Image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus to which a cartridge is detachably mountable, the cartridge having a container for containing developer and a memory for storing remanufacture processing information indicating whether the cartridge has undergone a remanufacture, the image forming apparatus being for forming an image based on input image data on a sheet using the developer, the image forming apparatus comprising:

• a measuring unit configured to measure a first value when an amount of the developer contained in the container is a first amount, and measure a second value different from the first value when the amount of the developer is a second amount smaller than the first amount;
• a direct detection unit configured to detect first information regarding the amount of the developer of the cartridge based on the value measured by the measuring unit;
• an estimation unit configured to estimate second information regarding the amount of the developer of the cartridge without using the value measured by the measuring unit;
• a determination unit configured to make a determination on an end-of-life of the cartridge based on the first information or the second information;
• and
• a control unit configured to control the measuring unit, the direct detection unit, the estimation unit, and the determination unit, and acquire the remanufacture processing information stored in the memory, wherein
• the memory of the cartridge has, regarding the cartridge, a read-only storage area in which original specifications are written and a read-write area in which specifications after remanufacture are written, and
• the control unit controls the determination unit to select information to be used for the determination on the end-of-life from the first information and the second information according to information regarding a capacity of the developer read from the read-write area of the memory of the cartridge mounted in the image forming apparatus, and cause the determination unit to make the determination on the end-of-life of the cartridge based on the selected information.

An image forming apparatus to which a cartridge containing developer is detachably mountable, the image forming apparatus being for forming an image based on input image data on a sheet using developer supplied from the mounted cartridge, the image forming apparatus comprising:

• a measuring unit configured to measure information regarding an amount of the developer in the cartridge;
• a control unit capable of executing, as a system for detecting information regarding the amount of the developer in the cartridge, a first system that estimates information regarding the amount of the developer from the input image data without using measurement by the measuring unit and a second system that detects information regarding the amount of the developer using at least measurement by the measuring unit;
• wherein the cartridge has a memory for storing remanufacture processing information representing whether the cartridge has undergone a remanufacture, and
• the control unit determines whether the cartridge has undergone a remanufacture based on the remanufacture processing information read from the memory of the cartridge mounted in the image forming apparatus, and
• when it is determined that the cartridge has undergone a remanufacture, the control unit detects the amount of developer in the mounted cartridge according to the first system, regardless of a type of the mounted cartridge.