Patent ID: 7853160

Claim:
An image forming apparatus for forming an image on a medium based on printing data received from a connected terminal apparatus and capable of designating reserved printing for executing a reserved printing job at a prescribed time, comprising: a printing data reception unit for receiving the printing data for said reserved printing job from said terminal apparatus; a reserved printing necessary amount detection unit for detecting a necessary amount of consumable material, based on the amount of said consumable material to be used for the reserved printing job; a remaining amount detection unit for detecting a remaining amount of said consumable material; a consumable material comparison unit for comparing the remaining amount detected by said remaining amount detection unit to the necessary amount detected by said reserved printing necessary amount detection unit; a notification unit for notifying said terminal apparatus about a condition of said consumable material based on a comparison by said consumable material comparison unit; and a controlling unit for controlling printing of the reserved printing job at the prescribed time and printing of a normal printing job that is received by the image forming apparatus before the prescribed time, wherein the normal printing job is performed when the remaining amount detected by said remaining amount detection unit is more than the necessary amount detected by said reserved printing necessary amount detection unit, and said normal printing job is suspended when the remaining amount detected by said remaining amount detection unit becomes equal to the necessary amount detected by said reserved printing necessary amount detection unit.