Information processing apparatus, information processing method, program, and storage medium

An information processing method in an information processing apparatus which comprises a plurality of providing units configured to provide a plurality of services, and a plurality of authentication processing units configured to execute authentication processing of a user who requests to provide a service via a network, comprising:

• holding, in a memory, association information which describes association between information pertaining to the providing units which provide the services, and information pertaining to the authentication processing units which execute authentication processing upon providing the service, wherein the memory is enabled to hold association information indicating that authentication by one authentication processing unit of the plurality of authentication processing units is needed upon providing two or more services of the plurality of the services;
• specifying services from the plurality of the services, based on a request from the user;
• and
• determining one authentication processing unit from the plurality of authentication processing units in accordance with the association information held in the memory, the determined authentication processing unit being associated with a providing unit which provides the specified services,
• wherein when the authentication processing unit upon providing the services specified by the specifying unit are determined and the user has been authenticated using the determined authentication processing unit the services are provided by the providing unit which provides the services requested by the user.

An information processing apparatus comprising:

• a service request reception unit configured to receive a service request from a service request source;
• a holding unit configured to hold association information which describes association between a plurality of service providing units configured to provide services, and a plurality of authentication processing units configured to execute authentication processing of the service request source that requests to provide the service, wherein the holding unit is enabled to hold the association information indicating that the authentication by one authentication processing units of the plurality of authentication processing units is needed upon providing two or more services of the plurality of services;
• a specifying unit configured to specify services from the plurality of the services, based on the service request from the service request source;
• and
• a determination unit configured to determine one authentication processing unit from the plurality of authentication processing units in accordance with the association information held in the holding unit, the determined authentication processing unit being associated with the service providing unit which provides the services requested by the service request source;
• a service request unit configured to request the authentication processing unit determined by the determination unit to authenticate the service request source, and to, when the service request source has been authenticated by the authentication processing unit determined by the determining unit, request the service providing unit to provide the specified services.

An information processing method comprising:

• receiving a service request from a service request source;
• holding, in a memory, association information which describes association between a plurality of service providing units configured to provide services, and a plurality of authentication processing units configured to execute authentication processing of the service request source that requests to provide a service wherein the memory is enabled to hold the association information indicating that authentication by one authentication processing unit of the plurality of authentication processing units is needed upon providing two or more services of the plurality of the services;
• specifying services from the plurality of the services, based on the service request from the service request source;
• determining one authentication processing unit from the plurality of authentication processing units in accordance with the association information, the determined authentication processing unit being associated with the service providing unit which provides the specified services;
• and
• requesting the determined authentication processing unit to authenticate the service request source, and requesting, when the service request source has been authenticated by the determined authentication processing unit, the determined service providing unit to provide the services requested by the service request source.

An information processing apparatus for providing a service requested by a user from a plurality of services, comprising:

• a plurality of authentication processing units configured to execute authentication processing of a user who requests to provide a service via a network;
• a recording unit configured to record association information which describes association between information pertaining to services, and information pertaining to the authentication processing units which execute authentication processing upon providing the service, wherein the association information indicates that authentication by one authentication processing unit of the plurality of authentication processing units is needed upon providing two or more services of the plurality of the services;
• a specifying unit configured to specify services from the plurality of the services, based on a request from the user;
• a determination unit configured to determine one authentication processing unit from the plurality of authentication processing units in accordance with the association information recorded by the recording unit, the determined authentication processing unit being associated with the services specified by the specifying unit;
• a providing unit configured to provide the services requested by the user when the user has been authenticated using the authentication processing unit determined by the determination unit;
• a receiving unit configured to receive a request of addition of a new service;
• and
• a discrimination unit configured to discriminate whether information pertaining to the new service is appended with the request, wherein the information describes association between information pertaining to the new service, and information pertaining to the authentication processing unit which executes authentication processing upon providing the new service, and
• wherein, when the discrimination unit discriminates that the information is appended with the request, the recording unit adds the information pertaining to the new service to the association information recorded by the recording unit.

An information processing system which comprises a first information processing apparatus and a second information processing apparatus connected to be able to communicate with the first information processing apparatus via a network, wherein

• the first information processing apparatus comprises:
• a plurality of providing units configured to provide a plurality of services;
• a plurality of authentication processing units configured to execute authentication processing of a user who requests to provide a service via the network;
• a recording unit configured to record association information which describes association between information pertaining to the providing units that provide the services, and information pertaining to the authentication processing units that execute authentication processing upon providing the service, wherein the association information indicates that authentication by one authentication processing unit of the plurality of authentication processing units is needed upon providing two or more service of the plurality of the services;
• a specifying unit configured to specify services from the plurality of the services, based on request from the user;
• a determination unit configured to determine one authentication processing unit from the plurality of authentication processing units in accordance with the association information recorded in the recording unit, the determined authentication processing unit being associated with the providing unit which provides the services specified by the specifying unit;
• a providing unit configured to provide the services requested by the user when the user has been authenticated using the authentication processing unit determined by the determination unit;
• a receiving unit configured to receive a request of addition of a new service;
• and
• a discriminating unit configured to discriminate whether information pertaining to the new service is appended with the request, wherein the information describes association between information pertaining to the new service, and information pertaining to the authentication processing unit which executes authentication processing upon providing the new service, and
• the second information processing apparatus comprises:
• a transmitting unit configured to transmit the request of addition of a new service,
• wherein, when the discriminating unit discriminates that the association information is appended with the request, the recording unit adds information pertaining to the new service to the association information recorded by the recording unit.

An information processing method in an information processing apparatus which comprises a plurality of providing units configured to provide a plurality of services, a plurality of authentication processing units configured to execute authentication processing of a user who requests to provide a service via the network, comprising:

• holding, in a memory, association information which describes association between information pertaining to the providing units which provide the services, and information pertaining to the authentication processing units that execute authentication processing upon providing the services, wherein the association information indicates that authentication by one authentication processing unit of the plurality of authentication processing units is needed upon providing two or more services of the plurality of the services;
• specifying services from the plurality of services, based on a request from the user;
• determining one authentication processing unit from the plurality of authentication processing units in accordance with the association information held in the memory, the determined authentication processing unit being associated with the providing unit which provides the specified services,
• providing the services requested by the user when the user has been authenticated using the determined authentication processing unit;
• receiving a request of addition of a new service;
• discriminating whether information pertaining to the new service is appended with the request, wherein the information describes association between information pertaining to the new service, and information pertaining to the authentication processing unit which executes authentication processing upon providing the new service;
• and
• adding, when it is discriminated that the information is appended with the request, the information pertaining to the new service to the association information held in the memory.