing unit.