In a communication system, an image forming apparatus sends an address of a receiving section to an external device. The external device receives a selection of image data through plural thumbnails displayed on a display section, and wirelessly sends the selected image data to the image forming apparatus with the address. The image forming apparatus receives the selected image data sent with the address by the external device, and prints an image based on the selected image data. The image forming apparatus accepts a selection indicating whether a communication between the external device and the image forming apparatus is performed by a first communication system method or a second communication system method. The image forming apparatus performs sending and/or receiving the image data with the address by the first communication system method when the first communication system method is selected, and performs sending and/or receiving the image data with the address by the second communication system method when the second communication system method is selected.

An image forming apparatus includes a communication unit configured to communicate with an external controller, a reception unit configured to receive, in a case where a predetermined error related to the communication occurs, log information on the predetermined error from the external controller, and a storage control unit configured to store, in a storage unit of the image forming apparatus, the log information received from the external controller and log information indicating an operation of the image forming apparatus corresponding to a timing at which the predetermined error has occurred.

An image forming apparatus includes a communication unit configured to communicate with an external controller, a reception unit configured to receive, in a case where a predetermined error related to the communication occurs, log information on the predetermined error from the external controller, and a storage control unit configured to store, in a storage unit of the image forming apparatus, the log information received from the external controller and log information indicating an operation of the image forming apparatus corresponding to a timing at which the predetermined error has occurred.

An apparatus includes a recognition unit configured to recognize a function included in a communication partner and a determination unit configured to determine processing, which the communication partner performs on transmission data, according to the recognized function and a type of the transmission data.

An image forming apparatus supporting peer to peer (P2P) connection includes a print engine to perform a print operation; a first wireless interface to connect the image forming apparatus to an access point (AP) of an infrastructured network; a second wireless interface to connect the image forming apparatus to an external mobile device by P2P; a soft AP module to allow the image forming apparatus to perform as an AP when the image forming apparatus is P2P connected; a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server unit to allocate an internet protocol (IP) address to the mobile device that is P2P connected to the image forming apparatus; a soft AP activating unit to activate the soft AP module; and a control unit. If a discovery packet is received from the mobile device via P2P interface, the control unit is operable to control the image forming apparatus to process the discovery packet.

A device control apparatus (mobile equipment) wirelessly receives specification information related to a specifications of a device from the device when a first connection with the device is established using the short distance wireless communication, performs settings related to a process to be executed in the device depending on the specifications of the device on the basis of the specification information, and executes a process of the settings, which depend on the specifications of the device, in the device when a second connection with the device is established using the short distance wireless communication.

Automatically configuring a portable electronic device for accessing a site on a public network is disclosed. The method and system include establishing a connection to at least one server for establishing and maintaining website accounts, and sending information uniquely identifying the electronic device to the at least one server. The at least one server sends user account information to the device, including an account ID and password, created based on the electronic device information. The user account information is stored on the device for use the next time the device accesses the website, whereby the user does not have to enter account information in order to establish the ISP connection or the website account before accessing the public network or, if the user account is not completely set up, to establish the user account a next time the device connects to the at least one server.

A control apparatus capable of controlling a plurality of apparatuses including at least one image output apparatus that outputs image data and at least one image input apparatus into which image data are input, includes: a first obtaining unit configured to obtain, from one of a first apparatus that serves as the image input apparatus among the plurality of apparatuses and a second apparatus that serves as the image output apparatus among the plurality of apparatuses and outputs image data input into the first apparatus, pair information identifying the first apparatus and the second apparatus; and a control unit configured to perform interlock control of the first apparatus and the second apparatus on the basis of the pair information.

An information processing apparatus includes a processor configured to: when receiving an image forming instruction issued to an image forming apparatus, transmit image data and processing information to a server, the processing information including access information regarding access to the information processing apparatus and information for forming an image represented by the image data, and store the image data into the information processing apparatus; and perform control for transmitting the image data to the image forming apparatus in response to transmission of the image data being requested from the image forming apparatus.

A communication device, method and computer program product provide multiple simultaneous camera previews of different imaging modes of the same image. The communication device includes a communication subsystem that receives a photographic image stream from a second communication device. The communication device includes a display driver that presents content on a display device. A controller of the communication device is communicatively coupled to the display driver. The controller simultaneously presents the more than one camera previews on the display device. The communication device presents a particular imaging mode of the photographic image stream corresponding to the particular camera preview that is user selected. The communication device transmits, via the communication subsystem to the second communication device, a report of a user selection by the at least one user input device, of the particular imaging mode of the photographic visual stream that is being presented on the display device.