An apparatus receives meta-information from a plurality of external apparatuses, and caches the received meta-information per external apparatus that is the origin of the meta-information. Then, the meta-information cached per external apparatus is consolidated, and display of the meta-information is managed. Based on this display management, display management information corresponding to the meta-information cached per external apparatus is obtained, and the external apparatus to which a request for the meta-information is to be made is selected based on the display management information and the cache status of the meta-information per external apparatus. Then, the meta-information is requested from the selected external device.