Patent ID: 8387156

Claim:
An equipment managing system comprising: an intermediating apparatus connectable to a license management apparatus and a program management apparatus via a first network; and an equipment managing apparatus connectable to an electronic equipment via a second network, the equipment managing apparatus having no network connection to the intermediating apparatus, the license management apparatus and the program management apparatus, so that no direct information exchange is possible between the equipment managing apparatus and each of the intermediating apparatus, the license management apparatus and the program management apparatus, the license management apparatus storing, in a related manner, a license identifier to identify a license of a program of the electronic equipment, a product identifier of the program, and license state information indicating a state of use of the license of the program related to the license identifier, the program management apparatus storing the program and the product identifier in a related manner, the intermediating apparatus comprising: a license identifier accepting part configured to accept an input of a license identifier related to an install target; a product information acquiring part configured to acquire from the license management apparatus the product identifier related to the input license identifier; a program acquiring part configured to acquire from the program management apparatus the program related to the product identifier acquired by the product information acquiring part; a license acquiring part configured to specify the license identifier and acquire from the license management apparatus a license file corresponding to the license identifier, and to update the license state information related to the license identifier to a value indicating that the license is in use; and a first write part configured to record the program acquired by the program acquiring part and the license file acquired by the license acquiring part in an external storage medium, and the equipment management apparatus comprising: a first read part configured to acquire the license file and the program from the external storage medium; an install control part configured to send the program acquired by the first read part to the electronic equipment; and a license import part configured to send the license file acquired by the first read part to the electronic equipment.