Patent ID: 8332054

Claim:
An operation target identification system comprising: at least one terminal device connected to a network, the at least one terminal device having a first display; a plurality of devices connected to the network, each of the plurality of devices having a second display; and a server connected to the network at a point separate from the at least one terminal device; wherein the at least one terminal device has a first controller configured to: when a device is designated as an operation target and a display pattern is selected from a plurality of display patterns, send an update request over the network for updating an operation screen corresponding to the selected display pattern to the server; and when receiving display data from the server, update the operation screen according to the display data, wherein the server has a second controller configured to: receive, from each of the plurality of devices, information indicating a display pattern shown on its second display; generate data for enabling the at least one terminal device to display a list of the plurality of devices and transmit the generated data to the at least one terminal device; when receiving the update request, judge whether the selected display pattern of the designated device corresponds to one of the display patterns shown on the plurality of devices other than the designated device based on the information received from each of the plurality of devices; if it is judged that the selected display pattern of the designated device corresponds to one of the display patterns of the devices other than the designated device, send, to the at least one terminal, a screen indicating that the selected display pattern of the designated device corresponds to one of the display patterns of the devices other than the designated device, the screen further providing an option to reselect one of the display patterns; if it is judged that the selected display pattern of the designated device does not correspond to one of the display patterns of the devices other than the designated device, send designation data for updating the selected display pattern to the device designated as the operation target; generate the display data for displaying the operation screen in accordance with the update request; and send the generated display data for updating the operation screen to the selected display pattern to the at least one terminal device over the network, wherein the device corresponding to the operation target has a third controller configured to: when receiving the designation data from the server, update the display pattern on the second display of the operation target to the selected display pattern.