Patent ID: 7408663

Claim:
A communication system, comprising: a terminal device having a printing function and connectable via a communication line to a center device, the terminal device including: a printing unit detachably mounted with a printing component and executing a printing operation using the mounted printing component, the printing component having a storage portion storing information of the printing component; a reading unit that reads the information of the printing component from the storage portion of the printing component mounted in the printing unit; and a transmission unit that transmits the information read by the reading unit to the center device via the communication line to cause the center device to execute judgment operation based on the information, and the center device including: a receiving unit that receives the information sent from the terminal device via the communication line; a judging unit that executes the judgment operation based on the information received by the receiving unit; and a reply unit that returns a result of judgment by the judging unit to the terminal device, wherein the storage portion of the printing component stores identification information of the printing component, and wherein the judging unit judges whether or not the printing component is a standard printing component, based on the received identification information and on a number of times the identification information is received.