Image forming system and charging management method

An image forming system comprising:

• a charging management server;
• and
• a plurality of image forming apparatuses managed by the charging management server, the charging management server and the plurality of image forming apparatuses being connected to a network,
• wherein the charging management server includes:
• a management database that manages the plurality of image forming apparatuses in groups;
• a model-release date table that includes combinations of a model name and a release date of each of the plurality of image forming apparatuses;
• and
• a discount rate table defined such that a discount rate of a charge decreases, as a count of elapsed days since the release date of each of the plurality of image forming apparatuses increases, and
• wherein a Central Processing Unit (CPU) in the charging management server functions as:
• a communication unit communicable via the network;
• a management unit that, by the management database, prepares a list of the plurality of image forming apparatuses belonging to a group;
• a discount rate processing unit that, (i) by the management database, obtains the model name of each of the plurality of image forming apparatuses belonging to the group based on the list prepared by the management unit, (ii) by the model-release date table, obtains the release date, (iii) calculates the count of elapsed days since the release date to the present, and (iv) by the count of elapsed days, obtains the discount rate based on the discount rate table;
• and
• a charging management unit that calculates a fee charged on a user based on the discount rate obtained by the discount rate processing unit for each of the plurality of image forming apparatuses in the group.