The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 23, 1992
Filed:
Jul. 12, 1991
Masahiro Higaki, Toyokawa, JP;
Minolta Camera Kabushiki Kaisha, Osaka, JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus which comprises a reading device for reading first and second information given to the reading device one at a time, a manager for managing the image forming apparatus according to the first information read by the reading device, and a control unit for disabling the manager while enabling an image forming system in the event that the second information is read by the reading device. The first and second information is recorded on user's and servicing cards, respectively, each adapted to be set at the reading device. With the user's card bearing the first information set at the reading device, an internal counter installed in the image forming apparatus can perform its counting operation to count the cumulative number of copies being made. On the other hand, in the event that the servicing card bearing the second information peculiar to a respective servicing specialist is set at the reading device, the internal counter can be disabled while the image forming apparatus is still available for making copies.