The present invention relates to an image forming device, an exchange unit, and a method for determining the exchange unit.
An image forming device such as a copying machine, a printer, or the like has a configuration such that a user can exchange an exchange unit including expendable items such as toner. In such a configuration, it is desirable to attach a genuine product of the exchange unit to realize good performance of the image forming device.
On the other hand, there is a demand for reusing the exchange unit or the like from the viewpoint of effective utilization of resources, environmental protection, and the like, and a non-genuine product of the exchange units have come to be attached to the image forming device. A method for operating the image forming device to correspond to a non-genuine product when a user intentionally attaches the non-genuine product has been proposed.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-326731 discloses a technique for making an operation mode of the image forming device to which a genuine product of the exchange unit is attached different from the operation mode of the image forming device to which a non-genuine product is attached. Here, whether the exchange unit is genuine or non-genuine is determined by comparing unit information stored in a memory of the exchange unit with corresponding unit information stored in a storage unit of the image forming device.
Because a specialist can decode a data code of the unit information stored in the memory of the exchange unit, the same or similar memory can be mounted on a non-genuine product by creating the memory by using the decoded data code. When a non-genuine product on which such a memory is mounted is attached to an image forming device, the image forming device erroneously recognizes it as a genuine product and executes an operation mode corresponding to the genuine product. In such a case, because an inappropriate operation mode is executed, problems such as lowering of printing quality or a failure of the device may occur.