US 20020022990A1
(19) United States
(12) Patent Application Publication (io) Pub. No.: US 2002/0022990 Al
Kurata et al. (43) Pub. Date: Feb. 21,2002
(54) IMAGE-FORMING SYSTEM EMPLOYING A CARTRIDGE AND PROVIDING A BENEFIT TO A USER
(76) Inventors: Kenichi Kurata, Nagano (JP); Noboru Asauchi, Nagano (JP)
Correspondence Address:
SUGHRUE, MION, ZINN, MACPEAK &
SEAS, PLLC
2100 Pennsylvania Ave,. N.W. Washington, DC 20037 (US)
(21) Appl. No.: 09/764,103
(22) Filed: Jan. 19, 2001
(30) Foreign Application Priority Data
Jan. 19, 2000 (JP) 2000-014050
Jun. 28, 2000 (JP) 2000-194442
Nov. 10, 2000 (JP) 2000-344486
Contained in EEPROM 21 of ink cartridge 19 is lottery determination data necessary for carrying out lottery determination, and prize data necessary for awarding a prize to a user when something has been won as a result of the lottery determination. Printing processing circuit 15 of inkjet printer 5 reads the lottery determination data from EEPROM 21 of ink cartridge 19, and uses that data to carry out lottery determination. If the results of that determination indicate that something has been won, printing processing circuit 15 reads the prize data from EEPROM 21 of ink cartridge 19, and communicates that data to printer driver 7. Printer driver 7 uses the prize data to perform processing for awarding a prize (e.g., access to a special URL) to a user. In addition, when a user makes a used cartridge available for recovery by a manufacturer, valuable points are awarded to the user based on data recorded in EEPROM 21 of ink cartridge 19.
