Patent ID: 8711398

Claim:
An image processing system in which a plurality of image processing apparatuses are connected together for communication with each other, comprising: a first obtaining unit adapted to obtain device information for each of a plurality of first image processing apparatuses that are already connected to the system; a second obtaining unit adapted to obtain device information for a second image processing apparatus that is newly connected to the system; a third obtaining unit adapted to obtain unique distribution values from the plurality of first image processing apparatuses; and a control unit adapted to select an image processing apparatus that is to distribute common distribution values to the second image processing apparatus from among the plurality of first image processing apparatuses based on an analysis, performed by the control unit, of the device information obtained by said first obtaining unit and said second obtaining unit, and adapted to determine unique distribution values to be distributed to the second image processing apparatus based on the unique distribution values obtained by said third obtaining unit.