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:
Dec. 09, 2008
Filed:
Feb. 09, 2001
Hiroaki Ishii, Tokyo, JP;
Toshio Honma, Kawasaki, JP;
Shigeru Ueda, Musashino, JP;
Hironobu Araki, Tokyo, JP;
Yoshinori Ikeda, Kawasaki, JP;
Naoji Hayakawa, Machida, JP;
Masanori Miyata, Yokohama, JP;
Hiroshi Omura, Inagi, JP;
Hirokazu Uchio, Tokyo, JP;
Kengo Kawamoto, Kawasaki, JP;
Hiroaki Ishii, Tokyo, JP;
Toshio Honma, Kawasaki, JP;
Shigeru Ueda, Musashino, JP;
Hironobu Araki, Tokyo, JP;
Yoshinori Ikeda, Kawasaki, JP;
Naoji Hayakawa, Machida, JP;
Masanori Miyata, Yokohama, JP;
Hiroshi Omura, Inagi, JP;
Hirokazu Uchio, Tokyo, JP;
Kengo Kawamoto, Kawasaki, JP;
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
There is disclosed an invention for generating contract information for an image forming apparatus for which the user is going to conclude a contract. The history information of an image forming apparatus used by the user and having a contract history is stored and managed in correlation with the user. Such management is executed in a center server capable communication with the image forming apparatus through a predetermined communication channel. The above-mentioned information includes contract term, machine type, number of print outputs etc. of the image forming apparatus. Also the image forming apparatus to be managed includes that currently contracted and that contracted in the past. In case the user wishes to conclude a new contract for an image forming apparatus, new contract information is generated according to the history information managed by the center server in correlation with the user. This invention provides a system capable of realizing the foregoing.