Reusability determination system and reusability determination program

Abstract

The objective is to provide a reuse determination system that determines whether a unit needs to be replaced based on the usage history of the image forming apparatus and the remaining lifespan of the unit, and further determines whether the image forming apparatus can be reused. [Solution] The reuse determination system 100 mainly comprises a life information acquisition unit 10 that acquires life information 11 of units built into the image forming apparatus 200, a usage information acquisition unit 20 that acquires usage information relating to the usage history of the image forming apparatus 200, a unit replacement determination unit 30 that determines whether or not the unit needs to be replaced based on the acquired life information 11 and usage information, and a reuse determination unit 40 that determines whether or not the image forming apparatus 200 can be reused based on the determination result by the unit replacement determination unit 30.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a reuse determination system and a reuse determination program.

Background Art

[0002] In recent years, toward the realization of a recycling-based society, it has been required to effectively utilize resources and eliminate wasteful disposal. For example, in the technical field of image forming apparatuses, necessary maintenance is performed on image forming apparatuses collected from offices and the like, and they are reused as "refurbished machines" that are completed products after maintenance.

[0003] Systems have been proposed that check the remaining life of each unit incorporated in an image forming apparatus to be discarded and use reusable units as replacement units for other image forming apparatuses (see Patent Document 1). As a result, it becomes possible to allocate usable units to other image forming apparatuses without performing waste disposal, and effective utilization of resources becomes possible.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] However, it has not been possible to accurately determine whether a unit can be reused based only on information regarding the remaining life of the unit.

[0006] For example, in the case of a fixing unit incorporated in an image forming apparatus, even if the number of prints is the same, the damage to the fixing unit is different between a case where postcards are continuously printed and a case where postcards of the same size are printed one by one at predetermined intervals.

[0007] In the above case, in the former case, the temperature difference between the ends and the center of the fuser unit becomes large, and this condition persists for a long time. As a result, the fuser unit tends to wear out more easily. In other words, even with the same number of prints, the former case is more prone to problems depending on how the image forming apparatus is used (usage history).

[0008] In view of the above circumstances, the present invention aims to provide a reuse determination system and reuse determination program that determine whether a unit needs to be replaced based on the usage history of the image forming apparatus and the remaining lifespan of the unit, and further determine whether the image forming apparatus can be reused. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] To address the above issues, the reuse determination system described in claim 1 is: The system comprises: a life information acquisition unit that acquires life information of a unit built into the image forming apparatus; a usage information acquisition unit that acquires usage information relating to the usage history of the image forming apparatus; a unit replacement determination unit that determines whether the unit needs to be replaced based on the acquired life information and usage information; and a reuse determination unit that determines whether the image forming apparatus can be reused based on the determination result by the unit replacement determination unit.

[0010] The invention described in claim 2 is a reuse determination system described in claim 1, The unit replacement determination unit determines whether replacement is necessary for a plurality of the units, and the reuse determination unit determines whether the image forming apparatus can be reused based on the determination results for the plurality of units.

[0011] The invention described in claim 3 is a reuse determination system described in claim 1, The system further comprises a unit registration and presentation unit that registers and / or presents as usable units units that are built into the image forming apparatus and have been determined by the reuse determination unit to be unusable, and which have been determined by the unit replacement determination unit to not need replacing.

[0012] The invention described in claim 4 relates to the reuse determination system described in claim 1. The image forming apparatus further comprises a usage information collection unit that collects the usage information when the image forming apparatus is in use.

[0013] The invention described in claim 5 is a reuse determination system described in claim 1, The life information refers to the number of times the unit has been used.

[0014] The invention described in claim 6 is a reuse determination system described in claim 1, The aforementioned life information is the unit's usage time.

[0015] The invention described in claim 7 is a reuse determination system described in claim 1, The aforementioned life information is the usage period of the unit.

[0016] The invention described in claim 8 is a reuse determination system described in claim 1, The aforementioned usage information is the number of times paper is fed through each paper size during the use of the image forming apparatus.

[0017] The invention described in claim 9 is a reuse determination system described in claim 1, The aforementioned usage information is the number of consecutive paper passes during the use of the image forming apparatus.

[0018] The reuse determination program described in claim 10 is: The computer is configured to function as a life information acquisition unit that acquires life information of units built into the image forming apparatus, a usage information acquisition unit that acquires usage information related to the usage history of the image forming apparatus, a unit replacement determination unit that determines whether the unit needs to be replaced based on the acquired life information and usage information, and a reuse determination unit that determines whether the image forming apparatus can be reused based on the determination result by the unit replacement determination unit. [Effects of the Invention]

[0019] According to the present invention, based on life information and usage information, it is possible to determine whether a unit needs to be replaced, and based on the determination result, it is possible to appropriately determine whether an image forming apparatus can be reused.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0020] [Figure 1] It is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of the system configuration of the reuse determination system of the present invention. [Figure 2] It is a flowchart showing an example of the processing flow of the reuse determination system. [Figure 3] It is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a unit replacement determination table (life information). [Figure 4] It is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a unit replacement determination table (usage information). [Figure 5] It is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a reuse determination table (unit determination result). [Figure 6] It is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a reuse determination table (number of units that need to be replaced). [Figure 7] It is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a reuse determination table (ratio of units that need to be replaced). [Figure 8] It is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the display on the display unit of the image forming apparatus. [Figure 9] It is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the display on the display unit of the image forming apparatus. [Figure 10] It is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the collection result of usage information collected by the usage information collection unit. [Figure 11] It is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an alternating printing coefficient determination table. [Figure 12] It is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a unit replacement determination table (usage information × alternating printing coefficient).

Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0021] Embodiments of the reuse determination system and reuse determination program of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the following illustrated examples.

[0022] 1. Reuse determination system Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of the system configuration of the reuse determination system 100 in this embodiment. As shown in Figure 1, the reuse determination system of this embodiment is constructed as an internal component 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 starting it, the image forming apparatus 200 can be made to function as the reuse determination system 100.

[0023] The image forming apparatus 200 is configured to have multiple functions, such as a copy function, a printer function, a communication function, and a scanner function. In a typical configuration, as shown in Figure 1, the image forming apparatus 200 includes a central processing unit 210 (CPU), a storage unit 220, an operation unit 230, a communication unit 240, a display unit 250, a scanner unit 260, a document transport unit 270, a printer unit 280, and a paper feed unit 290. Since the image forming apparatus 200 is a well-known conventional design, illustrations and descriptions of other components are omitted. The reuse determination program 101 of the present invention is stored in the storage unit 220.

[0024] The function of the reuse determination system 100 in the image forming apparatus 200 is not performed during normal use of the image forming apparatus 200. For example, the image forming apparatus 200 performs the function of the reuse determination system 100 by switching to a so-called service mode (maintenance mode). Here, the image forming apparatus 200 corresponds to the computer in this invention.

[0025] 2. Configuration of the reuse determination system and the processing flow of reuse determination As shown in Figure 1, the reuse determination system 100 of this embodiment is configured inside the image forming apparatus 200 and mainly comprises a life information acquisition unit 10, a usage information acquisition unit 20, a unit replacement determination unit 30, and a reuse determination unit 40. Furthermore, the reuse determination system 100 comprises a unit registration presentation unit 50 and a usage information collection unit 60.

[0026] The following describes the configuration of the reuse determination system 100 (image forming apparatus 200) and the processing flow for reuse determination, with reference to the flowchart in Figure 2.

[0027] The life information acquisition unit 10 has the function of acquiring life information 11 of units built into the image forming apparatus 200 (life information acquisition means S1). The image forming apparatus 200 is composed of multiple built-in units. Examples include a fixing unit 201, a transfer belt unit 202, a transfer roller unit 203, and a drum unit 204.

[0028] Life information 11 may include information regarding the number of uses 12, usage time 13, and usage period 14 for each unit, such as the fixing unit 201 mentioned above.

[0029] For example, if the life information 11 includes information about the number of uses 12 of the fuser unit 201, this corresponds to the number of prints (number of printed pages) made using the fuser unit 201 for copying, etc. On the other hand, if the life information 11 includes information about the usage time 13, this corresponds to the total time (operating time) spent using the fuser unit 201 for printing, etc. If the life information 11 includes information about the usage period 14, this corresponds to the period from the start of use of the fuser unit 201 to the present, in other words, the elapsed time (number of days) since the start of installation of the image forming apparatus 200.

[0030] If the number of uses is 12, or if the usage time is 13 or the usage period is 14, the damage each unit receives will increase, which can be used as a criterion for determining whether or not to replace a unit.

[0031] The image forming apparatus 200 has a function to acquire life information 11 such as the number of uses 12. In other words, such life information 11 is generally acquired and stored in the image forming apparatus 200 for the purpose of understanding the frequency of maintenance work and the timing of replacement of toner and each unit. The life information acquisition unit 10 can acquire life information 11 from, for example, the storage unit 220 of the image forming apparatus 200.

[0032] The reuse determination system 100 acquires life information 11 when the image forming apparatus 200 described above transitions to service mode.

[0033] The usage information acquisition unit 20 has the function of acquiring usage information 21 related to the past usage and usage history of the image forming apparatus 200 (usage information acquisition means S2).

[0034] As already explained, it is known that even with the same number of prints (number of uses), the damage to the unit differs depending on the paper size. Furthermore, even with the same number of prints, the damage to the unit differs depending on whether printing is done at predetermined intervals or continuously in one go.

[0035] Therefore, the usage information 21 can include the number of A5 or smaller paper feeds 22, which relates to the number of printed sheets of small paper sizes such as postcard size and A5 size, and the number of consecutive paper feeds 23, which relates to the number of printed sheets and the number of consecutive paper feeds during continuous printing.

[0036] In other words, the usage information 21 includes information that enables the recognition of damage to the image forming apparatus 200, which cannot be grasped by the life information 11 that the image forming apparatus 200 has acquired in the past. The usage information 21 is accumulated each time the image forming apparatus 200 is used by the usage information collection unit 60, which will be described later. The usage information acquisition unit 20 processes the accumulated usage information 21 and reads it into the reuse determination system 100.

[0037] The unit replacement determination unit 30 has the function of determining whether or not to replace a plurality of units (such as the fixing unit 201) built into the image forming apparatus 200 based on the acquired life information 11 and usage information 21 (unit replacement determination means S3).

[0038] To determine whether each unit needs to be replaced, the reuse determination system 100 defines unit replacement determination tables 31 and 32, as shown in Figures 3 and 4. Although not shown, the unit replacement determination tables 31 and 32 are included in the unit replacement determination unit 30.

[0039] To explain in more detail, a unit replacement determination table 31 is set as the criteria for determining unit replacement based on life information 11, and a unit replacement determination table 32 is set as the criteria for determining unit replacement based on usage information 21.

[0040] The unit replacement determination table 31, based on the life information 11, has boundary values ​​set for each of the fixing unit 201, etc., which serve as the determination criteria for the number of uses 12, usage time 13, and usage period 14 included in the life information 11.

[0041] For example, in the case of the fixing unit 201, for the number of uses 12, the boundary value is set to "aaa times". If the number of uses is "aaa times or more", the judgment result 33 is determined to be "replacement necessary", and if the number of uses is "less than aaa times", the judgment result 33 is determined to be "no replacement necessary". Similarly, for the usage time 13, the boundary value is set to "bbb hours". If the usage time is "bbb hours or more", the judgment result 33 is determined to be "replacement necessary", and if the usage time is "less than bbb hours", the judgment result 33 is determined to be "no replacement necessary". For the usage period 14, the boundary value is set to "ccc days". If the usage time is "ccc hours or more", the judgment result 33 is determined to be "replacement necessary", and if the usage period is "less than ccc days", the judgment result 33 is determined to be "no replacement necessary".

[0042] In the above, the boundary values ​​that serve as the judgment criteria, such as "aaa count" and "bbb time," differ depending on the specifications of each unit 201, and can be set appropriately accordingly. Furthermore, the unit replacement judgment table 31 shown in Figure 3 also specifies the judgment criteria for the transfer belt unit 202, the transfer roller unit 203, and the drum unit 204.

[0043] Furthermore, the unit replacement determination table 32, based on the usage information 21 shown in Figure 4, has boundary values ​​set for each unit 201, 202, 203, and 204 that serve as the criteria for determining the number of times A5 or smaller paper is fed 22 and the number of times continuous paper is fed 23, respectively, as included in the usage information 21.

[0044] For example, in the case of the fuser unit 201, for the number of A5 or smaller paper feeds 22, the boundary value is set to "mmm times". If the number of feeds is "mmm times or more", the judgment result is determined to be "replacement required", and if the number of feeds is "less than mmm times", the judgment result 33 is determined to be "replacement not required". Similarly, for the number of continuous paper feeds 23, the boundary value is set to "nnn sheets or more and ooo times of continuous paper feed". If the number of feeds is "nnn sheets or more and ooo times or more of continuous paper feeds", the judgment result 33 is determined to be "replacement required", and if the number of feeds is "nnn sheets or more and less than ooo times of continuous paper feeds", the judgment result 33 is determined to be "replacement not required".

[0045] In the above, the boundary values ​​that serve as the criteria for judgment, such as "mmm count" and "nnn or more consecutive paper feeds over ooo times," differ depending on the specifications of each unit 201, and can be set appropriately accordingly. Details and illustrations of the judgment criteria for the other units, the transfer belt unit 202, the transfer roller unit 203, and the drum unit 204, are omitted.

[0046] The unit replacement determination unit 30 of the reuse determination system 100 first determines whether a unit needs to be replaced based on life information 11 according to the unit replacement determination table 31. Subsequently, the unit replacement determination unit 30 determines whether a unit needs to be replaced based on usage information 21 according to the unit replacement determination table 32. In other words, the unit replacement determination unit 30 determines each unit based on two criteria: a determination criterion based on life information 11 and a determination criterion based on usage information 21. The unit replacement determination unit 30 performs the above determination process for each of the multiple units built into the image forming apparatus 200.

[0047] The reuse determination unit 40 determines whether the image forming apparatus 200 to be determined can be reused based on the determination result from the unit replacement determination unit 30 (unit replacement determination means S3) (reuse determination means S4).

[0048] To determine whether the image forming apparatus 200 can be reused, the reuse determination system 100 defines reuse determination tables 41, 42, and 43, as shown in Figure 5-7. Although not shown, reuse determination tables 41, 42, and 43 are included in the reuse determination unit 40.

[0049] The reuse determination unit 40 determines whether the image forming apparatus 200 can be reused (reuse determination means S4) based on the determination result from the unit replacement determination unit 30 (unit replacement determination means S3) and the reuse determination tables 41, 42, and 43.

[0050] For example, according to the reuse determination table 41 in Figure 5, if all units determined by the unit replacement determination unit 30 are deemed not to require replacement, the image forming apparatus 200 is determined to be reusable (YES in the reuse determination means S4). Subsequently, the determination result "Reusable" is output to the determination display unit 44 of the display unit 250 of the image forming apparatus 200 (reusable display means S5).

[0051] On the other hand, if any of the units determined by the unit replacement determination unit 30 are found to require replacement, the image forming apparatus 200 is determined to be unusable (NO in the reuse determination means S4). Subsequently, the determination result "unusable" is output to the determination display unit 44 of the display unit 250 of the image forming apparatus 200 (unusable display means S6, see Figure 8).

[0052] In the above determination process, if even one unit among all units needs to be replaced, the image forming apparatus 200 is deemed unusable for reuse. Therefore, due to the strict determination criteria, it is possible that most of the image forming apparatuses 200 being evaluated will be deemed unusable for reuse. As a result, the effective use of resources may be hindered.

[0053] Therefore, the reuse determination unit 40 can perform reuse determination using reuse determination tables 42 and 43 as shown in Figures 6 and 7. For example, in the case of reuse determination table 42 in Figure 6, the number of units that have been determined to need replacement (number of units to be replaced) among the multiple units built into the image forming apparatus 200 can be counted, and the feasibility of reuse can be determined according to the number of units to be replaced.

[0054] In other words, if the set criteria indicate that the number of units to be replaced is less than ppp (for example, less than 3), the image forming apparatus 200 is determined to be reusable (YES in the reusability determination means S4). On the other hand, if the number of units to be replaced is ppp or more (for example, 3 or more), the image forming apparatus 200 is determined to be unreusable (NO in the reusability determination means S4).

[0055] Furthermore, in the case of the reuse determination table 43 in Figure 7, the proportion of units that have been determined to need replacement among the multiple units built into the image forming apparatus 200 (replacement-needed unit proportion) can be calculated, and the feasibility of reuse can be determined according to the replacement-needed unit proportion.

[0056] In other words, if the set criteria indicate that the percentage of units requiring replacement is less than qqq% (for example, less than 30%), the image forming apparatus 200 is determined to be reusable (YES in the reusability determination means S4). On the other hand, if the percentage of units requiring replacement is qqq% or more (for example, 30% or more), the image forming apparatus 200 is determined to be unreusable (NO in the reusability determination means S4).

[0057] In other words, if the number of units that need to be replaced exceeds a specified number, or if the percentage of units that need to be replaced exceeds a specified percentage, the image forming apparatus 200 can be determined to be unusable. This prevents still-usable image forming apparatuses 200 from being deemed unusable, thus enabling the effective use of resources.

[0058] Furthermore, the reuse determination unit 40 may combine the reuse determination tables 42 and 43 shown in Figures 6 and 7 and determine whether an item is reusable if it meets any of the determination criteria.

[0059] The display unit 250 of the image forming apparatus 200 outputs whether the image forming apparatus 200 can be reused to the determination display unit 44, and also includes a unit replacement necessity display unit 45 that displays whether each unit needs to be replaced. As a result, the determination result 34 from the unit replacement determination unit 30 is displayed for each unit (unit determination result display means S7).

[0060] In Figures 8 and 9, "OK" on the unit replacement requirement indicator 45 indicates that the unit does not need to be replaced according to the judgment criteria, and "NG" indicates that the unit needs to be replaced according to the judgment criteria.

[0061] Figure 8 shows the result of the reuse determination of the image forming apparatus 200, based on the reuse determination table 41 in Figure 5, which has already been explained, as displayed on the determination display unit 44. Therefore, even if only the item for the number of consecutive pages fed 23 based on the usage information 21 of the fixing unit 201 is "NG", the reuse determination of the image forming apparatus 200 will be rejected. On the other hand, if reuse determination tables 42 and 43 based on the number of units that need to be replaced or the ratio of units that need to be replaced are adopted, as shown in Figure 6 or Figure 7, the result of the reuse determination may be changed to "OK". Figure 9 shows an example of the output of the display unit 250 when multiple units are determined to need to be replaced.

[0062] The unit registration and presentation unit 50 is built into the image forming apparatus 200 that has been determined to be unusable by the reuse determination unit 40 (reuse determination means S4), and has the function of registering and / or presenting as usable units units that have been determined to not need to be replaced by the unit replacement determination unit 30 (units not needing replacement detection means S8, unit registration and presentation means S9). The processing by the unit registration and presentation unit 50 may be omitted.

[0063] In other words, the system detects whether there are any units that do not need to be replaced among all the units built into the image forming apparatus 200 that have been determined to be unusable. If such units exist (YES in the unit non-replaceable detection means S8), the system registers and / or presents them as usable units. This makes it possible to obtain information about units that are still usable within the unusable image forming apparatus 200. As a result, usable units can be allocated to other image forming apparatuses 200, and resources can be effectively utilized to the very end. After that, the reuse determination system 100 terminates.

[0064] In this case, as explained earlier in Figures 8 and 9, the units that were determined not to require replacement are registered as available units.

[0065] If there are no units determined to not require replacement (NO in the non-replaceable unit detection means S8), the registration and / or presentation process of available units by the unit registration presentation means S9 is canceled. For image forming apparatus 200 determined to be reusable, the processing of the unit registration presentation means S9 is canceled because NO is detected in the non-replaceable unit detection means S8, and the reuse determination system 100 terminates.

[0066] The usage information collection unit 60 has the function of collecting usage information 21 when the image forming apparatus 200 is in use. As already explained, the reuse determination system of the present invention does not basically perform its function during normal use of the image forming apparatus 200.

[0067] However, the usage information collection unit 60 can be configured as a kind of module inside the image forming apparatus 200 without activating the reuse determination system 100. This allows the usage information 21 to be collected during normal use of the image forming apparatus 200.

[0068] The collectible usage information 21 includes, for example, the "number of times paper is fed through for each paper size" and the "number of consecutive times paper is fed through for each number of sheets," as shown in Figure 10. Specifically, it can include the actual number of times paper is fed through for each paper size such as A3, A4, A5, other sizes, and postcards, as well as the actual number of consecutive times paper is fed through for each number of sheets, such as the number of times two sheets are printed and the number of times three sheets are printed. Furthermore, the usage information 21 can include the count of the number of times multiple paper sizes are printed (= number of alternating prints) within a specific interval (within AAA minutes).

[0069] In the image forming apparatus 200, switching between printing on different paper sizes within a short time frame can potentially cause significant damage to each unit 201, etc. Therefore, the number of alternating print cycles can be included in the usage information 21 and used as a criterion for determining whether the image forming apparatus 200 can be reused.

[0070] For example, an alternating printing coefficient determination table 35 can be set as shown in Figure 11. This allows the fuser unit 201 to set the alternating printing coefficient 36 to "1.1" if the usage information 21 indicates that the number of alternating prints is "CCC times or more".

[0071] Furthermore, as shown in Figure 12, the unit replacement determination table 37 can be calculated by multiplying the usage information 21 by the set alternating printing coefficient 36. In this case, the fuser unit 201 can use the number of times the number of A5 or smaller paper feeds 22 is multiplied by the alternating printing coefficient 36 ((mmm × 1.1) times) as the boundary value. Therefore, the unit is determined to need replacement after fewer prints than usual.

[0072] Similarly, the number of times obtained by multiplying the number of consecutive paper feeds 23 by the alternating printing coefficient 36 ((nnn × 1.1) or more consecutive paper feeds ooo times) can be used as the boundary value. This allows for a determination of whether or not the image forming apparatus 200 is reusable based on a more detailed record of the image forming apparatus 200's usage. [Industrial applicability]

[0073] The reuse determination system and reuse determination program of the present invention can be useful in management and operation companies that perform maintenance and inspections of image forming apparatus. [Explanation of symbols]

[0074] 10 Life Information Acquisition Department 11 Life Information 12 Number of uses 13 Usage time 14 Period of use 20 Usage information acquisition section 21 Usage Information 22 Number of times A5 or smaller paper is fed through 23 consecutive paper feed counts 30 Unit replacement determination unit 31, 32, 37, 46 Unit Replacement Decision Table 33,34 Judgment result 35 Alternating Printing Coefficient Determination Table 40 Reuse judgment section 41, 42, 43 Reuse Decision Table 44 Judgment display section 45 Unit replacement requirement indicator 50 Unit Registration Display Section 60. Information Collection Department 100 Reuse Determination System 101 Reuse Determination Program 200 Image forming apparatus 201 Fuser Unit 202 Transfer Belt Unit 203 Transfer Roller Unit 204 Drum Unit 220 Storage section 230 Operation section 240 Communications Department 250 Display section 260 Scanner Unit 270 Manuscript transport unit 280 Printer section 290 Paper feed section S1 Life Information Acquisition Method S2 Usage information acquisition means S3 Unit replacement determination means S4 Reuse judgment means S5 Reusable display means S6 Non-reusable display means S7 Unit determination result display means S8 Unit detection means that does not require replacement S9 Unit Registration Presentation Means

Claims

1. A life information acquisition unit that acquires life information of a unit built into an image forming apparatus, A usage information acquisition unit that acquires usage information related to the usage history of the image forming apparatus, A unit replacement determination unit determines whether the unit needs to be replaced based on the acquired life information and usage information, Based on the determination result by the unit replacement determination unit, a reuse determination unit determines whether or not the image forming apparatus can be reused. A reuse determination system equipped with the following features.

2. The unit replacement determination unit is, Determine whether replacement is necessary for multiple of the aforementioned units. The reuse determination unit is, The reuse determination system according to claim 1, which determines whether or not the image forming apparatus can be reused based on the determination results for a plurality of the units.

3. The reuse determination system according to claim 1, further comprising a unit registration and presentation unit which is built into the image forming apparatus that has been determined by the reuse determination unit to be unreusable, and which has been determined by the unit replacement determination unit to not need replacement, and which registers and / or presents the unit as usable unit.

4. The reuse determination system according to claim 1, further comprising a usage information collection unit that collects the usage information when the image forming apparatus is in use.

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

6. The aforementioned life information is The reuse determination system according to claim 1, which is the usage time of the unit.

7. The aforementioned life information is The reuse determination system according to claim 1, which is the usage period of the unit.

8. The aforementioned usage information is The reuse determination system according to claim 1, which is the number of times paper is fed through for each paper size when using the image forming apparatus.

9. The aforementioned usage information is The reuse determination system according to claim 1, which is the number of consecutive paper passes in the use of the image forming apparatus.

10. A reuse determination program that causes a computer to function as a life information acquisition unit for acquiring life information of a unit built into an image forming apparatus, a usage information acquisition unit for acquiring usage information relating to the usage history of the image forming apparatus, a unit replacement determination unit for determining whether the unit needs to be replaced based on the acquired life information and usage information, and a reuse determination unit for determining whether the image forming apparatus can be reused based on the determination result by the unit replacement determination unit.

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