Patent ID: 7274483

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: input means for inputting a data acquisition request for a server on a network: acquisition means for, in a case where a plurality of data acquisition requests for individual servers are inputted by said input means, implementing respective acquisition processes for accessing the individual servers on the network in parallel, and for acquiring respective data from the individual servers; image data generation means for generating image formation data on the basis of the respective data acquired in the acquisition processes implemented by said acquisition means; image forming means for forming an image on the basis of the image formation data generated by said image data generation means; and control means for controlling said image data generation means to generate the image formation data in an order in which said acquisition means has acquired the respective acquired data from the individual servers, and for controlling said image forming means to form an image in an order of the generated image formation data, wherein in a case where a second data acquisition request from said input means is inputted while said acquisition means implements a first acquisition process based on a first data acquisition request from said input means, said acquisition means implements a second acquisition process based on the second data acquisition request in parallel with the first acquisition process, and an order of data acquisition requests from said input means is not always related to the order of respective data acquired in the respective acquisition processes.