Patent ID: 7710596

Claim:
An image processing apparatus comprising: a reading unit configured to read an image on an original and generate image data based on the read image; an image forming unit configured to form an image on a recording medium; a communication unit configured to transmit and receive image data through a communication medium; a first managing unit configured to manage a user by an ID (identification) capable of specifying the user; a first setting unit configured to set an image processing mode from among a plurality of image processing modes; a control unit configured to control said reading unit or said communication unit in order to perform an image input process, and to control said image forming unit or said communication unit in order to perform an image output process, according to the image processing mode set by said first setting unit; a second managing unit configured to classify each of the image input processes and the image output processes into a plurality of kinds, and to manage, with respect to each of the IDs, an amount of image which has been processed in each of the plurality of kinds; a second setting unit configured to set, with respect to each of the IDs, an upper limit value indicating an amount of image that is allowed to be processed in each of the plurality of kinds; a selecting unit configured to select, from among the plurality of kinds, a kind corresponding to an image input process and a kind corresponding to an image output process, both the kind corresponding to the image input process and the kind corresponding to the image output process being related to the image processing mode set by said first setting unit; a display control unit configured to display information indicating the managed amount of image and the upper limit value corresponding to at least one kind selected by said selecting unit on a display unit; a fourth setting unit configured to set a numeric value for the image processing mode set by said first setting unit; and a first notification unit configured to calculate a minimum value of the number of images which would be processed based on the image processing mode set by said first setting unit and the numeric value set by said fourth setting unit, and, in a case where the managed amount of image would exceed the upper limit value if the image process starts in the setting maintained as it is, notifies the user that the managed amount of image will reach its upper limit value.