An information processing device obtains order identification information capable of identifying an order placed by an order-placing person, transmits, as payment information, the order identification information, causes a printing process of a print medium to be executed, the print medium being capable of identifying the order identification information and gives, to another information processing device when an additional order placed by the order-placing person is received, an invalidation command which invalidates the order identification information in such a way that a payment with respect to the order identification information on an order not paid yet and placed by the same order-placing person is disabled.

An image forming apparatus makes printing performed for maintenance by a service engineer charge-free, and prevents a print method for the service engineer from being used by a user. The image forming apparatus includes an input unit configured to input an image, a print unit configured to print the image input by the input unit, and a control unit configured to control the image input by the input unit to be output to the print unit and update a charging counter when the image forming apparatus operates in a first operation mode, and configured to control a specific pattern image to be superimposed on the image input by the input unit and the image with the superimposed specific pattern image to be output to the print unit without updating the charging counter when the image forming apparatus operates in a second operation mode.

A management apparatus receives a data set from a target device that is one of a plurality of devices, the data set including a data type, a data body, and identification information of the target device; each time the data set is received, calculates scheduled transmission time for the target device based on reception time of the data set and on the identification information and the data type; estimates a load of the management apparatus at the scheduled transmission time based on the scheduled transmission time and on next transmission time of the data set for the plurality of devices other than the target device; and in a case where the load is higher than a particular level, transmit, to the target device, corrected transmission time as next transmission time for the target device, the corrected transmission time being obtained by adding a correction value to the scheduled transmission time.

An information processing apparatus includes a first interface, a second interface, and a controller configured to receive first power source information related to a power source of a first external device connected to the first interface, receive second power source information related to a power source of a second external device connected to the second interface, select one of the first external device and the second external device to which a power request is to be transmitted based on the first power source information and the second power source information, and transmit a power request to the selected external device based on a result of the selection processing of one of the first external device and the second external device.

A printing apparatus is described that comprises an antenna configured to intercept radio waves modulated with printing data; a receiver configured to recover the printing data from the intercepted radio waves; a printing module configured to generate a printed output on a printing medium based on the printing data; and a housing for the printing apparatus, wherein the housing encloses the antenna, the receiver, and the printing module, and further wherein the antenna is integrated with an interior surface of the housing.

There are provided a digital camera with a printer, a printing method of a digital camera with a printer, and a data storage system which are capable of simply generating a printout capable of playing sound.

In a case where image data associated with sound data is printed, a digital camera with a printer adds unique identification information, and uploads the image data and the sound data to a data storage server through an upload terminal. A two-dimensional code obtained by encoding access information for accessing uploaded data is added to an image, and the image is printed on an instant film. The image data and the sound data stored in the data storage server can be downloaded and played on the data playback terminal by reading the two-dimensional code printed with the image on the instant film by a data playback terminal.

A management apparatus connected to an image forming apparatus for managing usage of the image forming apparatus is disclosed. The management apparatus includes a user data storage part for storing user identification data and use restriction data corresponding to the user identification data, and a use restriction data acquiring part for acquiring the use restriction data corresponding to the user identification data.

An image processing apparatus that is capable of performing report printing in a language desired by a user in either manual report printing or autonomic report printing. A storage unit stores information on the image processing apparatus. A touch panel receives input from a log-in user A control unit controls execution of the automatic report printing in which the information is printed by the printing unit as a report when predetermined conditions are satisfied, and execution of the manual report printing in which the information is printed by the printing unit as a report based on an instruction from the log-in user. The control unit performs the automatic report printing in a predetermined language and performs the manual report printing in a language for the log-in user.

A method of calibrating a printer using a reflective scanner is disclosed. Because the reflective scanner used for calibration may only be able to accurately measure a limited density range that is less than the full density range of the printer, some information from the reflective scanner is disregarded or deemphasized during the calibration process. A calibration page is printed and scanned. Lookup tables (LUTs) that comprise the printer calibration values are updated based on adjustments calculated from the scanner for density regions where the scanner produces relatively accurate measurements, but updated based on the preexisting settings for density regions where the scanner produces relatively inaccurate measurements. In transitions regions between accurate and inaccurate regions, the LUTs are adjusted based on a combination of measurements from the scanner and the preexisting settings.

A server includes: a communicator communicable with an apparatus configured to perform a scanning operation and a printing operation using an ink-jet head; and a controller. The controller controls the server to: receive, from the apparatus, scan data representing a printing sheet printed by the ink-jet head; determine whether cleaning of the ink-jet head is required, based on the received scan data; transmit permission information to the apparatus when the server determines that the cleaning of the ink-jet head is required, the permission information indicating permission of the cleaning of the ink-jet head; and transmit non-permission information to the apparatus when the server determines that the cleaning of the ink-jet head is not required, the non-permission information indicating non-permission of the cleaning of the ink-jet head.