Patent ID: 8780391

Claim:
An image processing apparatus connected to other image processing apparatuses and a file server via a network, the image processing apparatus comprising: a document obtaining unit configured to obtain document data and attribute information of the document data from the file server, the attribute information including format information indicating a format of the document data and generator apparatus information indicating a generator apparatus that has generated the document data; a processability determining unit configured to determine whether the obtained document data are processable by the image processing apparatus based on the format information; an apparatus identifying unit configured to identify one of the other image processing apparatuses as the generator apparatus based on the generator apparatus information if the processability determining unit determines that the obtained document data are not processable by the image processing apparatus; and a function obtaining unit configured to obtain a functional program for processing the document data in the format from the generator apparatus, wherein if the generator apparatus is in an energy saving mode, the function obtaining unit is configured to request the generator apparatus to return to a normal mode before obtaining the functional program from the generator apparatus.