Patent ID: 7689513

Claim:
A method for licensing functionality after an initial transaction, comprising: determining whether an initial licensed amount of an imaging substance in a supply item has been depleted by a computer executable process stored on a computer readable medium, wherein said act of determining requires receiving data from a memory associated with said supply item, said supply item being subject to a usage license; informing a customer of said depletion of said imaging substance in said supply item; providing a list of possible supply item renewal options that are available to said customer, wherein said possible supply item renewal options comprise at least one of a self-renewal of said supply item, a renewal of said supply item by a manufacturer of said supply item, and a third party remanufacturer renewal of said supply item; and if said customer chooses to renew said supply item, the method further comprising: receiving from said customer a license fee for a new license to renew said supply item; and transmitting to said customer a new digital signature for said supply item.