Patent ID: 8533264

Claim:
An information processing apparatus comprising: a processor connected to a memory; a controlling section to selectively apply a respective Application Program Interface (API) of a plurality of APIs defining data processing and communication corresponding to a desired one of a plurality of service-offering servers, each one of the plurality of APIs corresponding to one of the service-offering servers; and a communication section to communicate with an interchange server via a network, the interchange server intermediating communication between the information processing apparatus and the desired one of the service-offering servers, the interchange server including the plurality of APIs, wherein the controlling section employs a common API that is common to all of the service-offering servers to access, via the interchange server, the respective API in correspondence to the desired service-offering server, the common API providing a uniform interface to access services provided by the desired service-offering server, and wherein the controlling section employs the common API to transmit service selection information to the interchange server and receives service detail information corresponding to at least one selected service from the interchange server, the controlling section generating a user interface for display at the information processing apparatus in accordance with user interface generation information contained in the received service detail information, the controlling section using the common API to transmit information entered via the user interface to the interchange server; the controlling section further requests a list of services offered by the plurality of service-offering servers, wherein the controlling section selectively applies the respective API based on a selected one of the services in the list; generates, at the controlling section, a checksum based on machine-specific information corresponding to the information processing apparatus; and appends the checksum to a request for the list of services.