Patent ID: 8180924

Claim:
An information processing apparatus capable of communicating with a client terminal device and other information processing apparatuses through a network in order to implement an information processing job requested by the client terminal device, comprising: a communicating section to communicate with the client terminal device and the other information processing apparatuses; and a control section including a processor and memory; wherein the control section is adapted to conduct processes of: initiating a broadcast of a list-creation requesting message, including a condition table, to the other information processing apparatuses, to request that each of the other information processing apparatuses estimate an own ability for implementing the information processing job and return the condition table, including the estimated own ability to the initiating information processing apparatus; receiving an apparatus information set, which includes the condition table, from each of the other information processing apparatuses; determining whether the own ability of each of the other information processing apparatuses exceeds a predetermined level, based on the condition table received, so as to select specific information processing apparatuses, the own abilities of which exceed the predetermined level, as those available for implementing the information processing job requested by the client terminal device from both the initiating information processing apparatus and the other information processing apparatuses; establishing a group of the specific information processing apparatuses among which implementation of the information processing job requested by the client terminal device are to be shared, based on all of apparatus information sets corresponding to both the initiating information processing apparatus and the other information processing apparatuses; creating a list in which the specific information processing apparatuses included in the group are registered; and transmitting the list to at least the specific information processing apparatuses registered in the list.