US Patent 7865580 Information processing apparatus and grouping method

In an information processing apparatus for identifying a plurality of communication devices, grouping and managing the identified communication devices, communication devices that are in a state of communication among devices forbidden are grouped and managed. Then, it acts for obtaining data of another communication device when the data is obtained among the communication devices grouped. The data obtaining proxy is performed when a request to obtain data of another communication device is received from a communication device, and data of another communication device is obtained based on the request, and it is sent to a communication device.