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:
Oct. 10, 2006
Filed:
Mar. 28, 2002
Tomokazu Kato, Toyokawa, JP;
Yoichi Kawabuchi, Itami, JP;
Tomokazu Kato, Toyokawa, JP;
Yoichi Kawabuchi, Itami, JP;
Minolta Co., Ltd., Osaka, JP;
Abstract
A printing system includes multiple image forming apparatuses connected over a network. The multiple image forming apparatuses are printers, copying machines or the like, and carry out printing based on print data. The printing system has a substitute printing function or a printing task distributing function. When print data is printed out using a first image forming apparatus and a second image forming apparatus via the printing substitution function or the printing task distributing function, the number of pages printed by the second image forming apparatus is counted and kept track of by the first image forming apparatus. Consequently, regardless of whether group management is in place at the second image forming apparatus, the number of pages printed may be centrally maintained by the first image forming apparatus.