Patent ID: 7562141

Claim:
An information image utilization system for performing multimedia file management, the system comprising: a multimedia apparatus; a plurality of clients; an information image management server comprising an apparatus portion for: producing and storing a master apparatus information image, the master apparatus information image comprising specific information including a multimedia apparatus identifier, and related information that the clients can use to perform predetermined actions; and producing and storing a copy apparatus information image by copying at least part of the master image and adding attribute information not included in the master image, the attribute information describing access rights for each client that has ownership of the copy image and access rights for performing the predetermined actions in the related information; wherein a first client includes means for: receiving the copy image upon authentication; displaying the copy image as an icon; displaying a menu upon selection of the copy image, wherein the menu is based on the related information in the copy image; transmitting, to an apparatus management server, a request for notification of a state of the multimedia apparatus upon selection of the menu by a user; receiving a notification of the state of the multimedia apparatus from the apparatus management server; and performing at least one of the predetermined actions upon receiving the notification, wherein the at least one predetermined action comprises accessing the multimedia apparatus using the multimedia apparatus identifier in the copy image, and causing the multimedia apparatus to perform a multimedia task.