Patent ID: 9633382
Date: 2017-04-25
CPC Classifications: G06Q

Claim:
1. A method of managing at least one image forming apparatus, the method comprising: setting, at a management apparatus remotely connected to the at least one image forming apparatus, a billing profile corresponding to the at least one image forming apparatus through a user interface (UI) screen provided by a display unit of the management apparatus; setting, using the UI screen, a duration of a target billing period, an output information request interval, a plurality of cumulative output amount quotas, and quota unit prices corresponding to the plurality of cumulative output amount quotas, in the billing profile corresponding to the at least one image forming apparatus; requesting, using a communication interface of the management apparatus and based on the output information request interval set in the billing profile, output information relating to the billing profile and tracked by the at least one image forming apparatus; receiving, using the communication interface of the management apparatus, the output information from the at least one image forming apparatus; storing, in at least one database, the billing profile set using the UI screen and the output information received from the at least one image forming apparatus: determining, by at least one specially programmed processor including a billing unit, an output amount of the at least one image forming apparatus for the target billing period, based on the output information received from the at least one image forming apparatus and stored in the at least one database: calculating, by a cumulative output amount calculator of the billing unit, a cumulative output amount for the target billing period by summing the output amount for the target billing period stored in the at least one database with a cumulative output amount for a previous billing period stored in the at least one database, the previous billing period preceding the target billing period; calculating, by a billing charge calculator of the billing unit and by using the billing profile stored in the at least one database, a billing charge for the target billing period corresponding to the at least one image forming apparatus by using the output amount for the target billing period and a selected unit price from among the quota unit prices which is selected by a quota unit price determiner of the billing unit based on the calculated cumulative output amount for the target billing period; displaying the calculated billing charge on the display unit of the management apparatus; storing the billing charge and the cumulative output amount for the target billing period in the at least one database, the cumulative output amount for the target billing period stored in the at least one database to be used for calculating a next cumulative output amount for a next target billing period; and in response to an error occurring in the calculating of at least one of the cumulative output amount for the target billing period and the billing charge by the billing unit, provided in a server remotely disposed from the management apparatus, transmitting, by the management apparatus, at least one of the output information and the billing profile to the server so that the billing unit provided in the server correctly calculates the at least one of the cumulative output amount for the target billing period and the billing charge; and transmitting data corresponding to the billing charge to the image forming apparatus to allow the image forming apparatus to perform an image forming job with respect to the data.