Patent ID: 8443289

Claim:
A display instruction apparatus comprising: a hardware processor; a first storage unit that stores a device name of a plurality of network devices connected to a network, and position information for a position on a screen that is associated to a respective device name; and a second storage unit that stores jobs executable in response to an icon representing a first one of the network devices being dragged and dropped onto an icon representing a second one of the network devices, said jobs being based on a combination of the first one and the second one of the network devices, wherein the hardware processor includes, a display-screen transmitting unit that when a display information request with specified placement locations is received from a client terminal connected to the network, refers to the first storage unit and generates a display screen on which icons representing the network devices are displayed at positions on a device layout image corresponding to the specified placement locations, and transmits the generated display screen to the client terminal; and an instruction transmitting unit that, in response to the icon representing the first one of the network devices being dragged and dropped onto the icon representing the second one of the network devices at the client terminal, refers to the second storage unit and transmits jobs corresponding to the combination of the first one and the second one of the network devices, and in response to receiving a selected job from the client terminal, and transmits an instruction for executing a predetermined process according to the selected job between the first one and the second one of the network devices that have icons subjected to being dragged and dropped.