Remote management server to generate policy including configuration data for image forming apparatuses, receive a request from image forming apparatus for changing the configuration data of the image forming apparatus

An image forming device, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory to store instructions that, based on their execution, cause the processor to:
• receive, from a remote management server, a policy comprising configuration data for the image forming device, the remote management server having a list comprising the image forming device;
• receive, at the image forming device a request for a change in the configuration data;
• send a notification to the remote management server in response to the request;
• and
• in response to determining that the received request is to change the configuration data comprised in the policy, request the remote management server remove the image forming device from the list and process the request in accordance with a preset rule for accepting the requested change and to update the policy to incorporate the image forming device, if rebooted or onboarded to the remote management server, back into the list.

A method, comprising:

• generating a policy comprising configuration data for image forming devices and a list of a plurality of image forming devices for which the configuration data is to be applied;
• receiving, from an image forming device of the plurality of image forming devices, a request for a change in the configuration data for the image forming device, in response to the image forming device receiving a separate request made to perform the change in the applied configuration data on the image forming device, and
• processing the request in accordance with a preset rule, wherein the preset rule comprises at least one of:
• a first rule for accepting the requested change and removing the image forming device from the list of the plurality of image forming devices for which the configuration data is to be applied;
• a second rule for accepting the requested change and removing the image forming device from the list of the plurality of image forming devices for which the configuration data is to be applied and updating the list to include the image forming device if the image forming device is rebooted or onboarded to a remote management server if the request is to change configuration data that is allowed to change;
• or
• a third rule for accepting the requested change, removing the image forming device from the list of the plurality of image forming devices for which the configuration data is to be applied, and generating a different policy corresponding to the changed configuration data and the removed image forming device.