Patent ID: 8732038

Claim:
A service management method of a service management device which is connected to an apparatus detachably provided with a product-in-circulation to be consumed or used up and which includes a storage section, a communications section and an arithmetic processing section, the product-in-circulation having unique data identifying each product-in-circulation: the storage section storing a management table corresponding to a service receiver identification (ID) of a service receiver, the management table storing a relation between unique data of a product-in-circulation delivered to the service receiver and data of a current state of use of the product-in-circulation, the unique data of a product-in-circulation delivered to the service receiver specifying a product-in-circulation delivered to the service receiver and including a relation among data of the kind of the product-in-circulation, data of a model type of the apparatus, and individual data of the product-in-circulation, and data of a current state of use of the product-in-circulation specifying a current state of use of the product-in-circulation by the service receiver as recorded when occasion demands; the service management method comprising the steps of: the communications section receiving, from the apparatus, (i) unique data of a product-in-circulation attached to the apparatus as unique data of a product-in-circulation which is in use of a service receiver and (ii) a service receiver ID of the service receiver, the unique data of a product-in-circulation attached to the apparatus including data of the kind of the product-in-circulation, data of a model type of the apparatus, and individual data of the product-in-circulation; the arithmetic processing section reading out, from the storage section, the management table corresponding to the service receiver ID received by the communications section and data of a current state of use of a product-in-circulation corresponding to the unique data of a product-in-circulation received by the communications section, and when there is a product-in-circulation whose data of a current state of use is “new (spare)”, updating data of a current state of use of a product-in-circulation whose data of the kind and data of a model type of the apparatus are equal to those of the product-in-circulation from “in use” to “used” and updating the data of a current state of use of the product-in-circulation whose data of a current state of use is “new (spare)” to “in use” and causing the updated data to be stored in the storage section; and the arithmetic processing section reading out from the management table an actual amount of the product-in-circulation whose data of a current state of use is “used” or “in use” in the management table and which is consumed by the service receiver, which can be considered as a purchase, and calculating an account chargeable to the service receiver based on the amount of the product-in-circulation consumed read out.