Patent attributes
An ink jet printer having: a main tank to store ink; a recording head to form an image on a recording medium by jetting the ink from a nozzle; an ink supply path to supply the ink to the recording head from the main tank; a sub tank to temporarily store the ink supplied from the main tank, the sub tank being provided in the middle of the ink supply path; an ink supply valve to control to supply or stop supplying the ink from the main tank to the sub tank by an opening or closing the ink supply valve, the ink supply valve being provided between the main tank and the sub tank on the ink supply path; and a control unit to measure a cumulative time in which the ink supply valve becomes an opened state, and estimate a remaining ink amount in the main tank.
