Electrophotographic copying machine having a function of judging whether a copying operation can be performed responsive to a remainder amount of consumptive parts or materials

DETAILED DESCRIPTION An essential object of the present invention is to provide an electrophotographic copying machine capable of previously detecting and warning prior to start of a copying operation that the copying operation will be stopped during the copying operation in order to urge the operator to execute a necessary processing for preventing the copying operation from being suspended.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an electrophotographic copying machine capable of previously detecting and warning that a waste toner container will become full of waste toner during a copying operation and that the copying operation will be suspended before completion thereof.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an electrophotographic copying machine capable of previously detecting and warning that a cleaning member will be exhausted during a copying operation and that the copying operation will be suspended before completion thereof.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a method for managing an electrophotographic copying machine, which is able to previously detect and warn that a copying operation will be suspended during a copying operation in order to urge the operator to execute a necessary processing for preventing the copying operation from being suspended.
In order to achieve the above objects, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electrophotographic copying machine, wherein copying operation is prohibited when consumption of either one of consumptive parts or materials which are used or consumed upon every copying operation reaches a predetermined value, said copying machine comprising: a determination means for determining a remainder number of copies to be obtained until said consumption reaches said predetermined value; a setting means for setting copying conditions upon performing a copying operation; an estimation means for estimating a planned total number of copies to be obtained under the copying conditions having been set; a judge means for judging whether or not the copying operation can be completed to obtain said planned total number of copies by comparing said planned total number of copies with said remainder number of copies; and a warning means for making a warning prior to the start of the copying operation when it is judged by said judge means that the completion of the copying operation is impossible