Patent ID: 8666267

Claim:
An image forming apparatus having a development unit which develops an electrostatic latent image formed on an image carrier to form a visible image, the apparatus comprising: an input unit adapted to accept input of a print job; an analysis unit adapted to analyze the print job; a prediction unit adapted to predict, based on an analysis result by said analysis unit, a consumption amount of a developing material for printing the print job; a generation unit adapted to generate a schedule for supplying the developing material to the development unit, based on the consumption amount of the developing material predicted by said prediction unit; and a supply control unit adapted to control, in a case where a first image data included in the print job has been formed and a second image data included in the print job is formed using the development material having a higher density than a density of the development material needed for forming the first image data, a supply of the development material to the development unit to allow time for stabilizing a density of the development material before image forming of the second image data, based on the schedule generated by said generation unit.