An image forming device and an operating method of an image forming device are provided. The operating method includes receiving first authentication information corresponding to an account of a first user, when the account of the first user is authenticated according to the first authentication information, preparing an operation of the image forming device according to usage authorization of the first user; receiving a request to provide job information of the first user, obtaining a first job list of the first user from a ledger on which job information of a user with respect to a certain image forming job is recorded, based on a blockchain in which the ledger is distributed and managed, and performing a first image forming job selected from the first job list.

According to one embodiment, an image forming apparatus includes a printer unit that includes a driving member related to the supply of the developer, a storage unit that stores correction information regarding the correction of a supplied amount of the developer and a remaining amount of the developer, and a control unit. The control unit acquires driving information regarding the driving of the driving member. The control unit acquires the correction information in accordance with the remaining amount of the developer and estimates the remaining amount of developer based on the driving information and the correction information when the remaining amount of the developer stored in the storage unit satisfies a predetermined condition regarding the remaining amount, and estimates the remaining amount of the developer based on the driving information when the remaining amount of the developer stored in the storage unit does not satisfy the predetermined condition.

An information processing apparatus includes a memory that stores each of a plurality of documents, and a processor, in which the processor is configured to receive, from a manager who manages a first step of outputting a first document and a manager who manages a second step of inputting a second document which has content common to the first document and is stored later than the first document among the plurality of documents, first instructions as to whether or not to permit first processing of inputting a document, which is output from the first step, to the second step, and perform the first processing in a case where both the received first instructions permit the first processing.

A system is disclosed. The system at least one physical memory device to store ink estimation logic and one or more processors coupled with the at least one physical memory device, to execute the ink estimation logic to receive a histogram for each of a plurality of color planes, receive uncalibrated drop fraction data for each of a plurality of drop sizes in a printing system, perform a direct drop fraction conversion of the uncalibrated drop fraction data to generate calibrated drop fraction data for each of the plurality of drop sizes by applying a first transfer function to the uncalibrated drop fraction data and generate estimated ink usage data for each of the plurality of drop sizes based on the histograms and the calibrated drop fraction data.

A job management server, which is connected to a Web application server and a job processing apparatus via a network, comprises: a registration unit which registers, when a job received from the Web application server is added with information indicating that a request source of the job is the job processing apparatus, the job in a first job queue, and to register, when the job is not added with the information, the job in a second job queue having a lower priority than the first job queue; and a transmission unit which transmits the job registered in the first job queue in response to a request from the job processing apparatus while a user utilizes a Web application via the job processing apparatus.

An image processing apparatus includes a selector and an instructor. The selector selects an image. The instructor provides an instruction if an aspect ratio of the selected image exceeds a maximum ratio of a range of predetermined aspect ratios. The instruction is an instruction to remove an end portion of the selected image in a width direction so that the aspect ratio of the selected image will be contained within the range of the predetermined aspect ratios. The instructor also provides an instruction if the aspect ratio of the selected image is smaller than a minimum ratio of the range of the predetermined aspect ratios. The instruction is an instruction to add a margin to an end portion of the selected image in the width direction so that the aspect ratio of the selected image will be contained within the range of the predetermined aspect ratios.

An information processing apparatus includes a memory that stores each of a plurality of documents, and a processor, in which the processor is configured to receive, from a manager who manages a first step of outputting a first document and a manager who manages a second step of inputting a second document which has content common to the first document and is stored later than the first document among the plurality of documents, first instructions as to whether or not to permit first processing of inputting a document, which is output from the first step, to the second step, and perform the first processing in a case where both the received first instructions permit the first processing.

A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium encoded with instructions that, when executed by a processor of a computing device, cause the processor to associate a first subscription of a first user to a second subscription of a second user. The first subscription may correspond to a replaceable component of an image forming apparatus. A subscription service may enable the image forming apparatus to print a first number of pages and a second number of pages as part of the first subscription and second subscription, respectively. Further, the non-transitory machine-readable storage medium may include instructions to generate a print job including print content to be printed on the image forming apparatus, provide a user-selectable option to specify a category of the print content on a user interface, and selectively utilize the first subscription or the second subscription to execute the print job based on the specified category.

An image forming device and an operating method of an image forming device are provided. The operating method includes receiving first authentication information corresponding to an account of a first user, when the account of the first user is authenticated according to the first authentication information, preparing an operation of the image forming device according to usage authorization of the first user; receiving a request to provide job information of the first user, obtaining a first job list of the first user from a ledger on which job information of a user with respect to a certain image forming job is recorded, based on a blockchain in which the ledger is distributed and managed, and performing a first image forming job selected from the first job list.

An information processing system for providing a service via a service providing server residing on a first network, the service being requested by an information processing apparatus residing on a second network different from the first network based on application information, the information processing system including: first circuitry to obtain state information indicating a state of the service providing server; and second circuitry to transmit the state information of the service providing server to the information processing apparatus in response to reception of a service request to the service providing server from the information processing apparatus, to cause the information processing apparatus to perform a notification operation according to the state information that is received.