Patent attributes
In photo studio system 10, a count which represents a number of printing operations with regard to each of the printer 40 and 50 is reset to zero in response to successful establishment of connection of a print server 20 with the management server 70. The printer 40 and 50 are allowed to continuously carry out printing operations as long as the count is reset to zero before reaching the preset value. On the other hand, failed establishment of connection with the management server 70 causes the count to reach the preset value and imposes restrictions on the printing operations with regard to each of the printer 40 and 50. Each of the printers is not allowed to continue printing operations over a long time period in the state of disconnection from the management server. This arrangement desirably prevents the management server from suffering significant losses.
