Patent ID: 7976119

Claim:
A printing apparatus comprising: a recording head that prints an image in response to a printing command; an ink cartridge communicating with the recording head and storing an ink to be supplied to the recording head; an ink channel extending between the recording head and the ink cartridge; a cleaning mechanism that cleans the recording head with the ink stored in the ink cartridge in response to a cleaning command; and a determining unit that determines whether or not the recording head is permitted to start a printing operation and whether or not the cleaning mechanism is permitted to start a cleaning operation on the basis of the ink level of the ink cartridge; the ink cartridge including: an ink pack from which the ink is introduced under pressure; and an ink-end sensor that detects an ink-end point on the basis of the pressure of the ink supplied from the ink pack under pressure; wherein the ink pressure corresponding to the ink-end point detected by the ink-end sensor is set to a first pressure that is the minimum pressure near an outlet of the ink cartridge at which the recording head can print an image of predetermined quality; and the determining unit permits starting of a printing or cleaning operation in response to a command issued before the ink-end sensor detects the ink-end point and prohibits starting of a printing or cleaning operation in response to a command issued after the ink-end sensor has detected the ink-end point.