Patent ID: 7636172

Claim:
An image forming apparatus including a system service for performing processes of a system side of the image forming apparatus on the basis of a request by using an API from an application for performing processes on image forming, the image forming apparatus comprising: an obtaining unit configured to obtain version information of a plurality of APIs used by the application for the system service, and version information of a plurality of APIs corresponding to the system service; a comparing unit configured to compare, API by API, version information of the one of the plurality of the APIs used by the application with version information of the one of the plurality of the APIs of the system service; a further comparing unit configured to compare a version of a set of the APIs used by the application with a version of a set of APIs of the system service; and control services configured to control hardware resources of the image forming apparatus, and a virtual application service that operates as a client process for at least a control service, and operates as a server process for the application, wherein the image forming apparatus performs comparison by the comparing unit only when the versions of the sets of the APIs are different, and the system service includes at least a control service that receives a request by using an API from the application, and the virtual application service.