The present invention relates to a facsimile machine and, more specifically, relates to a facsimile machine that can provide a charge management system in which beneficiaries are charged costs of expendable supplies in accordance with the amounts they have spent.
Conventionally, where one facsimile machine is commonly used by a plurality of business sections, there has been a problem of how to share the related expenses. There are known the following patent documents which describe techniques for sharing such expenses.
(1) Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Sho. 56-10773: A key counter is activated when document information is received by a facsimile machine. Since the key counter has functions of starting the facsimile machine and accumulating the charge, the communication costs can be shared by beneficiaries.
There also exists a technique which employs a magnetic card as a key. Copying and transmission operations are prohibited unless the card is set into the machine. If the card is properly set, the number of copied sheets or the communication charge are registered in association with a business section number recorded in the card being set into the machine.
(2) Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Sho. 58-133073: A sender is charged for the communication time of image information and for the quantity of recording sheets he has spent. Where a direct mail is sent through a facsimile machine, a sender is charged for recording sheets consumed.
(3) Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Sho. 62-227262: Communication costs are distributed to users in a facsimile machine connected to an ISDN network.
Except for special cases of, e.g., the direct mail as described in above item (2), it would be appropriate that when information is received by a facsimile machine, costs of expendable supplies, such as recording sheets, of the receiving-side facsimile machine be paid by a receiver. However, in the prior art as described above, the costs for the expendable supplies cannot be distributed to receivers. That is, the expenditures of a facsimile machine cannot be shared in a correct manner.