An image processing apparatus includes a flow execution unit configured to receive, in response to an instruction from a user to start an application installed in the image processing apparatus, a request to register a flow from the application; store information for identifying functions included in the flow and an execution order of the functions; switchably display setting screens for the respective functions included in the flow in response to a request from the application to execute the flow; and execute the functions identified based on the stored information in the stored execution order based on setting information input on the setting screens for the respective functions.

An information processing apparatus that is capable of managing information about operations preceding start of usage of a function while associating with information about operations performed between the start and end of usage of the function. The information processing apparatus includes an operation panel, a display control unit, and a recording unit. The operation panel has a display function and accepts an operation from a user. The display control unit controls the operation panel so as to display an operation object that causes to execute a predetermined function on a screen of the operation panel. The recording unit records information about events concerning operations performed between start and end of the predetermined function and information about an event preceding the start of the predetermined function into a storage unit while associating them to each other.

An image forming apparatus and method for providing a user interface (UI) screen are provided. The image forming apparatus may include a processor to execute instructions stored in a memory to display applications miming on different UI platforms supported by different operating systems, together on a home screen based on a main UI platform selected among the different UI platforms, on a UI device.

A data processing apparatus is configured to receive a selection of a first function and search for one or more devices which has the capability to perform that first function. The apparatus may then receive a selection of the one or more devices for performing that first function and, in conjunction, determine whether the selected device has the capability to execute a second function. The device identification data may be stored. Subsequently, if the selected device is determined to be capable of executing the second function, which is different from the first function selected, and the second function is further selected, the previously selected device may be displayed as having the capability to execute the selected second function. Otherwise, the apparatus does not display the previously selected device as being able to execute the selected second function.

An information processing system for providing a service via a service providing server residing on a first network, the service being requested by an information processing apparatus residing on a second network different from the first network based on application information, the information processing system including: first circuitry to obtain state information indicating a state of the service providing server; and second circuitry to transmit the state information of the service providing server to the information processing apparatus in response to reception of a service request to the service providing server from the information processing apparatus, to cause the information processing apparatus to perform a notification operation according to the state information that is received.

An image processing system includes a processor configured to present all functions provided by plural image processing apparatuses connected to one another on a network, the plural image processing apparatuses providing different functions and receive, as shared setting information, settings of functions to be used by all the plural image processing apparatuses among all the functions presented.

In a case of a first function of carrying out a cooperative processing in accordance with an instruction from a user of a multifunction peripheral (10), the user is set as an execution user. In a case of a second function of carrying out a cooperative processing in accordance with an instruction from an application, a user instructed by the application is set as an execution user. Further, in a case where an execution user of a cooperative processing carried out using the first function and an execution user of a cooperative processing carried out using the second function are identical, use history information of the execution user is managed as use history information of a single user. This makes it possible to appropriately manage use history information of a cooperative processing.

An image processing device includes a display unit and a processor configured to determine whether or not functions of the image processing device are executable by the image processing device, and cause the display unit to display a screen including a first item corresponding to a first function that is determined to be executable and a second item corresponding to a second function that is determined to be not executable. The first item is displayed on the screen in a first display format, and the second item is displayed on the screen in a second display format that is less conspicuous than the first display format.

An image forming apparatus are installed with a plurality of applications each for executing at least one of a plurality of functions of the image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus includes a memory to store first information associating each of the plurality of applications with at least one of the plurality of functions executed by the application. The image forming apparatus further includes circuitry configured to: set, for each of the plurality of functions, restriction information indicating whether or not to restrict use of the function; and control, in a screen including icons each for starting a corresponding one of the plurality of applications, a display state of each of the icons of the applications based on the restriction information set by the circuitry for the function associated with the application by the first information.

A system and method for deploying software such as a distributed customized user interface package creates a single package for deploying the interface to multifunction peripherals having different characteristics. A customized user interface is associated with each of a plurality of base binary files which correspond to different multifunction peripheral characteristics, such as firmware version or touchscreen size. A user interface configuration module is created for each binary file. The user interface configuration modules are described with associated metadata. All user interface configuration modules are packaged and deployed to an application deployment tool. The application deployment tool identifies networked multifunction peripherals and their individual characteristics to deploy a compatible user interface configuration module for installation.