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:
May. 11, 1999
Filed:
Oct. 10, 1997
Hidenobu Nakamura, Toyokawa, JP;
Minolta Co., Ltd., Osaka, JP;
Abstract
A group code which is a code indicating a user group, an identification code which is a unique code assigned to each group, and image formation frequency data which is data indicating a frequency of image forming operations by each group are stored in a storage unit, related to each other. After receiving an identification code from an input unit, an identification code judging unit judges whether the received identification code matches any identification code stored in the storage unit. If an identification code judging unit judges that the received identification code matches a stored identification code, a calculating unit calculates the frequency of image forming operations performed after the identification code is received, and the image formation frequency data of the group in the storage unit corresponding to the received identification code is rewritten according to the frequency of image forming operations calculated by the calculating unit.