Patent ID: 7657193

Claim:
A consumable management device comprising: a life determining unit that determines whether or not a consumable reaching a life end exists in an object apparatus which operates by using a plurality of consumables; an acquiring unit that acquires an amount of each of the plurality of consumables remaining before the life end, wherein the life determining unit determines that, when, for at least one of the consumables, the amount of the consumable remaining before the life end acquired by the acquiring unit is not larger than a first threshold, the consumable reaching the life end exists; a stop process unit that, when the life determining unit determines that the consumable reaching the life end exists, performs a stop process of stopping the operation of the object apparatus; an additional replacement determining unit that, when the object apparatus is to be stopped, determines whether or not, in addition to replacement or replenishment of the consumable reaching the life end, a consumable which is to be additionally replaced or replenished exists, wherein the additional replacement determining unit determines that, when, for at least one of the remaining consumables, the amount of the consumable remaining before the life end acquired by the acquiring unit is larger than the first threshold and not larger than a second threshold, which is larger than the first threshold, the consumable which is to be additionally replaced or replenished, in addition to the consumable reaching the life end, exists; a notification process unit that, when the additional replacement determining unit determines that the consumable which is to be additionally replaced or replenished exists, performs a notification process of notifying an operator that the consumable which is to be additionally replaced or replenished is to be replaced or replenished; an inhibiting unit that, in a case where the amount remaining before the life end of the consumable which is to be additionally replaced or replenished is larger than the first threshold and not larger than a third threshold, which is smaller than the second threshold, inhibits a restart of the operation of the object apparatus until replacement or replenishment of the consumable which is to be additionally replaced or replenished is completed; and an allowing unit that, in a case where the amount remaining before the life end of the consumable which is to be additionally replaced or replenished is larger than the third threshold, allows a restart of the operation of the object apparatus even when replacement or replenishment of the consumable which is to be additionally replaced or replenished is not completed.