The recording device includes an upstream transport roller pair capable of transporting a medium, a recording head configured to record an image by discharging ink at a predetermined timing on the medium transported downstream in a Dl direction by a predetermined transport amount by the upstream transport roller pair while moving in a Y-axis direction intersecting the D1 direction, an image capturing unit configured to read the image recorded on the medium by the recording head, and a control unit, wherein the control unit has a function of performing maintenance for a discharge failure of the ink, a correction of the transport amount, and a correction of the discharge timing of the ink based on the reading result of the image read by the image capturing unit.

An information processing apparatus includes a communication interface and a controller. The printing device is configured to print on a printing medium. The controller is configured to perform a service provision process for providing a service utilizing a printing device. The controller is configured to perform the service provision process using individual information of the printing device and contract identification information associated with both the individual information and service information related to provision of the service. The service provision process includes: (a) registering a user in association with contract identification information associated with individual information of a first printing device; and (b) when the first printing device is replaced with a second printing device and the provision of the service is continued utilizing the second printing device, associating individual information of the second printing device with the contract identification information associated with the user registered in the (a) registering.

Disclosed here is a system enabling users/customers to receive an objective assessment of the performance of a printer. This is accomplished by comparing a quality score of an earlier-in-time image with a quality score of a later-in-time image. A processor analyzes each image based on several criteria and uses various image-analysis methods, to flag errors within an image. A numeric quality score, based on the number of errors, is provided to the user to objectively evaluate whether the printer has degraded or not. Thus, the user can objectively present an argument to a salesperson or manufacturer that the user is due a remedy.

Disclosed here is a system enabling users/customers to receive an objective assessment of the performance of a printer. This is accomplished by comparing a quality score of an earlier-in-time image with a quality score of a later-in-time image. A processor analyzes each image based on several criteria and uses various image-analysis methods, to flag errors within an image. A numeric quality score, based on the number of errors, is provided to the user to objectively evaluate whether the printer has degraded or not. Thus, the user can objectively present an argument to a salesperson or manufacturer that the user is due a remedy.

A management system includes: a management server; one or more image forming apparatuses that notify the management server of information on a remaining amount of toner; and one or more terminals, in which the management server makes a toner remaining amount history by combining the information on the remaining amount of toner with time and date information, detects, based on the toner remaining amount history, that toner replacement has been performed when an increase rate of the remaining amount of toner exceeds a threshold value, and determines, based on the contract value, whether the remaining amount of toner before the toner replacement is not more than the contract value when the toner replacement is detected, and notifies the one or more terminals of that the performed toner replacement corresponds to a contract violation when the remaining amount of toner before the toner replacement is more than the contract value.

A printer monitoring system includes: a server configured to collect event information indicating an event that occurs in a printer; and a mobile device configured to execute a display application that causes a display to display a related screen including the event information. The server generates link information for directly transitioning a screen displayed by the display application to the related screen corresponding to the event information, and transmits the event information received from the printer and the link information to the mobile device. The mobile device displays the event that occurs in the printer on the display in a selectable manner, and causes a screen displayed by the display application to be transitioned to the related screen indicated by the link information when the event is selected.

If an operation of canceling a predetermined state includes an operation of powering off the device, even if communication between the device and the information processing apparatus becomes inexecutable after the screen for cancelling the predetermined state is displayed, the information processing apparatus does not execute a notification corresponding to a state in which the communication is inexecutable. If the operation of canceling the predetermined state does not include the operation of powering off the device, the information processing apparatus executes, based on a fact that the communication between the device and the information processing apparatus becomes inexecutable after the screen for cancelling the predetermined state is displayed, the notification corresponding to the state in which the communication is inexecutable.

A method of performing error notification and error recovery functions in an image forming apparatus includes detecting by one or more sub-processors an error of a main processor for controlling the sub-processors; controlling an interface function of the image forming apparatus if the error is detected; outputting information about the detected error; and recovering the detected error by controlling an operation of the main processor.

A printer for use in an image forming system including a local area network (LAN) interface for communicating with a server, a printer engine, and an operation unit includes a control unit including a central processing unit (CPU) and a memory such as a random access memory (RAM), and the control unit is capable of performing processing to store a server printing setting flag and notification processing to perform notification to prompt a user to give a setting instruction if an internal time is detected to be initialized and the server printing setting flag is stored.

In a technique to implement document reading by making use of a mobile terminal and an image forming apparatus, control to cause an image of a document to be captured at accurate timing is important. The present invention is a mobile terminal capable of communicating with an image forming apparatus and the mobile terminal includes: an image capturing unit; an instruction unit configured to transmit discharge instructions to discharge a document to the image forming apparatus in which the document is set in a sheet feed unit; a state acquisition unit configured to acquire a state of the image forming apparatus by communicating with the image forming apparatus; and an image capturing instruction unit configured to detect timing at which the image forming apparatus discharges the document based on the state of the image forming apparatus acquired by the state acquisition unit and to give instructions to capture an image of the document to the image capturing unit at the timing.