Patent ID: 11914324
Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Field: Optics (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 5:
6. A control method for controlling an image forming apparatus, the control method comprising:
determining whether a cartridge attached to a main casing of the image forming apparatus is unused;
storing, in response to determining that the cartridge attached to the main casing is unused, consumption state information stored in a second memory of the attached cartridge in a first memory of the image forming apparatus, the consumption state information representing a consumption state of the cartridge;
determining whether the consumption state information stored in the first memory and the consumption state information stored in the second memory match each other;
permitting use of the cartridge in response to determining that the consumption state information stored in the first memory and the consumption state information stored in the second memory match each other; and
prohibiting use of the cartridge in response to determining that the consumption state information stored in the first memory and the consumption state information stored in the second memory do not match each other.