Management system of image forming apparatuses

Abstract

A management system of image forming apparatuses according to the present invention includes a device for transmitting information about maintenance for each of a plurality of image forming apparatuses such as copying machines, and transmitting for example, the number of copies from the image forming apparatus to a centralized management apparatus. It further includes a device for determining, on the basis of maintenance information transmitted from the image forming apparatus to the centralized management apparatus, efficient performance of maintenance work, for example, the scheduled date of maintenance work for the image forming apparatus. The above described information about maintenance is related to the operation of the peripheral device. For example, if the peripheral device is an automatic document feeder, information related to efficiently performing maintenance work may be the number of sheets fed by the automatic document feeder, whereas if the peripheral device is a sorter, such information may be the number of sheets fed to the sorter.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.