Automating a product offering presented in a consumer kiosk application for creating and order consumer photo-related products. An automated product offering system determines in real-time or near real-time the availability of products to be offered to the consumer and adjusts the display on the kiosk GUI to guide the user to select products that are currently available. The product availability may be specific to a location and a retailer hosting the consumer kiosk application. The kiosk GUI display is adjusted in accordance with product advertising and promotional campaigns to guide the user to generate orders for products that offer the best value to the consumer while helping retailers and kiosk operators succeed with advertising campaigns.

Automating a product offering presented in a consumer kiosk application for creating and order consumer photo-related products. An automated product offering system determines in real-time or near real-time the availability of products to be offered to the consumer and adjusts the display on the kiosk GUI to guide the user to select products that are currently available. The product availability may be specific to a location and a retailer hosting the consumer kiosk application. The kiosk GUI display is adjusted in accordance with product advertising and promotional campaigns to guide the user to generate orders for products that offer the best value to the consumer while helping retailers and kiosk operators succeed with advertising campaigns.

A printing device includes: a communication interface communicable with a server capable of offering a specific printing service under a contract with the printing device; and a controller configured to control transition of an operation mode of the printing device from a non-contract mode without any contract with the server to a contract mode where the printing device is recognized as a contract-covered device eligible for executing specific printing under the contract. In response to receiving a command from the server to execute the transition to the contract mode, the controller is configured to perform: a determination process to determine whether the transition to the contract mode is to be executed; and a mode control process to maintain the non-contract mode without executing the transition to the contract mode against the transition command when the transition to the contract mode is determined not to be executed in the determination process.

A printing device includes: a communication interface communicable with a server capable of offering a specific printing service under a contract with the printing device; and a controller configured to control transition of an operation mode of the printing device from a non-contract mode without any contract with the server to a contract mode where the printing device is recognized as a contract-covered device eligible for executing specific printing under the contract. In response to receiving a command from the server to execute the transition to the contract mode, the controller is configured to perform: a determination process to determine whether the transition to the contract mode is to be executed; and a mode control process to maintain the non-contract mode without executing the transition to the contract mode against the transition command when the transition to the contract mode is determined not to be executed in the determination process.

An image forming apparatus includes a document scanner that scans a document, and a hardware processor, wherein the hardware processor acquires image data output by the document scanner that has scanned a document, executes an image forming process of forming an image of the image data output by the document scanner, and executes a collection process of collecting a fee for the image forming process before the image forming process is executed, and the hardware processor executes the collection process in order of output of the image data by the document scanner in the case where the plurality of documents are scanned successively by the document scanner.

Disclosed herein are embodiments for operating a retail photo kiosk and establishing a dedicated access for a remote mobile device to the photo kiosk. Certain embodiments of the photo kiosk incorporate anchored connector cables to connect remote mobile devices to the photo kiosk. According to one embodiment, the photo kiosk detects when a remote mobile device is connected to the kiosk via an anchored connector cable. Upon receiving user information, the photo kiosk generates and sends an access message comprising to the connected mobile device. Following the access message, the user may establish dedicated access to the photo kiosk through the mobile device, which allows the user to utilize and leverage photo processing features of the kiosk.

A computer-implemented method under the control of one or more configured computing systems, establishing a live-trading market for sellers to place for sale one or more product(s) for a set price, increase or decrease the price at any time, while providing potential buyers the ability to place an offer price, the bid price, with the ability to increase or decrease the offer price at any time; this establishes a market similar to the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ but instead of trading stocks, bonds or commodities, the established market of the invention is for products commonly sold in stores; establishing a market for products that sets prices based on real-time sell prices and bids that can be changed instantly by the market participants; and establishing historical data of price, offer and bid, that can be displayed in various formats such as tables, graphs and more.

A computer-implemented method under the control of one or more configured computing systems, establishing a live-trading market for sellers to place for sale one or more product(s) for a set price, increase or decrease the price at any time, while providing potential buyers the ability to place an offer price, the bid price, with the ability to increase or decrease the offer price at any time; this establishes a market similar to the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ but instead of trading stocks, bonds or commodities, the established market of the invention is for products commonly sold in stores; establishing a market for products that sets prices based on real-time sell prices and bids that can be changed instantly by the market participants; and establishing historical data of price, offer and bid, that can be displayed in various formats such as tables, graphs and more.

Disclosed herein are embodiments of a modular photo kiosk system that produces prints that include printed templates, guides, and instructions for use with matching designated user provided photo. The systems are configurable so that they can be easily combined to adapt the kiosk system to meet the productivity, capacity, product range, inventory control, and physical conditions of a selected retail environment. The kiosk can include remote access for customers and kiosk owners to place remote orders and manage kiosk inventory and further include a secured product display area featuring photo products for sale. A further aspect of the technology described herein comprises a software application for use by clerks for monitoring, maintaining, and operating the photo kiosk system.

A printing cost calculation system includes a terminal apparatus that instructs an image forming apparatus to perform printing and a printing cost calculation apparatus that communicates with the terminal apparatus. The terminal apparatus includes a hardware processor that transmits calculation information necessary for calculating a printing cost including information unique to the image forming apparatus to the printing cost calculation apparatus. The printing cost calculation apparatus includes a hardware processor that calculates the printing cost based on the calculation information transmitted from the terminal apparatus and outputs a calculation result of the printing cost.