Reuse determination system and reuse determination program product

Abstract

To provide a reuse determination system which determines whether a unit needs to be replaced and further determines whether an image forming apparatus can be reused based on usage performance of the image forming apparatus and remaining life of the unit or the like. A reuse determination system (100) mainly includes: a life information acquisition section (10) which acquires life information (11) of a unit built in an image forming apparatus (200); a usage information acquisition section (20) which acquires usage information related to usage performance of the image forming apparatus (200); a unit replacement determination section (30) which determines whether the unit needs to be replaced based on the acquired life information (11) and the usage information; and a reuse determination section (40) which determines whether the image forming apparatus (200) can be reused based on a determination result of the unit replacement determination section (30).

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to a reuse determination system and a reuse determination procedure product. Background Technology

[0002] In recent years, the pursuit of a circular society, aimed at the efficient use of resources, has demanded the elimination of wasteful waste. For example, in the field of image forming apparatus technology, this involves refurbishing image forming apparatus recovered from offices or other similar locations and reusing them as refurbished finished products, or "refurbished machines."

[0003] A system has been proposed to check the remaining lifespan of each unit in an image forming apparatus built into a discarded object and to use the reusable unit as a replacement unit for other image forming apparatuses (see Patent Document 1). This allows for the efficient use of resources by allocating usable units to other image forming apparatuses without discarding them.

[0004] Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2007-086333

[0005] However, information related to the remaining lifetime of a cell is not sufficient to accurately determine whether a cell is reusable.

[0006] For example, in the case of a fixing unit built into an image forming apparatus, even with the same number of prints, the damage to the fixing unit differs between printing postcard-sized prints consecutively and printing postcard-sized prints one by one at predetermined intervals.

[0007] In the aforementioned cases, particularly the former, the temperature difference between the two ends and the center of the fixing unit increases, and this condition persists for an extended period. As a result, the fixing unit tends to wear out easily. That is, even with the same number of print runs, the former is more prone to failure depending on how the image forming apparatus is used (actual usage records). Summary of the Invention

[0008] In view of the above-mentioned actual situation, the present invention aims to provide a reuse determination system and a reuse determination program product, which determines whether a unit needs to be replaced based on the usage performance of the image forming apparatus and the remaining lifespan of the unit, and then determines whether the image forming apparatus can be reused.

[0009] To address the aforementioned issues, the reuse determination system described in technical solution 1 includes:

[0010] The life information acquisition unit acquires life information of the unit built into the image forming apparatus; the usage information acquisition unit acquires usage information related to the usage performance of the image forming apparatus; the unit replacement determination unit determines whether the unit needs to be replaced based on the acquired life information and the usage information; and the reuse determination unit determines whether the image forming apparatus can be reused based on the determination result of the unit replacement determination unit.

[0011] The invention described in technical solution 2 is, in the reuse determination system described in technical solution 1,

[0012] The aforementioned unit replacement determination unit determines whether multiple aforementioned units need to be replaced, and the aforementioned reuse determination unit determines whether the image forming apparatus can be reused based on the determination results for multiple aforementioned units.

[0013] The invention described in technical solution 3 is, in the reuse determination system described in technical solution 1,

[0014] It also includes a unit registration prompting unit, which registers and / or prompts units that are determined by the above-mentioned reuse determination unit to be unusable and by the above-mentioned unit replacement determination unit to be unnecessarily replaceable as usable units.

[0015] The invention described in technical solution 4 is, in the reuse determination system described in technical solution 1 above,

[0016] It also includes a usage information collection unit that collects the usage information when using the image forming apparatus.

[0017] The invention described in technical solution 5 is, in the reuse determination system described in technical solution 1,

[0018] The above life information refers to the number of times the aforementioned unit has been used.

[0019] The invention described in technical solution 6 is, in the reuse determination system described in technical solution 1,

[0020] The aforementioned life information refers to the usage time of the aforementioned unit.

[0021] The invention described in technical solution 7 is, in the reuse determination system described in technical solution 1,

[0022] The aforementioned life information pertains to the usage period of the aforementioned unit.

[0023] The invention described in technical solution 8 is, in the reuse determination system described in technical solution 1,

[0024] The above usage information refers to the number of paper feeds for each paper size during the use of the above image forming apparatus.

[0025] The invention described in technical solution 9 is, in the reuse determination system described in technical solution 1,

[0026] The above usage information refers to the number of consecutive paper feeds during the use of the above image forming apparatus.

[0027] The reuse determination procedure described in technical solution 10 enables the computer to perform the following functions:

[0028] The life information acquisition unit acquires life information of the unit built into the image forming apparatus; the usage information acquisition unit acquires usage information related to the usage performance of the image forming apparatus; the unit replacement determination unit determines whether the unit needs to be replaced based on the acquired life information and the usage information; and the reuse determination unit determines whether the image forming apparatus can be reused based on the determination result of the unit replacement determination unit.

[0029] According to the present invention, it is possible to determine whether a unit needs to be replaced based on life information and usage information, and to appropriately determine whether the image forming apparatus can be reused based on the determination result. Attached Figure Description

[0030] Figure 1 This is an explanatory diagram showing the outline of the system structure of the reuse determination system of the present invention.

[0031] Figure 2 This is a flowchart illustrating an example of the processing flow of a reuse determination system.

[0032] Figure 3 This is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a unit replacement decision table (life information).

[0033] Figure 4 This is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a unit replacement decision table (usage information).

[0034] Figure 5 This is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a reuse decision table (unit decision result).

[0035] Figure 6 This is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a reuse decision table (the number of units that need to be replaced).

[0036] Figure 7 This is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a reuse decision table (where the unit scale needs to be changed).

[0037] Figure 8 This is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the display section of an image forming apparatus.

[0038] Figure 9 This is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the display section of an image forming apparatus.

[0039] Figure 10 This is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of the collection performance of usage information gathered by the Usage Information Collection Department.

[0040] Figure 11 This is an illustrative diagram representing an example of an alternating printing coefficient determination table.

[0041] Figure 12 This is an illustrative diagram representing an example of a cell replacement decision table (using information × alternating printing coefficient).

[0042] Explanation of reference numerals: 10…Life information acquisition unit; 11…Life information; 12…Number of uses; 13…Usage time; 14…Usage period; 20…Usage information acquisition unit; 21…Usage information; 22…Number of paper feeds below A5 size; 23…Number of consecutive paper feeds; 30…Unit replacement determination unit; 31, 32, 37, 46…Unit replacement determination table; 33, 34…Determination result; 35…Alternating printing coefficient determination table; 40…Reuse determination unit; 41, 42, 43…Reuse determination table; 44…Determination display unit; 45…Unit replacement required / unnecessary display unit; 50…Unit registration prompt unit; 60…Usage information collection unit; 100…Reuse determination system; 101… Reuse determination procedure; 200…Image forming apparatus; 201…Fixing unit; 202…Transfer belt unit; 203…Transfer roller unit; 204…Drum unit; 220…Storage unit; 230…Operation unit; 240…Communication unit; 250…Display unit; 260…Scanning unit; 270…Original document transport unit; 280…Printing unit; 290…Paper supply unit; S1…Life information acquisition step; S2…Usage information acquisition step; S3…Unit replacement determination step; S4…Reuse determination step; S5…Reusable display step; S6…Non-reusable display step; S7…Unit determination result display step; S8…Unit replacement not required detection step; S9…Unit registration prompt step. Detailed Implementation

[0043] Hereinafter, embodiments of the reuse determination system and reuse determination procedure of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the examples shown in the drawings.

[0044] 1. Reuse the judgment system

[0045] Figure 1 This is a diagram showing a general outline of the system structure of the reuse determination system 100 in this embodiment. (See diagram for details.) Figure 1As shown, the reuse determination system of this embodiment is constructed as an internal structure of the image forming apparatus 200. More specifically, by installing the reuse determination program 101 of the present invention into the image forming apparatus 200 and activating the program, the image forming apparatus 200 can function as the reuse determination system 100.

[0046] The image forming apparatus 200 is configured to have multiple functions, including copying, printing, communication, and scanning. As a typical structure, such as... Figure 1 As shown, the image forming apparatus 200 includes a central processing unit (CPU), a storage unit 220, an operation unit 230, a communication unit 240, a display unit 250, a scanning unit 260, a document transport unit 270, a printing unit 280, and a paper supply unit 290. The image forming apparatus 200 is a conventionally known device; therefore, illustrations and descriptions of its other structures are omitted. The reuse determination program 101 of this invention is stored in the storage unit 220.

[0047] The reuse determination system 100 in the image forming apparatus 200 does not function during normal use of the image forming apparatus 200. For example, by switching to a so-called service mode (maintenance mode), the image forming apparatus 200 performs the function of the reuse determination system 100. Here, the image forming apparatus 200 is equivalent to the computer in this invention.

[0048] 2. The structure of the reuse determination system and the processing flow of reuse determination.

[0049] like Figure 1 As shown, the reuse determination system 100 of this embodiment is configured inside the image forming apparatus 200, and mainly includes a life information acquisition unit 10, a usage information acquisition unit 20, a unit replacement determination unit 30, and a reuse determination unit 40. The reuse determination system 100 includes a unit registration prompt unit 50 and a usage information collection unit 60.

[0050] The following is for reference Figure 2 The flowchart explains the structure of the reuse determination system 100 (image forming apparatus 200) and the processing flow of reuse determination.

[0051] The life information acquisition unit 10 has the function of acquiring life information 11 from the unit built into the image forming apparatus 200 (life information acquisition step S1). The image forming apparatus 200 is configured with multiple units built into it. For example, fixing unit 201, transfer belt unit 202, transfer roller unit 203, and drum unit 204 can be listed.

[0052] Life information 11 can include information related to the number of times 12, the time of use 13, and the period of use 14 of each unit such as the fixing unit 201.

[0053] For example, if the information related to the number of times the fixing unit 201 is used 12 is included as life information 11, then the number of times (number of pages printed) that the fixing unit 201 is used for copying or other printing is equivalent to this. On the other hand, if the information related to the usage time 13 is included as life information 11, then the total time (operation time) required to use the fixing unit 201 for printing or other purposes is equivalent to this. If the information related to the usage period 14 is included as life information 11, then the period from the start of the use of the fixing unit 201 to the present, in other words, the elapsed time (number of days) from the start of the installation of the image forming apparatus 200 is equivalent to this.

[0054] When the number of uses exceeds 12, or the usage time is 13 or the usage period is 14, the damage to each unit increases, which can be used as a criterion for determining whether unit replacement is necessary.

[0055] The image forming apparatus 200 has the function of acquiring life information 11, such as the number of times it is used 12. That is, in order to know the frequency of maintenance operations, the replacement time of toner or each unit, the relevant life information 11 is generally acquired and stored in the image forming apparatus 200. The life information acquisition unit 10 can, for example, acquire the life information 11 from the storage unit 220 of the image forming apparatus 200.

[0056] The determination system 100 then acquires life information 11 by transitioning the image forming apparatus 200 to the service mode.

[0057] The information acquisition unit 20 has the function of acquiring usage information 21 related to the current usage method of the image forming apparatus 200 and the usage performance involved in the usage method (usage information acquisition step S2).

[0058] As already explained, it is known that even with the same number of prints (uses), the damage to the cells varies depending on the paper size. Furthermore, even with the same number of prints, the damage to the cells differs depending on whether printing is done at predetermined intervals or in a single, continuous print run.

[0059] Therefore, the number of paper feeds below A5 size 22 involved in the number of printed sheets of small paper sizes such as postcard size and A5 size, the number of consecutive paper feeds involved in the number of printed sheets during continuous printing, and the number of consecutive paper feeds 23 are used as usage information 21.

[0060] That is, the usage information 21 includes information that cannot be obtained from the life information 11 previously acquired by the image forming apparatus 200, and can be used to identify damage to the image forming apparatus 200. The usage information 21 is accumulated by the usage information collection unit 60 (described later) each time the image forming apparatus 200 is used. The usage information acquisition unit 20 performs the process of reading the accumulated usage information 21 into the reuse determination system 100.

[0061] The unit replacement determination unit 30 has the function of determining whether it is necessary to replace multiple units (such as fixing unit 201) built into the image forming apparatus 200 based on the acquired life information 11 and usage information 21 respectively (unit replacement determination step S3).

[0062] To determine whether individual units need to be replaced, the determination system 100 specifies that... Figure 3 as well as Figure 4 The unit replacement determination tables 31 and 32 are shown. Furthermore, although not shown, unit replacement determination tables 31 and 32 are included in the unit replacement determination unit 30.

[0063] More specifically, the unit replacement determination table 31 is set as the determination criterion for unit replacement based on life information 11, and the unit replacement determination table 32 is set as the determination criterion for unit replacement based on usage information 21.

[0064] In the unit replacement determination table 31 based on life information 11, boundary values ​​are set for fixing units 201 and the like to serve as the determination criteria for the number of times 12, the time of use 13, and the period of use 14 contained in each life information 11.

[0065] For example, in the case of fixing unit 201, regarding the number of uses 12, "aaa number of times" is set as a boundary value. If the number of uses exceeds "aaa number of times", the determination result 33 is defined as "replacement is required", and if the number of uses is less than "aaa number of times", the determination result 33 is defined as "replacement is not required". Similarly, regarding the usage time 13, "bbb time" is set as a boundary value. If the usage time exceeds "bbb time", the determination result 33 is defined as "replacement is required", and if the usage time is less than "bbb time", the determination result 33 is defined as "replacement is not required". Regarding the usage period 14, "ccc days" is set as a boundary value. If the usage period exceeds "ccc days", the determination result 33 is defined as "replacement is required", and if the usage period is less than "ccc days", the determination result 33 is defined as "replacement is not required".

[0066] In the above, the boundary values ​​that serve as the criteria for determining "aaa count", "bbb time", etc., vary depending on the specifications of each unit 201, and can therefore be appropriately set according to each unit. Furthermore, in Figure 3The unit replacement judgment table 31 shown specifies the judgment criteria for other transfer belt units 202, transfer roller units 203 and drum units 204.

[0067] In addition, Figure 4 In the unit replacement determination table 32 based on usage information 21 shown, for each unit 201, 202, 203, and 204, boundary values ​​are set to serve as the determination criteria for the number of paper feeds 22 for A5 and below and the number of consecutive paper feeds 23 included in each usage information 21.

[0068] For example, in the case of the fixing unit 201, regarding the number of paper feeds 22 for A5 and smaller sheets, "mmm feeds" is set as a boundary value. If "mmm feeds" or more, the determination result is defined as "replacement is required," and if "less than mmm feeds," the determination result 33 is defined as "replacement is not required." Similarly, regarding the number of consecutive paper feeds 23, "nnn sheets or more, consecutive paper feeds of 000 times" is set as a boundary value. If "nnn sheets or more, consecutive paper feeds of 000 times or more" are achieved, the determination result 33 is defined as "replacement is required," and if "less than nnn sheets or more, consecutive paper feeds of 00 times" are achieved, the determination result 33 is defined as "replacement is not required."

[0069] In the above, the boundary values ​​for the determination criteria such as "mmm times" and "nnn sheets or more of continuous paper feeds ooo times" vary depending on the specifications of each unit 201, and can therefore be appropriately set according to each unit. Furthermore, details and illustrations regarding the determination criteria for the other transfer belt unit 202, transfer roller unit 203, and drum unit 204 are omitted.

[0070] The unit replacement determination unit 30 of the determination system 100 first determines whether a unit needs replacement based on life information 11 according to the unit replacement determination table 31. Then, the unit replacement determination unit 30 determines whether a unit needs replacement based on usage information 21 according to the unit replacement determination table 32. That is, through the unit replacement determination unit 30, each unit is determined according to two criteria: the determination criterion based on life information 11 and the determination criterion based on usage information 21. The unit replacement determination unit 30 performs the above-described determination process on each of the multiple units built into the image forming apparatus 200.

[0071] The reuse determination unit 40 determines whether the image forming apparatus 200 of the determination object can be reused based on the determination result of the unit replacement determination unit 30 (unit replacement determination step S3) (reuse determination step S4).

[0072] To determine whether the image forming apparatus 200 can be reused, the reuse determination system 100 specifies the following: Figures 5-7Reuse determination tables 41, 42, and 43 are shown. Furthermore, although not shown, reuse determination tables 41, 42, and 43 are included in the reuse determination section 40.

[0073] The reuse determination unit 40 determines whether the image forming apparatus 200 can be reused based on the determination result of the unit replacement determination unit 30 (unit replacement determination step S3) and the reuse determination tables 41, 42, and 43 (reuse determination step S4).

[0074] For example, according to Figure 5 If, in the reuse determination table 41, all units determined by the unit replacement determination unit 30 are determined to be unreplaceable, the image forming apparatus 200 is determined to be reusable (yes in reuse determination step S4). Then, the "reusable" display as the determination result is output to the determination display unit 44 of the display unit 250 of the image forming apparatus 200 (reusable display step S5).

[0075] On the other hand, if at least one of the units determined by the unit replacement determination unit 30 contains a determination result indicating that it needs to be replaced, the image forming apparatus 200 is determined to be unusable (no in the reuse determination step S4). Then, a "unusable" display as the determination result is output to the determination display unit 44 of the display unit 250 of the image forming apparatus 200 (unusable display step S6, see...). Figure 8 ).

[0076] In the aforementioned determination process, if at least one unit among all units needs to be replaced, the image forming apparatus 200 is determined to be unusable. Therefore, based on strict determination criteria, a large proportion of the image forming apparatus 200 subject to determination may be deemed unusable. As a result, the efficient utilization of resources may be impaired.

[0077] Therefore, the decision unit 40 can be used to perform the process. Figure 6 as well as Figure 7 The reuse determination tables 42 and 43 are shown as examples of reuse determination. For example, in... Figure 6 In the case of the reuse determination table 42, the number of units determined to need to be replaced (the number of units to be replaced) can be counted in the multiple units built into the image forming apparatus 200, and the reuse can be determined based on the number of units to be replaced.

[0078] That is, if the set determination criterion is that the number of units that need to be replaced is less than ppp (e.g., less than 3), the image forming apparatus 200 is determined to be reusable (yes in the reuse determination step S4). On the other hand, if the number of units that need to be replaced is ppp or more (e.g., more than 3), the image forming apparatus 200 is determined to be unreusable (no in the reuse determination step S4).

[0079] In addition, Figure 7 In the case of the reuse determination table 43, the proportion of units determined to need to be replaced (the proportion of units that need to be replaced) can be calculated among the multiple units built into the image forming apparatus 200, and the reuse can be determined based on the proportion of units that need to be replaced.

[0080] That is, if the set determination criterion is that the proportion of units that need to be replaced is less than qqq% (e.g., less than 30%), the image forming apparatus 200 is determined to be reusable (Yes in the reuse determination step S4). On the other hand, if the proportion of units that need to be replaced is qqq% or more (e.g., more than 30%), the image forming apparatus 200 is determined to be unreusable (No in the reuse determination step S4).

[0081] That is, if the number of units that need to be replaced in the total number of units exceeds a certain limit, and the proportion of units that need to be replaced exceeds a certain percentage, the image forming apparatus 200 can be determined to be unusable. Therefore, the still-usable image forming apparatus 200 is not rendered unusable, and resources can be used effectively.

[0082] Furthermore, the decision unit 40 can also be used for combination. Figure 6 and Figure 7 Reuse determination tables 42 and 43 are used to determine whether an object that meets any determination criterion is reusable.

[0083] The display unit 250 of the image forming apparatus 200 includes a unit replacement need display unit 45, which outputs the reusability of the image forming apparatus 200 to a determination display unit 44 and displays whether replacement is needed for each unit. Thus, for each unit, the determination result 34 of the unit replacement determination unit 30 is displayed (unit determination result display step S7).

[0084] exist Figure 8 and Figure 9 In the display unit 45, "OK" indicates that the unit is determined not to need to be replaced according to the judgment criteria, and "NG" indicates that the unit is determined to need to be replaced according to the judgment criteria.

[0085] Figure 8 Based on what has already been explained Figure 5 The reuse determination result of the image forming apparatus 200 is displayed on the determination display unit 44, according to the reuse determination table 41. Therefore, even if only the item of continuous paper feed 23 based on usage information 21 in the fixing unit 201 is "NG", the reuse determination of the image forming apparatus 200 is not possible. On the other hand, as Figure 6 or Figure 7 As shown, when reuse decision tables 42 and 43 are used based on the number or proportion of units that need to be replaced, the result of the reuse decision sometimes changes to "allowed". Figure 9 This shows an example of the output of the display unit 250 when multiple units are determined to need to be replaced.

[0086] The unit registration prompting unit 50 has the function of registering and / or prompting units that are built into the image forming apparatus 200 and determined by the reuse determination unit 40 (reuse determination step S4) as unusable units and by the unit replacement determination unit 30 as units that do not need to be replaced, as usable units (eliminating the need for the unit replacement detection step S8 and the unit registration prompting step S9). Furthermore, the processing of the unit registration prompting unit 50 can also be omitted.

[0087] That is, among all the units built into the image forming apparatus 200 that are determined to be unusable, it is detected whether any unit is determined not to need replacement. If such a unit exists (yes in the unit not needing replacement detection step S8), it is registered and / or prompted as a usable unit. Thus, information about still usable units can be obtained from the unusable image forming apparatus 200. As a result, usable units can be allocated to other image forming apparatuses 200, making efficient use of resources until the very end. Afterwards, the reuse determination system 100 ends.

[0088] In this case, as already explained Figure 8 and Figure 9 In this process, units that are determined not to need to be replaced are registered as usable units.

[0089] If no unit is determined to be unreplaceable (no in the unit replacement detection step S8), the registration and / or notification process for usable units involved in the unit registration notification step S9 is cancelled. Furthermore, regarding the image forming apparatus 200 determined to be reusable, since it was not determined to be unreplaceable in the unit replacement detection step S8, the unit registration notification step S9 process is cancelled, and the reuse determination system 100 ends.

[0090] The information collection unit 60 has the function of collecting usage information 21 when the image forming apparatus 200 is used. As already explained, the reuse determination system of the present invention does not function substantially during normal use of the image forming apparatus 200.

[0091] However, the information collection unit 60 can be configured as a module within the image forming apparatus 200 without activating the reuse determination system 100. Therefore, usage information 21 can be collected during normal use of the image forming apparatus 200.

[0092] Usage information that can be collected 21, for example, Figure 10 As shown, it is possible to list "the number of paper feeds for each paper size" and "the number of consecutive paper feeds for each number of sheets". That is, it is possible to include the value obtained by counting the actual number of paper feeds for each paper size such as A3, A4, A5, other sizes, and postcards, as well as the value obtained by counting the actual number of consecutive paper feeds for each number of sheets, such as the number of times 2 sheets are printed and the number of times 3 sheets are printed. Moreover, in the usage information 21, it is possible to include the count of the number of prints (= the number of alternating prints) for multiple paper sizes within a specific interval (within AAA minutes).

[0093] In the image forming apparatus 200, the damage to each unit 201, etc., may increase when printing with different paper sizes in a short period of time. Therefore, the number of alternating prints can be included in the usage information 21 and used as a criterion for determining whether the image forming apparatus 200 can be reused.

[0094] For example, it is possible to set such as Figure 11 The alternating print coefficient determination table 35 is shown. Therefore, in the fixing unit 201, if the usage information 21 includes "CCC times or more" for the number of alternating prints, the alternating print coefficient 36 is set to "1.1".

[0095] And, as Figure 12 As shown, in the cell replacement determination table 37, the usage information 21 can be multiplied by the set alternating printing coefficient 36. In this case, in the fixing unit 201, the number of paper feeds 22 for A5 and below multiplied by the alternating printing coefficient 36 ((mm × 1.1) times) can be used as the boundary value. Therefore, the cell is determined to need replacement with fewer printing times than usual.

[0096] Similarly, the number of consecutive paper feeds 23 multiplied by the alternation printing coefficient 36 (more than (nn × 1.1) sheets) can be used as a boundary value. Therefore, it is possible to determine whether the image forming apparatus 200 can be reused based on more detailed usage records of the image forming apparatus 200.

[0097] The reuse determination system and reuse determination procedure of the present invention can be useful in management and operation companies that perform maintenance and inspection of image forming apparatuses.

Claims

1. A reuse determination system, wherein, have: The life information acquisition unit acquires life information from the unit built into the image forming apparatus; The information acquisition unit acquires usage information related to the actual usage performance of the image forming apparatus. The unit replacement determination unit determines whether the unit needs to be replaced based on the acquired life information and usage information. as well as The reuse determination unit determines whether the image forming apparatus can be reused based on the determination result of the unit replacement determination unit.

2. The reuse determination system according to claim 1, wherein, The unit replacement determination unit determines whether multiple units need to be replaced. The reuse determination unit determines whether the image forming apparatus can be reused based on the determination results for the plurality of units.

3. The reuse determination system according to claim 1, wherein, It also includes a unit registration prompting unit, which registers and / or prompts units that are determined by the reuse determination unit to be unusable and by the unit replacement determination unit to be unnecessarily replaceable as usable units.

4. The reuse determination system according to claim 1, wherein, It also includes a usage information collection unit that collects usage information when the image forming apparatus is used.

5. The reuse determination system according to claim 1, wherein, The life information refers to the number of times the unit has been used.

6. The reuse determination system according to claim 1, wherein, The life information refers to the usage time of the unit.

7. The reuse determination system according to claim 1, wherein, The life information refers to the period of use of the unit.

8. The reuse determination system according to claim 1, wherein, The usage information refers to the number of paper feeds per paper size during the use of the image forming apparatus.

9. The reuse determination system according to claim 1, wherein, The usage information refers to the number of consecutive paper feeds during the use of the image forming apparatus.

10. A reuse determination program product that enables a computer to perform the following functions: The life information acquisition unit acquires life information from the unit built into the image forming apparatus; The information acquisition unit acquires usage information related to the actual usage performance of the image forming apparatus. The unit replacement determination unit determines whether the unit needs to be replaced based on the acquired life information and usage information. as well as The reuse determination unit determines whether the image forming apparatus can be reused based on the determination result of the unit replacement determination unit.

Images