Patent ID: 7359074

Claim:
An image forming apparatus for displaying, at a second operation panel, second option information indicating a plurality of second function options concerning second functions of hardware resources including a scanner or a plotter mounted in the image forming apparatus itself and conducting an image formation based on a second setting parameter set by an operation of a user by using the scanner or the plotter, said image forming apparatus comprising: a second operation screen generation part generating screen information allowing a user to set at least one function option from the plurality of the second function options available for a predetermined process; a second operation screen control part controlling so as to display a first operation screen generated by a first operation screen generation part to a first operation panel; a transmitting part transmitting a screen generating program realizing the second operation screen generating part and the second option information to a first image forming apparatus capable of communicating through a network, wherein the first image forming apparatus includes a scanner or plotter; a receiving part receiving the first setting parameter, which the user operating the first operation panel of the first image forming apparatus sets, from a screen of the first operation panel, the screen displaying the second option information transmitted to the first image forming apparatus instead of a first operation information concerning the image formation of the first image forming apparatus; and a process control part controlling the image formation by using the hardware resources of the image forming apparatus itself based on the first setting parameter received from the first image forming apparatus instead of the second setting parameter.