Method and data processing system for a pay-for-usage print service

Abstract

A pay-for-capacity or pay-for-usage system for hard copy devices such as printers includes hard copy devices coupled to a print appliance via an internal network. Printer usage information is accumulated in these devices, periodically uploaded to the print appliance, and later forwarded to a data repository or database server across a non-secure network such as the Internet. This hard copy device usage information includes a count of pages printed and of blank duplex pages. The blank duplex page count can then be utilized for numerous uses, including education, vendor capacity projections, and customer billing.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.