Image forming apparatus and image forming system

An image forming apparatus, comprising:

• a communication part that performs communication with an external device via a network, the communication part including a memory that stores status information of the image forming apparatus;
• an image processing part that performs a process for forming an image;
• an image forming part that forms the image on a recording medium based on the process for forming the image by the image processing part;
• and
• a power supply controller that supplies power to only the communication part in a power saving mode without supplying power to the image processing part and the image forming part, wherein
• the communication part sends a client application object to the external device upon acceptance of an access requested from the external device,
• the communication part sends the status information to the external device upon receipt of a status information reference request and a status information acquisition request from the external device through the client application object, and
• the communication part modifies the status information stored in the memory upon receipt of a status information update request from the external device through the client application object.

A network controller for controlling communication between an image forming apparatus and an external network device, comprising:

• a network controller part for receiving and responding to requests from the external network device;
• a program storage part in communication with the network controller part for storing a program utilized by the network controller part for receiving and responding to the requests from the external network device;
• and
• a memory for storing status information of the image forming apparatus to enable the status information be received from and sent to the external network device while the image forming apparatus is in a power saving mode.