US Patent 7110127 Method and apparatus for product regionalization

Disclosed is a method of regionalizing a product for specific markets for the purposes of language localization, insuring compliance with local laws and standards, or theft prevention. The method is applicable to goods comprising an initially-sold machine or device and consumable items required by the machine or device. The method comprises regionalizing the consumable items; the first-installed consumable used in the machine or device then causes the machine or device to be regionalized, such that the machine or device subsequently only accepts consumables with the same regionalization. Also disclosed are apparatus to implement the method.