Image forming apparatus and method

An image forming apparatus which is connected to a network wherein at least one host terminals is connected the network, and which forms an image under the control of the at least one host terminals by consuming an expendable material, the image forming apparatus comprising:

• a memory which stores information indicative of a remaining amount of an expendable material for each of the host terminals;
• a control unit which reads, from the memory in response to a drive command, information corresponding to at least one of the host terminals that has issued the drive command, and generates a control signal if the read information specifies a required amount of the expendable material for forming an image;
• and
• a function execution unit which forms the image in response to the control signal,
• wherein, when the function execution unit forms the image, the information indicative of the remaining amount of expendable material stored in the memory is updated.

An image forming method of driving an image forming apparatus in response to a drive command issued by one of a plurality of host terminals connected to a network to form an image using a predetermined expendable material, the image forming method comprising:

• determining a host terminal of the host terminals which issued the drive command;
• reading expendable material information, the information corresponding to the host terminal which issued the drive command, from stored expendable material information corresponding to the respective host terminals;
• and
• forming an image by driving the image forming apparatus in response to the drive command if the read expendable material information indicates that a required amount of the expendable material for forming the image is less than a remaining amount of the expendable material,
• wherein the expendable material information comprises information regarding the remaining amount of the expendable material.

A computer-readable recording medium storing a computer program for executing an image forming method of driving an image forming apparatus in response to a drive command issued by at least one of a plurality of host terminals connected to a network to form an image using an expendable material, the image forming method comprising:

• determining a host terminal of the host terminals which issued the drive command;
• reading expendable material information, the information corresponding to the host terminal which issued the drive command from stored expendable material information corresponding to the respective host terminals;
• and
• forming an image by driving the image forming apparatus in response to the drive command if the read expendable material information indicates that a required amount of the expendable material for forming the image is less than a remaining amount of the expendable material,
• wherein the expendable material information comprises information regarding the remaining amount of the expendable material.