Patent ID: 6976746

Claim:
An ink jet recording apparatus to which an ink cartridge provided with an ink storing member for storing ink to be used for recording and a waste ink storing member for storing waste ink discharged from a recording head is detachably attached to perform recording by ejecting ink supplied from the ink storing member of the attached ink cartridge out of the recording head, comprising: recovery means for causing ink to be discharged from said recording head for a purpose other than recording; a waste ink path that allows the waste ink discharged from the recording head by said recovery means to be stored in the waste ink storing member of said attached ink cartridge; determination means for determining a remaining amount of ink in said ink storing member and a remaining storable amount of waste ink that can be stored in said waste ink storing member; and changing means for changing display on state of use of said ink cartridge based on the determined remaining amount of ink and remaining storable amount of waste ink, wherein said changing means changes which of said remaining amount of ink and said storable amount of waste ink is to be displayed, and wherein said changing means changes the display based on a percentage of the remaining amount of ink relative to an amount of ink storable in said ink storing member and a percentage of the storable amount of waste ink relative to a full amount of waste ink that can be stored in said waste ink storing member so as to display the amount corresponding to the relatively smaller one of those percentages.