Patent ID: 7668940

Claim:
A method of controlling a system, the system including: a network circuit; a plurality of connecting means; a first computer fixedly connected to the network circuit; and a second computer detachably connectable to the network circuit via any one of the plurality of connecting means, the method comprising: managing, in the first computer, information relating to hardware or software, including a place of installation in the real world for each of the hardware or software, which are usable through the network circuit, and providing a resource information managing result; selecting, at the second computer, one of the managed information relating to the plural sets of hardware or software, set by a user; and acquiring, in the first computer, the hardware information or software information of the resource information managing result in response to a request for information relating to usable hardware or software from another computer, transmitting the acquired hardware information or software information from the first computer to the network circuit, and providing a resource information processing result of the acquiring; holding, in the second computer, the hardware information or software information relating to the hardware or software that can be managed directly, and providing a resource information holding result; comparing, in the second computer, the hardware information or software information of the resource information holding result of the second computer and the hardware information or software information of the resource information managing result of the first computer, and providing a comparing result; detecting, in the second computer, a replaceable hardware or software, and providing a detecting result; when the second computer connected to the network circuit through any one of the plurality of connecting means is detected as being disconnected from the hardware or software that can be managed directly: comparing, in the second computer, the hardware information or software information, of the resource information managing result, transmitted from the first computer and the hardware information or software information of the resource information holding result; and directly setting, in the second computer, the replaceable hardware or software.