Image forming apparatus, equipment system, and computer-readable storage medium

An equipment system comprising an image forming apparatus and a server for distributing programs and license information,

• the server comprising license management information that associates license information with user IDs,
• the image forming apparatus comprising:
• a login unit configured to receive a login of a user;
• a program storage unit configured to store programs;
• a function introduction unit configured to obtain a first program licensed to the user and license information of the first program, and to store the first program and the license information in the program storage unit without deleting a second program that is a different version of the first program from the program storage unit;
• the licensed program being tied to the user and not the apparatus, for use by the user;
• a user information storage unit configured to store user information that registers license information of programs introduced by the function introduction unit and version information of the programs with user IDs;
• and
• a function providing unit configured to specify license information and version information that are associated with a user ID of a user who logs into the image forming apparatus in order to provide a function realized by a program corresponding to the license information and the version information to the user.
• wherein a specification of the version information from among versions of a same program is registered with the user ID, and
• wherein the function introduction unit introduces, via an external source, the program corresponding to the specification of the version information registered with the user ID into the image forming apparatus when the program corresponding to the specification of the version information registered with the user ID is not previously stored on the image forming apparatus.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing an image forming apparatus to execute the steps of:

• receiving a login of a user;
• obtaining a first program licensed to the user and license information of the first program, the licensed program being tied to the user and not the apparatus, for use by the user;
• storing the first program and the license information in a program storage unit without deleting a second program that is a different version of the first program from the program storage unit;
• storing the license information of the first program and version information of the first program with a user ID of the user in a user information storage unit as user information;
• specifying license information and version information that are associated with a user ID of a user who logs into the image forming apparatus in order to provide a function realized by a program corresponding to the license information and the version information to the user,
• wherein a specification of the version information from among versions of a same program is registered with the user ID;
• and
• introducing, via an external source, the program corresponding to the specification of the version information registered with the user ID into the image forming apparatus when the program corresponding to the specification of the version information registered with the user ID is not previously stored on the image forming apparatus.