Method and apparatus for controlling the amount of ink and the life of the printhead in an ink-jet recording apparatus

A recording system for recording on a recording medium, comprising:

• a printer section having a recording head for recording by discharging ink and a recording controlling portion for controlling recording by said recording head;
• a host section having transferring means for transferring recording data to said printer section, and information processing means for processing information regarding ink consumption in a recording operation and for performing a recording command, said host section transferring recording data and a command regarding recording to said printer section, and said host section having a display portion for displaying information;
• and
• a memory section constructed to store and to refer to the ink consumption information, said memory section being commonly owned recording processes of said recording controlling portion of said printer section and information processes of said information processing means of said host section,
• wherein said recording controlling portion of said printer section stores ink consumption information in said memory section and said information processing means of said host section refers to ink consumption information stored in said memory section to display at said display portion.

The method of controlling an ink-jet recording apparatus by a host, the ink-recording apparatus using an ink-jet head for ejecting ink supplied from an ink tank for storing ink and performing recording by ejecting ink from the ink-jet head based on recording data, the ink-jet recording apparatus performing recording by receiving the recording data transferred from the host through a signal line in a state that the ink-jet recording apparatus is connected to the host by the signal line, the method comprising the steps of:

• obtaining at least one of information as to a remaining amount of ink stored in the ink tank and a used amount of ink from said ink-jet head;
• storing information obtained by the obtaining means in a memory;
• and
• transferring information stored in said memory to said host through said signal line according to a result of analysis of a content of a command input from the host through said signal line,
• wherein in said transferring step said command is a command transmitted by said host through said signal line to said ink jet recording apparatus requesting information from said ink jet recording apparatus.

A state displaying method of displaying a state of a recording apparatus in a system comprising a host apparatus and the recording apparatus connected to the host apparatus through a signal line, wherein said host apparatus is provided with a display portion and a control portion and wherein said recording apparatus carries out recording by discharging ink in accordance with data transferred from said host apparatus through said signal line, the method comprising the steps of:

• transmitting to the recording apparatus through the signal line a command signal corresponding to a kind of information to be commanded, the command signal commanding a transfer of information as to a state of said recording apparatus at a predetermined timing from said host apparatus;
• analyzing by said recording apparatus the kind of information commanded by the command signal transmitted from the host apparatus;
• transmitting by said recording apparatus the information commanded by the command signal based on a result of analysis of the command signal to said host apparatus through the signal line;
• and
• displaying the information transmitted from the recording apparatus at said display portion by the host apparatus.