Patent ID: 6903832

Claim:
An output control apparatus for communicating with an external apparatus to receive output data from the external apparatus and to transmit status information to the external apparatus, and for controlling an output unit to output an image based on the received output data, said apparatus comprising: an interface unit, adapted for interfacing with the output unit to transmit information including a print request to the output unit and to receive a condition change signal and status information from the output unit, wherein the condition change signal is provided by the output unit when one or more of a plurality of condition changes occurs in the output unit; a detection unit, adapted for detecting the condition change signal provided by the output unit via the interface unit; a recognition unit, adapted for analyzing the status information received from the output unit via the interface unit and for recognizing which one or more of the plurality of condition changes caused the condition change signal to be output by the output unit; and a transmission unit, adapted for transmitting status information based on the status information received from the output unit via the interface unit to the external apparatus in accordance with said detection unit detecting the condition change signal.