Patent ID: 6866355

Claim:
An ink jet recording apparatus comprising: a recording head mounted on a carriage, the recording head being reciprocally movable in a width direction of a recording sheet; and a sub-tank for supplying ink to the recording head from an ink cartridge, wherein the sub-tank is mounted on the carriage with the recording head, the sub-tank comprising: an ink level detector, configured to detect at least a low ink state in which quantity of ink stored in the sub-tank is smaller than a predetermined value, and a full ink state in which the quantity of ink stored in the sub-tank reaches the predetermined value, and an ink consumption counter, configured to acquire the total quantity of ink ejected or discharged by the recording head, wherein the ink level detector and the ink consumption counter are configured to operate simultaneously, and a controller for supplying ink to the subtank as a direct consequence of the ink level detecting the low ink state and the value acquired by the ink consumption counter reaching a predetermined count value.