Patent ID: 6952278

Claim:
An apparatus for processing data transfer jobs, comprising: a first memory that (i) inputs and stores data for each of a plurality of jobs, (ii) transfers the data for each of the plurality of jobs to an output device, and (iii) inputs a selection of whether or not history information for at least one of the plurality of jobs is to be stored; a second memory; a controller that, when a transfer of data from the first memory has ended for a given job, stores history information for the given job in said second memory in accordance with the input selection of whether or not history information for at least one of the plurality of jobs is to be stored; and an interface circuit that receives a status inquiry and forwards the status inquiry to said controller, wherein upon receipt of the status inquiry, said controller retrieves the history information from said second memory stored in accordance with the input selection and, if the history information was stored, sends the retrieved history information to said interface circuit.