Patent ID: 7128408

Claim:
A printing apparatus comprising: a cartridge mounting portion on which a plurality of ink cartridges are detachably mountable, each said ink cartridge having an element into which information may be written; an accumulating means for accumulating a discharge amount of ink discharged for every ink cartridge mounted on said cartridge mounting portion; and a writing member for writing said information into said element, wherein a threshold is provided for every ink cartridge; when an accumulated value obtained by said accumulating means for a certain ink cartridge reaches said threshold provided for said certain ink cartridge, said writing member writes said information into said element of said certain ink cartridge for which said accumulated value obtained by said accumulating means has reached said threshold; said element provided with said ink cartridge is stored with a timing information for determining a timing for writing said information about said used amount or residual quantity into said ink cartridge; and said threshold is set according to said timing information.