Patent ID: 8326863

Claim:
An image processing apparatus comprising: a group storage area that is shared with a plurality of associated users who are members of a group and that receives consolidated data that comprises (i) a plurality of individual documents that are respectively associated with different ones of said plurality of users and each of which is to be respectively delivered to a respective one of the associated users, and (ii) identification information to identify each of the plurality of associated users; a respective personal storage area provided for each of the plurality of users and that receives a respective one of the individual documents stored in the group storage area; an identifier that identifies the respective personal storage area of each of the associated users to which a respective individual document in a consolidated data stored in the group storage area is to be delivered; and a transmitter that separately transmits the individual documents, in the received consolidated data, from the group storage area to the respective personal storage area(s) identified by the identifier so that each user receives a respective one of the individual documents, wherein the transmitter transmits the individual documents to the respective personal storage area(s) of the plurality of associated users in a single transmission.