Patent ID: 6999187

Claim:
An image forming apparatus for printing out data on the basis of given information, comprising: a memory for storing information for use in the maintenance of said image forming apparatus; a capacity determination unit for, when a use capacity of said memory has reached a predetermined value, notifying said memory of information representing that the use capacity has reached the predetermined value and instructing said memory to output the stored information; a compressing unit for compressing the output information from said memory and outputting as coded information; and a CPU for checking whether said apparatus is connected to a LAN and determining that the coded information is to be output to the LAN if said apparatus is connected to the LAN, for checking whether said apparatus is connected to a telephone line if said apparatus is not connected to the LAN and determining that the coded information is to be output to the telephone line if said apparatus is connected to the telephone line, and for determining that the coded information is to be printed out if said apparatus is not connected to the LAN or to the telephone line.