Patent ID: 8489766

Claim:
An information processing apparatus capable of connecting via a network to a plurality of devices and a dynamic-host-configuration-protocol server adapted to perform an assignment of an Internet-protocol address to each of the plurality of devices, comprising: a storage unit adapted to store device information for each of the plurality of devices; a first receiving unit adapted to receive from a second information processing apparatus a search request for searching for a device; a search unit adapted to search for a device in response to the search request received by the first receiving unit; a sending unit adapted to send a search result obtained by the search unit to the second information processing apparatus; a second receiving unit adapted to receive information indicating that a device stops operation, from the device; a determining unit adapted to determine whether the information received by the second receiving unit includes a Bye message indicating that the Internet-protocol address is no longer needed by the device, the Bye message written in a markup language; and a control unit adapted to, when the information includes the Bye message, update device information corresponding to the device among the device information stored in the storage unit and to send a DHCP message to end the assignment of the Internet-protocol address assigned to the device to the dynamic-host-configuration-protocol server, and when the information does not include the Bye message, to update device information corresponding to the device among the device information stored in the storage unit and not to send the DHCP message to end the assignment of the Internet-protocol address assigned to the device to the dynamic-host-configuration-protocol server.