Patent ID: 8472047

Claim:
A billing and printing system having a billing device, an external terminal, and an image processing device, the image processing device being connected to the billing device and to the external terminal via a communication network, the billing device comprising: a payment information detector operable to detect payment information indicating that a refundable payment is received; a payment information transmitter operable to transmit the payment information to the image forming device; and a refund unit operable to make a refund upon receipt of a refund instruction from the image forming device; the external terminal comprising: a print job transmitter operable to transmit a print job to the image forming device, and the image forming device comprising: a payment information receiver operable to receive the payment information from the billing device; a payment manager operable to manage a status of the payment based on the payment information; a print job receiver operable to receive the print job from the external terminal; a print queue operable to store print jobs waiting to be executed by the image forming device; a copy queue operable to store copy jobs waiting to be executed by the image forming device; a copy job controller operable to control copy jobs based on the payment status and a status of the print queue, wherein the copy job controller judges the payment status by communicating with the payment information receiver and the copy job controller judges the print queue status by communicating with a print job controller; and the print job controller operable to control print jobs, wherein the print job controller judges when a print job is received by communicating with the print job receiver, wherein when the copy job controller judges that a payment is received for execution of a copy job, the copy job controller is operable to (i) reject the copy job and issue a refund instruction to the billing device on judging that one or more print jobs are stored in the print queue, and (ii) store the copy job in the copy queue on judging that no print job is stored in the print queue, and when the print job controller judges that a print job is received, the print job controller is operable to (i) reject the received print job on judging that the billing device holds any payment received, and (ii) store the received print job in the print queue on judging that the billing device holds no payment received.