Patent ID: 7043458

Claim:
A charging process management system comprising: a plurality of image input/output devices connected to a network, each image input/output device having a plurality of copier, fax and printer software components that are charged for service fees; a broker connected to the plurality of image input/output devices through the network, the broker providing integrated management and services to the image input/output devices; and a service center connected to the broker through the network, the service center collecting charging information through the broker, the charging information being generated according to respective use conditions of the copier, fax and printer software components of the image input/output devices, wherein the service center provides registration and management functions of user identifications, and the broker retains user information, image input/output device information and copier, fax and printer software information, which are registered to the broker, and a plurality of items of the copier, fax and printer software component information associated with a single item of the user information and a plurality of items of the image input/output device information associated with the plurality of items of the copier, fax and printer software component information, wherein each of the registered users is allowed to execute any copier, fax and printer function of a corresponding one of the image input/output devices by using the software components registered to the broker with a corresponding user identification, and wherein when one of the copier, fax and printer software components is used by one of the registered users the broker identifies said one of the registered users by using the corresponding user identification and updates the charging information of said one of the registered users according to the use conditions of said one of the copier, fax and printer software components.