Patent ID: 7835305

Claim:
A remote management system, comprising: an electronic device; a communication adaptor; and a management apparatus connected via the communication adaptor to the electronic device and configured to remotely manage the electronic device; wherein the electronic device includes a remote management information retaining unit configured to retain remote management information, and a remote management information changing unit configured to change the remote management information in the remote management information retaining unit according to a change request from the communication adaptor; and the communication adaptor includes a network segment specification unit for specifying a network segment to be managed, a device search unit configured to search the specified network segment to find the electronic device in the network segment, a remote management information obtaining unit configured to obtain the remote management information from the found electronic device, a format verification unit configured to determine whether the obtained remote management information is in a predetermined format, an invalid device information sending/reporting unit configured to determine that the remote management information is invalid remote management information if the remote management information is not in the predetermined format and to send or report electronic device information of the electronic device retaining the invalid remote management information, a change request sending unit configured to receive updated remote management information returned in response to the sent or reported electronic device information and to send the change request including the updated remote management information to the electronic device retaining the invalid remote management information, and a user authentication information input unit configured to allow a user to enter user authentication information, a user identification unit configured to identify the user based on the entered user authentication information, a user authentication request sending unit configured to send a user authentication request including the entered user authentication information to the management apparatus if the identified user is a privileged user, and a remote management information input unit for entering the updated remote management information; and the management apparatus includes a user authentication information storing unit configured to store current user authentication information of the privileged user, a user authentication unit configured to compare the entered user authentication information in the user authentication request with the current user authentication information in the user authentication information storing unit, to determine that the user authentication has succeeded if the entered user authentication information matches the current user authentication information, and to determine that the user authentication has failed if the entered user authentication information does not match the current user authentication information.