A terminal apparatus is capable of efficiently managing the status of shared device(s) on the network in a unified manner, constantly, with the latest status information, thereby permitting a user easily to understand the status of the desired shared device. For each of the terminal apparatuses on the network, there are provided server and client. These function in the same manner regardless of whether the information exchange is with another apparatus or within one apparatus. The server means acquires and provides the information of the shared device, required from the client of another apparatus or the same apparatus.