Patent ID: 7065770

Claim:
A program supplying method for supplying a program from a server through a network to an image forming apparatus including an apparatus main body and one or more of a plurality of different optional units combined therewith, the program supplying method comprising: initiating, in response to a user input to the image forming apparatus, a program supplying operation for supplying the program; determining an operating environment of the image forming apparatus based on which one or more of the plurality of different optional units is combined with the apparatus main body; transmitting, from the image forming apparatus through the network to the server before the program is supplied, operating environment information indicative of the determined operating environment; determining at the server whether the program is operable in the operating environment based on the operating environment information and transmitting, from the server through the network to the image forming apparatus, a result of the determination; and supplying the program from the server to the image forming apparatus if the program is determined to be operable in the operating environment.