Patent ID: 7725044

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: a device information storage unit for storing device-related information, wherein the device information storage unit is included in a replaceable device of the image forming apparatus; a determiner for determining whether the replaceable device is at least one of a licensed product and a recycled product by analyzing the information stored in the device information storage unit, and outputs the determination result; a first control variable storage unit for storing a first control variable which is a reference variable to control an operation of the image forming apparatus where the replaceable device is a licensed product; a second control variable storage unit for storing a second control variable which is a reference variable to control an operation of the image forming apparatus where the replaceable device is a recycled product; and an operation controller for controlling an operation of the image forming apparatus using at least one of the first control variable and the second control variable in response to the determination result output from the determiner.