Image forming system and image forming apparatus

Abstract

To make distributed printing further efficient.SOLUTION: An image forming system 100 comprises image forming apparatuses 1A to 1D. Each of the image forming apparatuses 1A to 1D comprises an acquisition unit 22, a specification unit 23, a determination unit 24, a generation unit 25, and a control unit 21. The control unit 21 causes an image forming unit 18 to print using a divided print job for the image forming apparatus of itself if the determination unit 24 determines that a predetermined condition is met, causes the image forming unit 18 to print using a non-divided print job if the determination unit 24 determines that the condition is not met, and causes the image forming unit 18 to print using the divided print job if the divided print job is received from another image forming apparatus.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an image forming system including a plurality of image forming apparatuses connected via a network, and more particularly to a technique for distributing print processing among the plurality of image forming apparatuses. [Background technology]

[0002] In image forming devices such as multifunction peripherals and printers, a large amount of documents may be printed. When printing a large amount of documents, it takes a long time to complete the printing. Therefore, in order to shorten the printing time, printing processes may be distributed to multiple image forming devices.

[0003] For example, Patent Document 1 listed below describes an image forming system in which, when a first image forming device receives a print job, if the data size of the print data is large, the print job is divided to generate divided print jobs and the divided print jobs are distributed to another, second image forming device, thereby preventing distributed printing from being performed in the case of print data with a small data size, and preventing the time it takes a user to go to multiple image forming devices to collect each printed document from becoming longer than the printing time. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2021-196895 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] However, in the above image forming system, a specific first image forming device divides a print job to generate divided print jobs, and another second image forming device executes the divided print jobs sent from the first image forming device, so the second image forming device cannot distribute the divided print jobs to the other image forming device that generated them. Therefore, in this image forming system, when performing distributed printing, the print job must always be input to the first image forming device, and further improvements are desired to more efficiently print large-data-size print data in the multiple image forming devices that make up the image forming system.

[0006] The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and has an object to make it possible to execute distributed printing more efficiently. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming system including a plurality of image forming apparatuses connected via a network, each of the plurality of image forming apparatuses including an image forming unit that prints an image on a recording medium, a control unit that receives a print job including a print request and print data and causes the image forming unit to print based on the print job, an acquisition unit that acquires the number of print pages and the number of print copies indicated by printing conditions included in the print request for the received print job and a data size of the print data for the print job, a storage unit that stores a predetermined reference number of pages, a predetermined reference number of copies, and a predetermined reference data size, respectively, a determination unit that determines whether at least one of a first condition that the number of print pages exceeds the reference number of pages, a second condition that the number of print copies exceeds the reference number of copies, and a third condition that the data size exceeds the reference data size is satisfied or all of the conditions are not satisfied, and a generation unit that, when it determines that at least one of the print jobs is successful, splits the print job and generates a split print job for its own image forming device and a split print job for the other image forming device; and, when the determination unit determines that the print job is successful and a split print job for the other image forming device has been generated by the generation unit, transmits the split print job for the other image forming device to the other image forming device and receives the split print job transmitted from the other image forming device. When the determination unit determines that the print job is successful, the control unit causes the image forming unit to print using the split print job for its own image forming device, and when the determination unit determines that the print job is not successful, causes the image forming unit to print using the accepted print job that is not split, and when the split print job is received from the other image forming device by the communication unit, causes the image forming unit to print using the split print job.

[0008] According to one aspect of the present invention, an image forming apparatus is connected to other image forming apparatuses via a network, and includes an image forming unit that prints an image on a recording medium, a control unit that receives a print job including a print request and print data, and causes the image forming unit to print based on the print job, an acquisition unit that acquires the number of print pages and the number of print copies indicated by printing conditions included in the print request for the received print job, and a data size of the print data for the print job, a storage unit that respectively stores a predetermined reference number of pages, a predetermined reference number of copies, and a predetermined reference data size, a determination unit that determines whether at least one of a first condition that the number of print pages exceeds the reference number of pages, a second condition that the number of print copies exceeds the reference number of copies, and a third condition that the data size exceeds the reference data size is satisfied, or whether all of them are not satisfied, and when the determination unit determines that at least one of the conditions is satisfied, The image forming device includes a generation unit that divides the print job and generates a split print job for its own image forming device and a split print job for the other image forming device, and a communication unit that, when the determination unit determines that the request has been successful and a split print job for the other image forming device has been generated by the generation unit, transmits the split print job for the other image forming device to the other image forming device and receives the split print job transmitted from the other image forming device, and when the determination unit determines that the request has been successful, causes the image forming unit to print using the split print job for its own image forming device, and when the determination unit determines that the request has not been successful, causes the image forming unit to print using the accepted print job that has not been split, and when the split print job is received from the other image forming device by the communication unit, causes the image forming unit to print using the split print job. Effect of the Invention

[0009] According to the present invention, distributed printing can be executed more efficiently. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1]1 is a diagram showing an image forming system according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an overview of a distributed printing process in an image forming system according to an embodiment. [Diagram 3] 1 is a perspective view of an appearance of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 4] 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image forming system according to an embodiment; [Diagram 5] FIG. 2A is a diagram showing an example of a reference data table stored in a data storage unit of the image forming apparatus, and FIG. 2B is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of a display unit of the image forming apparatus. [Figure 6] 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a distributed printing process in the image forming apparatus. [Figure 7] 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a divided print job generation process in the image forming apparatus. [Figure 8] 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a distributed printing process in another image forming apparatus. [Figure 9] 11 is a diagram for explaining how an image forming apparatus determines whether or not a job can be divided for each of a plurality of print jobs. FIG. [Figure 10] 11 is a diagram for explaining how the image forming apparatus determines whether to divide a job by the number of pages or the number of copies for each of a plurality of print jobs. FIG. [Figure 11] 11A and 11B are diagrams illustrating an example of job division determined by the image forming apparatus for each of a plurality of print jobs. [Figure 12] 1A and 1B are diagrams illustrating an example of a display screen of a display unit of an image forming apparatus. [Figure 13] 1A and 1B are diagrams illustrating an example of a display screen of a display unit of an image forming apparatus. [Figure 14] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of a display unit of the image forming apparatus. [Figure 15] 1A and 1B are diagrams illustrating an example of a display screen of a display unit of an image forming apparatus. [Figure 16]11A and 11B are diagrams illustrating a state in which a new image forming apparatus has been added to the image forming system, and how divided print jobs are distributed to the image forming apparatuses. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0011] An image forming system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an image forming system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Fig. 1, the image forming system 100 of the embodiment includes a plurality of (for example, four) image forming apparatuses 1 connected via a network N.

[0012] 2 is a diagram showing an overview of distributed printing processing in an image forming system according to an embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, the image forming system 100 is configured to enable distributed printing in a plurality of (e.g., four) image forming apparatuses 1 connected via a network N.

[0013] In the example shown in FIG. 2, the image forming system 100 is configured with four image forming apparatuses 1A to 1D. The image forming apparatuses 1A to 1D have the same configuration. The image forming apparatuses 1A to 1D accept a print job (for example, a print job of copying 80 copies of 100 pages in FIG. 2), and in a distributed printing mode, generate divided print jobs (in the example shown in FIG. 2, a job indicating 20 copies of 100 pages) by dividing the print job into the number of image forming apparatuses constituting the image forming system 100, and execute one of them as a divided print job (20 copies of 100 pages) to be executed by itself. Meanwhile, each of the other image forming apparatuses receives and executes the divided print job (20 copies of 100 pages) transmitted from the image forming apparatus that generated the divided print job. A distributed printing application for executing distributed printing is stored in advance in the image forming apparatuses 1A to 1D. In the image forming system 100, multiple image forming apparatuses constituting the image forming system 100 communicate data on an equal footing by P2P (peer-to-peer). Note that the print job in this embodiment refers to a job related to printing in multiple print formats, such as printing when a printer function is executed, printing when a copy function is executed, and box printing.

[0014] Although the image forming system 100 of the embodiment is illustrated as an example having four image forming apparatuses, it is sufficient that the image forming system 100 has two or more image forming apparatuses.

[0015] Each of the image forming apparatuses 1A to 1D constituting the image forming system 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention is a multifunction peripheral (MFP) having multiple functions such as a copy function, a printer function, a scanner function, and a facsimile function. The image forming apparatuses 1A to 1D have the same configuration and can execute the same functions. The image forming apparatuses 1A will be described below as an example with reference to Figs. 3 and 4. Fig. 3 is an external perspective view of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the image forming system according to the embodiment.

[0016] The image forming apparatus 1A includes a control unit 11, a display unit 12, an operation unit 14, a touch panel 15, a communication unit 16, an image reading unit 17, an image forming unit 18, and a data storage unit 19. These components are capable of transmitting and receiving data or signals to and from each other via a bus.

[0017] The image reading unit 17 is, for example, a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) as a scanner that optically reads an original document and generates image data that represents an image of the original document. The image reading unit 17 is a general reading mechanism that reads an original document conveyed by an automatic document feeder or an original document placed on a flatbed.

[0018] The image forming unit 18 is an electrophotographic printing mechanism that uniformly charges the surface of the photosensitive drum, exposes the surface of the photosensitive drum to light, forms an electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photosensitive drum, develops the electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photosensitive drum into a toner image, and transfers and fixes the toner image (image) on the surface of the photosensitive drum to recording paper. For example, the image forming unit 18 prints (forms an image) an original image obtained by reading an original by the image reading unit 17 onto recording paper, or prints (forms an image) an image indicated by print data related to a print job onto recording paper.

[0019] The operation unit 14 has hard keys operated by a user. The display unit 12 is, for example, a display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) or an organic light-emitting diode (EL) display. The operation unit 14 is an example of the operation unit in the claims.

[0020] Touch panel 15 is disposed in front of the display screen of display unit 12. Touch panel 15 detects a user's touch operation on buttons and keys displayed on the display screen of display unit 12, and outputs this detection signal to control unit 21, which will be described later. Thus, the user touches display unit 12 to input instructions to operate image forming apparatus 1A. Touch panel 15 is also an example of an operation unit in the claims.

[0021] The communication unit 16 is a communication interface equipped with a communication module, and transmits and receives data to and from other image forming apparatuses (here, image forming apparatuses 1B to 1D) constituting the image forming system 100 through a network N consisting of a LAN (Local Area Network) or a public line. The communication unit 16 can also transmit and receive data to and from an information processing device (not shown) (for example, a personal computer, a server, a mobile information terminal, etc.), and receives a print job transmitted from an information processing device (not shown). The communication unit 16 is an example of a communication unit in the claims.

[0022] The data storage unit 19 is a large-capacity storage device such as a hard disk drive (HDD). The data storage unit 19 stores print jobs transmitted from an information processing device (not shown) and received by the communication unit 16. The data storage unit 19 is an example of a storage unit in the claims.

[0023] The control unit 11 is composed of a processor, a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), and the like. The processor is, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), an MPU, or an ASIC. This control unit 11 functions as a control unit 21, an acquisition unit 22, an identification unit 23, a determination unit 24, and a generation unit 25 by executing a first control program stored in a data storage unit 19 by the above processor. Note that the above control unit 21, acquisition unit 22, identification unit 23, determination unit 24, and generation unit 25 of the control unit 11 may each be configured by a hardware circuit, regardless of the operation based on the above first control program.

[0024] The control unit 21 is responsible for the overall operational control of the image forming apparatus 1A. When the communication unit 16 receives a print job transmitted from an information processing device (not shown), the control unit 21 causes the image forming unit 18 to form, on recording paper, an image indicated by the print data related to the print job in the case of normal printing (printing based on an undivided print job). On the other hand, in the case of distributed printing (described later), the control unit 21 causes the image forming unit 18 to form, on recording paper, an image indicated by the divided print data related to divided print jobs obtained by dividing a print job.

[0025] The acquisition unit 22 acquires the print job received by the communication unit 16 and stored in the data storage unit 19, i.e., the number of print pages NP and number of print copies NC indicated by the printing conditions included in the print request for the accepted print job, and the data size PS of the print data for the print job. A print job is composed of a print request including printing conditions such as output destination information and output form information, and print data. Output destination information is information indicating the IP address, name, etc. of the output destination device. Output form information is information for specifying the output form, such as the number of print pages NP, number of print copies NC, data size PS, and color / monochrome.

[0026] The identifying unit 23 identifies the number of devices ND, which is the total number of image forming devices constituting the image forming system 100. The identifying unit 23 also identifies the number of devices ND available in the image forming system 100, based on response signals from the image forming devices 1B to 1D as the other image forming devices. The response signals are signals indicating availability or unavailability. Specifically, when the response signal from the image forming device 1B is a signal indicating availability, the response signal from the image forming device 1C is a signal indicating unavailability, and there is no response signal from the image forming device 1D, the identifying unit 23 identifies one image forming device 1A and one second image forming device 1B as the number of available devices ND, which is a total of two devices.

[0027] The data storage unit 19 stores a predetermined reference number of pages CP, a predetermined reference number of copies CC, and a predetermined reference data size CPS. Fig. 5(A) is a diagram showing an example of a reference data table stored in the data storage unit of the image forming apparatus. For example, as shown in Fig. 5(A), the data storage unit 19 stores in advance a reference data table TB1 in which the predetermined reference number of pages CP is "500 pages", the predetermined reference number of copies CC is "10 copies", and the predetermined reference data size CPS is "8 MB".

[0028] The determination unit 24 determines whether at least one of the following conditions is satisfied or all of them are not satisfied: a first condition that the number of printed pages NP acquired by the acquisition unit 22 exceeds the reference number of pages CP, a second condition that the number of printed copies NC acquired by the acquisition unit 22 exceeds the reference number of copies CC, and a third condition that the data size PS acquired by the acquisition unit 22 exceeds the reference data size CPS. The first to third conditions are stored in advance in the data storage unit 19.

[0029] Furthermore, when the judgment unit 24 determines that at least one of the first to third conditions is satisfied, it determines whether a first value TH1 obtained by dividing the number of printed copies NC acquired by the acquisition unit 22 by the number of devices ND is a natural number, and also determines whether a second value TH2 obtained by dividing the number of printed pages NP acquired by the acquisition unit 22 by the number of devices ND is a natural number.

[0030] When judgment unit 24 determines that at least one of the first to third conditions is satisfied, generation unit 25 divides the print job and generates a divided print job for its own image forming device (here, image forming device 1A) (hereinafter referred to as the first image forming device) and a divided print job for another image forming device (here, one or more of image forming devices 1B to 1D; hereinafter referred to as the second image forming device).

[0031] Here, (i) when the judgment unit 24 judges that only the first value TH1 is a natural number, the generation unit 25 generates a divided print job for the first image forming device and a divided print job for the second image forming device by dividing the number of copies NC of the print job by the number of devices ND.

[0032] In addition, (ii) when the judgment unit 24 judges that only the second value TH2 is a natural number, the generation unit 25 generates a divided print job for the first image forming device and a divided print job for the second image forming device by dividing the number of printed pages NP of the print job by the number of devices ND to divide the number of printed pages.

[0033] In addition, (iii) when the judgment unit 24 judges that neither the first value TH1 nor the second value TH2 is a natural number, the generation unit 25 generates a divided print job for the first image forming device consisting of a quotient and remainder obtained by dividing a predetermined one of the number of copies to be printed NC or the number of pages to be printed NP of the print job by the number of devices ND, and a divided print job for the second image forming device consisting of a quotient obtained by dividing the predetermined one of the print job by the number of devices ND.

[0034] In addition, (iv) when the judgment unit 24 judges that both the first value TH1 and the second value TH2 are natural numbers, the generation unit 25 divides a predetermined one of the number of copies to be printed NC or the number of pages to be printed NP of the print job by the number of devices ND to generate a divided print job for the first image forming device and a divided print job for the second image forming device.

[0035] Here, when the judgment unit 24 judges that the condition is met, the control unit 21 causes the image forming unit 18 to print using a divided print job for the first image forming device, and when the judgment unit 24 judges that the condition is not met, the control unit 21 causes the image forming unit 18 to print using a print job instead of distributed printing.

[0036] Furthermore, when a divided print job for the second image forming apparatus is generated by generation unit 25, communication unit 16 transmits the divided print job for the second image forming apparatus to one of image forming apparatuses 1B to 1D that is to execute the divided print job. Furthermore, communication unit 16 receives status information, which will be described later, from the other image forming apparatuses 1B to 1D.

[0037] The communication unit 16 receives divided print jobs for the image forming apparatus 1A transmitted from the communication units 16 of the other image forming apparatuses 1B to 1D. The communication unit 16 also transmits, at any time, to the other image forming apparatuses 1B to 1D, status information indicating the printing status based on the print job including at least the divided print job received from the other image forming apparatuses.

[0038] Furthermore, control unit 21 causes display unit 12 to display the printing status of the divided print job for the first image forming apparatus based on status information indicating the printing status of the divided print job for the first image forming apparatus. Furthermore, control unit 21 causes display unit 12 to display the printing status of the divided print jobs in the other image forming apparatuses 1B to 1D based on status information from the other image forming apparatuses 1B to 1D received by communication unit 16.

[0039] The other image forming apparatuses 1B to 1D have the same configuration as the image forming apparatus 1A. Therefore, the image forming apparatuses 1B to 1D can also execute the functions of the image forming apparatus 1A described above, and the image forming apparatus 1A can also execute the functions of the image forming apparatuses 1B to 1D as the other image forming apparatuses described above.

[0040] Here, the distributed printing process in the image forming system 100 will be described. FIG. 5(B) is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of a display unit of the image forming device. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of a first embodiment of the distributed printing process in the image forming device. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of a divided print job generation process in the image forming device. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an example of a distributed printing process in another image forming device. Note that, hereinafter, the image forming device that performs the divided print job generation process in this way (image forming device 1A in this example) may be referred to as the first image forming device, and the image forming device that performs the divided print job generation process as the other image forming device may be referred to as the second image forming device.

[0041] The distributed printing process according to the first embodiment described below can be performed by any of the image forming apparatuses 1A to 1D, but here, a case where the distributed printing process is executed by the image forming apparatus 1A will be described. When the key K1 indicating the distributed printing button is pressed while the display screen shown in FIG. 5(B) is displayed on the display unit 12, the control unit 21 of the image forming apparatus 1A starts the distributed printing process, the example of which is shown in FIG. 6. Specifically, when the user presses the key K1, the touch panel 15 accepts the pressing of the key K1 and outputs an instruction to start the distributed printing process to the control unit 21. The control unit 21 starts the distributed printing process based on the instruction to start the distributed printing process from the touch panel 15.

[0042] Then, the control unit 21 of the image forming apparatus 1A sets the image forming apparatus 1A to a distributed printing mode, and causes the communication unit 16 to transmit a distributed printing mode signal indicating the distributed printing mode to each of the other image forming apparatuses 1B to 1D (S11).

[0043] The process performed by the image forming apparatuses 1B to 1D when the distributed printing mode signal is received will be described. The same process is performed by the image forming apparatuses 1B to 1D, but the image forming apparatus 1B will be described here as an example. As shown in FIG. 8, the control unit 21 of the image forming apparatus 1B judges whether the communication unit 16 has received the distributed printing mode signal transmitted from the image forming apparatus 1A (S31). When the control unit 21 judges that the communication unit 16 has received the distributed printing mode signal (YES in S31), it sets the image forming apparatus 1B to the distributed printing mode, and if the image forming apparatus 1B is in a state where it can perform printing, it causes the communication unit 16 to transmit a response signal indicating that it can be used to the image forming apparatus 1A (S32). If the image forming apparatus 1B is in a state where it cannot perform printing (for example, when it cannot print due to running out of paper, running out of toner, or the occurrence of a jam), it causes the communication unit 16 to transmit a response signal indicating that it cannot be used to the image forming apparatus 1A (S32). Note that S33 to S36 will be described later.

[0044] Returning to Fig. 6, the control unit 21 of the image forming apparatus 1A determines whether or not a print job has been received (S12). For example, when the communication unit 16 receives a print job transmitted from an external information processing apparatus (not shown) connected to the image forming apparatus 1A via a network (YES in S12), the control unit 21 proceeds to processing in S13. When the control unit 21 has not received the print job (NO in S12), the control unit 21 returns to processing in S12 and waits until a print job is received.

[0045] An example of a print job is shown in Fig. 9. Here, it is assumed that the first print job of the multiple (seven) print jobs shown in Fig. 9, that is, the print job with job ID "1", has been accepted by image forming device 1A. Fig. 9 shows the contents of the multiple print jobs and is a diagram for explaining how the image forming device determines whether or not the multiple print jobs can be divided. The remaining six print jobs, that is, the print jobs with job IDs "2" to "7", will be described later.

[0046] In S13, the acquisition unit 22 acquires the number of print pages NP and the number of print copies NC indicated by the print conditions included in the print request for the print job with job ID "1", and the data size PS of the print data for the print job (S13). As shown in Fig. 9, the acquisition unit 22 acquires from the print job with job ID "1" that the number of print pages NP is "1000 pages", the number of print copies NC is "3 copies", and the data size PS is "40 MB".

[0047] The judgment unit 24 judges whether at least one of the following conditions is satisfied, or whether all of them are not satisfied: a first condition that the number of printed pages NP acquired by the acquisition unit 22 exceeds the reference number of pages CP, a second condition that the number of printed copies NC acquired by the acquisition unit 22 exceeds the reference number of copies CC, and a third condition that the data size PS acquired by the acquisition unit 22 exceeds the reference data size CPS (S14).

[0048] As shown in FIG. 9, in the case of a print job with a job ID of "1", in S14, the judgment unit 24 judges that the first condition that the number of print pages NP of "1000 pages" exceeds the reference number of pages CP of "500 pages" is satisfied, and the number of print copies NC of "3 copies" is less than the reference number of copies CC of "10 copies", so the second condition is not satisfied, and the third condition that the data size PS of "40 MB" exceeds the reference data size CPS of "8 MB" is satisfied ("one or more conditions satisfied" in S14). That is, the check result shown in FIG. 9 is obtained. In this case, since the judgment unit 24 judges that "one or more conditions satisfied" ("one or more conditions satisfied" in S14), the control unit 21 executes a divided print job generation process (S15). Furthermore, in the case of a print job having a job ID of "1" shown in FIG. 9, the control unit 21 determines that job division is possible because the judgment unit 24 has determined that at least one of the first to third conditions is satisfied in the check result shown in FIG. 9, and determines that the final result is "OK", indicating that the executable requirements for distributed processing are satisfied.

[0049] Furthermore, the possibility of job division will be described for other print jobs shown in Fig. 9. When print jobs with job IDs "2" to "4" and "7" shown in Fig. 9 are accepted, the control unit 21 determines that job division is possible and determines the final result to be "OK" since the determination unit 24 determines that at least one of the first to third conditions is satisfied in the check result shown in Fig. 9. Also, in the case of a print job with job ID "6" shown in Fig. 9, the control unit 21 determines that job division is impossible and determines the final result to be "NG" indicating that the executable requirements for distributed processing are not satisfied since the determination unit 24 determines that all of the first to third conditions are not satisfied in the check result shown in Fig. 9 ("all not satisfied" in S14). Furthermore, in the case of a print job with job ID "5" shown in FIG. 9, the control unit 21 determines that at least one of the first to third conditions is satisfied in the check result shown in FIG. 9 by the judgment unit 24, but since the number of devices ND is "1", it determines that job division is not possible and the final result is "NG".

[0050] Fig. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of the divided print job generation process (S15) in image forming apparatus 1A. The divided print job generation process is the process of S15 shown in Fig. 6. As described above, the divided print job generation process can be executed by any of image forming apparatuses 1A to 1D constituting image forming system 100, but here, the case in image forming apparatus 1A will be described as an example.

[0051] In this example, communication unit 16 of image forming apparatus 1A receives a response signal from each of three image forming apparatuses 1B to 1D (S51). Here, it is assumed that one of the response signals from the three image forming apparatuses 1B to 1D is a signal indicating that the image forming apparatuses are available for use, and the other two are signals indicating that the image forming apparatuses are unavailable.

[0052] The identifying unit 23 identifies the number of available devices ND based on the response signals from the three second image forming devices (S52). When the print job has a job ID of "1" shown in Fig. 9, the identifying unit 23 identifies one image forming device 1A and one image forming device 1B, totaling two devices, as the number of available devices ND. Fig. 9 shows the number of devices ND identified for each print job at the time the print job is accepted.

[0053] The control unit 21 determines whether the device number ND is "1 or less" (S53). In this case, since the device number ND is "2", the control unit 21 determines that the device number ND is not "1 or less" (NO in S53) and proceeds to the process of S54. Note that, for example, in the case of a print job with job ID "5" shown in FIG. 9, since the device number ND is "1", the control unit 21 determines that the device number ND is "1 or less" (YES in S53), and in this case proceeds to the process of S19 shown in FIG. 6.

[0054] As described above, when the control unit 21 determines that the number of devices ND is not "1 or less" (NO in S53) and proceeds to the processing of S54, the judgment unit 24 calculates a first value TH1 by dividing the number of printed copies NC acquired by the acquisition unit 22 by the number of devices ND, and calculates a second value TH2 by dividing the number of printed pages NP acquired by the acquisition unit 22 by the number of devices ND (S54), and determines whether the first value TH1 is a natural number, and determines whether the second value TH2 is a natural number (S55).

[0055] 10 is a diagram for explaining that the first image forming apparatus determines whether to divide a job by the number of pages or the number of copies for each of a plurality of print jobs. In the case of a print job with a job ID of "1" shown in FIG. 10, in the above S14, the determination unit 24 determines "YES" indicating that the first condition is satisfied, "NO" indicating that the second condition is not satisfied, and "YES" indicating that the third condition is satisfied. Then, in the case of a print job with a job ID of "1", the determination unit 24 determines that the first value TH1 obtained by dividing the number of print copies NC, "3 copies", by the number of devices ND, "2", is "1.5", and that the first value TH1 is not a natural number (i.e., "NO" shown in FIG. 10), and determines that the second value TH2 obtained by dividing the number of print pages NP, "1000 pages", by the number of devices ND, "2", is "500", and that the second value TH2 is a natural number (i.e., "YES" shown in FIG. 10).

[0056] (ii) if the judgment unit 24 judges that only the second value TH2 is a natural number ("only the second value is a natural number" in S55), the generation unit 25 divides the number of printed pages NP of the print job by the number of devices ND to generate a divided print job for the first image forming device and a divided print job for the second image forming device (S57).

[0057] In this case, as shown in Fig. 11, the generation unit 25 divides the number of print pages NP of "1000 pages" of a print job with a job ID of "1" (a print job of copying 1000 pages for three copies) by the number of devices ND of "2" to generate a divided print job for its own first image forming device (a divided print job of copying 500 pages for three copies) and a divided print job for the other second image forming device (a divided print job of copying 500 pages for three copies), as shown in Fig. 11. Fig. 11 is a diagram showing an example of job division determined by the first image forming device for each of a plurality of print jobs.

[0058] 10, in the case of the print job with job ID "2", in S14 above, the number of print pages NP "301 pages" does not exceed the reference number of pages CP "500 pages", so it is determined that the first condition is not met, the number of print copies NC "30 copies" exceeds the reference number of copies CC "10 copies", so the second condition is met, and the data size PS "8 MB" does not exceed the reference data size CPS "8 MB", so it is determined that the third condition is not met ("one or more met" in S14). In other words, the determination unit 24 determines "NO" indicating that the first condition is not met, "YES" indicating that the second condition is met, and "NO" indicating that the third condition is not met. Then, in the case of a print job with a job ID of "2", the judgment unit 24 determines that the first value TH1 obtained by dividing the number of copies to be printed NC, "30 copies", by the number of devices ND, "2", is "15", and that the first value TH1 is a natural number (i.e., "YES" shown in Figure 10), and also determines that the second value TH2 obtained by dividing the number of pages to be printed NP, "301 pages", by the number of devices ND, "2", is "150.5", and that the second value TH2 is not a natural number (i.e., "NO" shown in Figure 10).

[0059] (i) if the judgment unit 24 judges that only the first value TH1 is a natural number ("only the first value is a natural number" in S55), the generation unit 25 divides the number of copies of the print job by the number of devices ND to generate a divided print job for the first image forming device and a divided print job for the second image forming device (S56).

[0060] In this case, as shown in FIG. 11, the generation unit 25 divides the number of copies, "30 copies", of the print job with job ID "2" (a print job of copying 301 pages 30 times) by the number of devices ND, "2", to generate a split print job for the first image forming device (a split print job of copying 301 pages 15 times) and a split print job for the second image forming device (a split print job of copying 301 pages 15 times).

[0061] 10 is the print job to be divided, the first condition is determined to be satisfied in S14 above, that is, the number of printed pages NP, "1000 pages", exceeds the reference number of pages CP, "500 pages", the second condition is determined to be unsatisfied because the number of printed copies NC, "2 copies", does not exceed the reference number of copies CC, "10 copies", and the third condition is determined to be unsatisfied because the data size PS, "5 MB", does not exceed the reference data size CPS, "8 MB" ("one or more satisfied" in S14). In other words, the determination unit 24 determines "YES" to indicate that the first condition is satisfied, "NO" to indicate that the second condition is unsatisfied, and "NO" to indicate that the third condition is unsatisfied. Then, in the case of a print job with a job ID of "7", the judgment unit 24 determines that the first value TH1 obtained by dividing the number of copies to be printed NC, "2 copies", by the number of devices ND, "2", is "1", and that the first value TH1 is a natural number (i.e., "YES" shown in Figure 10), and also determines that the second value TH2 obtained by dividing the number of pages to be printed NP, "1000 pages", by the number of devices ND, "2", is "500", and that the second value TH2 is a natural number (i.e., "YES" shown in Figure 10).

[0062] In this way, when the determination unit 24 determines that both the first value TH1 and the second value TH2 are natural numbers ("both natural numbers" in S55), the generation unit 25 divides the number of print pages NP of the print job by the number of devices ND to generate a divided print job for the first image forming device and a divided print job for the second image forming device (S56). That is, the generation unit 25 is preset to use the number of print pages NP as an item to be divided in order to generate a divided print job. As shown in FIG. 11, the generation unit 25 divides the number of print pages NP of a print job with a job ID of "7" (a print job for copying 1000 pages in two copies) by the number of devices ND of "2" to generate a divided print job for the first image forming device (a divided print job for copying 500 pages in two copies) and a divided print job for the second image forming device (a divided print job for copying 500 pages in two copies).

[0063] 10 is the print job to be divided, the first condition is determined to be not satisfied in S14 above because the number of print pages NP, "200 pages," does not exceed the reference number of pages CP, "500 pages," the second condition is determined to be not satisfied because the number of print copies NC, "2 copies," does not exceed the reference number of copies CC, "10 copies," and the third condition is determined to be satisfied, that is, the data size PS, "80 MB," exceeds the reference data size CPS, "8 MB" ("one or more satisfied" in S14). In other words, the judgment unit 24 judges "NO" indicating that the first condition is not satisfied, "NO" indicating that the second condition is not satisfied, and "YES" indicating that the third condition is satisfied. Then, in the case of a print job with a job ID of "3", the judgment unit 24 determines that the first value TH1 obtained by dividing the number of copies to be printed NC, "2 copies", by the number of devices ND, "3", is "0.66...", and that the first value TH1 is not a natural number (i.e., "NO" shown in Figure 10), and also determines that the second value TH2 obtained by dividing the number of pages to be printed NP, "200 pages", by the number of devices ND, "3", is "66.6...", and that the second value TH2 is not a natural number (i.e., "NO" shown in Figure 10).

[0064] In this case, (iii) when the judgment unit 24 judges that neither the first value TH1 nor the second value TH2 is a natural number ("neither is a natural number" in S55), the generation unit 25 generates a divided print job for the first image forming device having a number of printed pages consisting of the quotient and remainder obtained by dividing the number of printed pages NP of the print job by the number of devices ND, and a divided print job for the second image forming device having a number of printed pages consisting of the quotient of the number of printed pages NP of the print job divided by the number of devices ND (S58). As shown in FIG. 11, the generation unit 25 generates a divided print job for the first image forming device (a divided print job that copies two copies of 68 pages (= the quotient "66 pages" + the remainder "2 pages")) consisting of the quotient and remainder obtained by dividing the number of print pages NP of a print job with job ID "3" (a print job that copies two copies of 200 pages) by the number of devices ND "3"), and a divided print job for the second image forming device (a divided print job that copies two copies of the quotient 66 pages).

[0065] Also, for example, assuming that the print job with the job ID "4" shown in Fig. 10 is the print job to be divided, the print job may be divided by the number of copies. Specifically, in the case of the print job with the job ID "4" shown in Fig. 10, in the above S14, it is determined that the first condition that the number of print pages NP "501 pages" exceeds the reference number of pages CP "500 pages" is satisfied, it is determined that the second condition that the number of print copies NC "25 copies" exceeds the reference number of copies CC "10 copies" is satisfied, and it is determined that the third condition is not satisfied because the data size PS "6 MB" does not exceed the reference data size CPS "8 MB" ("one or more satisfied" in S14). That is, the determination unit 24 determines "YES" indicating that the first condition is satisfied, "YES" indicating that the second condition is satisfied, and "NO" indicating that the third condition is not satisfied. Then, in the case of a print job with a job ID of "4", the judgment unit 24 determines that the first value TH1 obtained by dividing the number of copies to be printed NC, "25 copies", by the number of devices ND, "2", is "12.5", and that the first value TH1 is not a natural number (i.e., "NO" shown in Figure 10), and also determines that the second value TH2 obtained by dividing the number of pages to be printed NP, "501 pages", by the number of devices ND, "2", is "250.5", and that the second value TH2 is not a natural number (i.e., "NO" shown in Figure 10).

[0066] (iii) if the determination unit 24 determines that neither the first value TH1 nor the second value TH2 is a natural number ("neither is a natural number" in S55), the generation unit 25 generates a divided print job for the first image forming device consisting of the quotient and remainder obtained by dividing the number of copies NC of the print job by the number of devices ND, and a divided print job for the second image forming device consisting of the quotient obtained by dividing the number of copies NC of the print job by the number of devices ND (S58). That is, the generation unit 25 is preset to use the number of copies NC as an item to be divided in order to generate the divided print jobs.

[0067] As shown in FIG. 11, the generation unit 25 generates a divided print job for the first image forming device (a divided print job that copies 13 copies of 501 pages (= the quotient "12 copies" + the remainder "1 copy")) consisting of the quotient and remainder obtained by dividing the number of copies NC of a print job with job ID "4" (a print job that copies 25 copies of 501 pages) by the number of devices ND "2"), and a divided print job for the second image forming device (a divided print job that copies 12 copies of 501 pages).

[0068] 7, after the process of S56, the process of S57, or the process of S58, the divided print job generation process ends. The process proceeds to S16 shown in FIG.

[0069] At this time, the control unit 21 causes the display unit 12 to display a display screen showing the job division analysis result, as shown in FIG.

[0070] If we assume that the print job with job ID "2" shown in Figure 9 is the print job to be split, then, as shown in Figure 12 (A), "2" is displayed in column D1 indicating the number of available devices ND, "301" is displayed in column D2 indicating the number of printed pages NP acquired by acquisition unit 22 for the print job, "30" is displayed in column D3 indicating the number of copies to be printed NC, "8 MB" is displayed in column D4 indicating the data size PS, and "possible" is displayed in column D5 indicating whether the job can be split.

[0071] In addition, in S56, the generation unit 25 divides the number of copies NC, "30 copies," of the print job with job ID "2" (a print job of copying 301 pages into 30 copies) by the number of devices ND, "2," to generate a divided print job for the first image forming device (a divided print job of copying 301 pages into 15 copies) and a divided print job for the second image forming device (a divided print job of copying 301 pages into 15 copies). For this reason, the control unit 21 causes the display screen shown in Fig. 12(A) to display "15" in a field D6 indicating the divided number of copies for this device (i.e., image forming device 1A) and "15" in a field D7 indicating the divided number of copies for the other device (i.e., second image forming device 1B), and further causes a check mark CK indicating division by the number of copies to be displayed next to the field D3 indicating the number of copies NC.

[0072] When the control unit 21 receives an instruction to execute distributed printing via the touch panel 15 based on the user pressing the key K2 indicating the distributed printing execution button while the display screen shown in Fig. 12(A) is displayed on the display unit 12, the control unit 21 causes the display unit 12 to display a display indicating that distributed printing will be executed, as shown in Fig. 12(B) (S16). The control unit 21 causes the communication unit 16 to transmit the generated divided print job for the second image forming device to the other image forming device, and further executes the generated divided print job for the first image forming device for its own use (S17). The display screen shown in Fig. 12(B) displays a message M1 stating "Distributed printing will be executed by this device and the other device."

[0073] For example, if the print job with job ID "2" shown in Figure 9 is the print job to be divided, the control unit 21 starts executing the divided print job for the first image forming device generated by the generation unit 25 (the divided print job of copying 15 copies of 301 pages), and causes the communication unit 16 to send the divided print job for the second image forming device generated by the generation unit 25 (the divided print job of copying 15 copies of 301 pages) to the image forming device 1B (S17).

[0074] Next, the process in the image forming device 1B as another image forming device will be described. As shown in FIG. 8, the control unit 21 of the image forming device 1B waits for reception of a divided print job after the process of S32 described above (S33). That is, if the divided print job is not received (NO in S33), the control unit 21 repeats S33 and waits until the divided print job is received. In this example, the communication unit 16B of the control unit 21 of the image forming device 1B receives the divided print job from the image forming device 1A (YES in S33). The control unit 21 causes the image forming unit 18B to print (form an image) an image indicated by the divided print data related to the received divided print job on a recording sheet (S34), and causes the communication unit 16B to transmit status information at this time to the image forming device 1A (S35). After S35, the control unit 21 determines whether printing for the divided print job is complete (S36), and if not (NO in S36), returns to S35, and if completed (YES in S36), cancels the distributed printing mode set in the device itself (S37). After this, the process shown in FIG. 8 ends.

[0075] Returning to Fig. 6, after the process of S17, the control unit 21 of the image forming apparatus 1A causes the display unit 12 to display the progress status of the distributed printing (S18). For example, when the control unit 21 receives an instruction to display the distributed printing status via the touch panel 15 based on the user pressing the key K3 indicating "display status of distributed printing" on the display screen shown in Fig. 12(B), the control unit 21 causes the display unit 12 to display the progress status of the distributed printing, as shown in Fig. 13(A). The control unit 21 receives status information from the other image forming apparatuses at any time, and determines the progress status of the distributed printing of each of the other image forming apparatuses in real time based on the status information, and causes the display unit 12 to display the determined progress status of the distributed printing for each of the other image forming apparatuses on the display screen.

[0076] The display of the progress of distributed printing will be described. Fig. 13(A) and Fig. 13(B) are diagrams showing examples of display screens displaying the progress of distributed printing. Fig. 13(A) shows distributed printing for the print job with job ID "2" shown in Fig. 9, i.e., a divided print job for the first image forming device (a divided print job for copying 15 copies of 301 pages) is being executed, the number of copies completed is "1 / 15", and the status is displayed as "printing", and a divided print job for the second image forming device (a divided print job for copying 15 copies of 301 pages) is being executed, the number of copies completed is "1 / 15", and the status is displayed as "printing".

[0077] Fig. 13(B) is the display screen when distributed printing is completed for the print job with job ID "2" shown in Fig. 9. As shown in Fig. 13(B), the divided print job for the first image forming device (the divided print job of copying 15 copies of 301 pages) is completed, the number of copies progressed is "15 / 15", and the status is displayed as "Completed", and the divided print job for the second image forming device (the divided print job of copying 15 copies of 301 pages) is completed, the number of copies progressed is "15 / 15", and the status is displayed as "Completed".

[0078] Incidentally, after S58 in FIG. 7, in the image forming apparatus 1A, when the control unit 21 causes the display unit 12 to display a display screen showing the job division analysis results, in the case where the print job is the print job with job ID "3" shown in FIG. 9, as shown in FIG. 14, "3" is displayed in column D1 indicating the number of available devices ND, "200" is displayed in column D2 indicating the number of printed pages NP acquired by the acquisition unit 22 for the print job, "2" is displayed in column D3 indicating the number of copies to be printed NC, "80 MB" is displayed in column D4 indicating the data size PS, and "possible" is displayed in column D5 indicating whether the job can be divided.

[0079] In addition, in S58 described above, in order to generate a divided print job for the first image forming device (a divided print job that copies two copies of 68 pages (= the quotient "66 pages" + the remainder "2 pages")) consisting of the quotient and remainder obtained by dividing the number of printed pages NP of a print job with job ID "3" (a print job that copies two copies of 200 pages) by the number of devices ND "3", and a divided print job for the second image forming device (a divided print job that copies two copies of the quotient 66 pages), the control unit 21 causes the display screen shown in FIG. 14 to display "68" in column D8 indicating the number of divided pages for this device (i.e., image forming device 1A) and "66" in column D7 indicating the number of divided pages for the other device (i.e., image forming device 1B), and further causes a check mark CK indicating division by page number to be displayed next to column D2 indicating the number of printed pages NP.

[0080] 15(A) and 15(B) are diagrams showing examples of a display screen that displays the progress of distributed printing, with Fig. 15(A) showing the display screen when distributed printing is in progress. This display screen shows distributed printing for the print job with job ID "3" shown in Figure 9, i.e., a split print job for the first image forming device (a split print job to make two copies of 68 pages (= the quotient "66 pages" + the remainder "2 pages")) is currently running, with the page number being "1-68", the number of copies progressed being "1 / 2", and the status being "printing", a split print job for the second image forming device (a split print job to make two copies of the quotient 66 pages) is currently running, with the page number being "69-134", the number of copies progressed being "1 / 2", and the status being "printing", and a split print job for the second image forming device (a split print job to make two copies of the quotient 66 pages) is currently running, with the page number being "135-200", the number of copies progressed being "1 / 2", and the status being "printing".

[0081] Fig. 15(B) is a display screen when distributed printing is completed in the case where the print job is the print job with job ID "3" shown in Fig. 9. As shown in Fig. 15(B), the divided print job for the first image forming device (the divided print job of copying two copies of 68 pages) is completed, the page number is "1-68", the number of copies progressed is "2 / 2", and the status is displayed as "Completed", the divided print job for the second image forming device (the divided print job of copying two copies of 66 pages) is completed, the page number is "69-134", the number of copies progressed is "2 / 2", and the status is displayed as "Completed", and the divided print job for the second image forming device (the divided print job of copying two copies of 66 pages) is completed, the page number is "135-200", the number of copies progressed is "2 / 2", and the status is displayed as "Completed".

[0082] Return to the description of the process of S14 in FIG. 6. In S14, when the print job with the job ID "6" shown in FIG. 9 is the target of division, the control unit 21 of the image forming device 1A determines that all of the first to third conditions are not satisfied by the determination unit 24 ("all not satisfied" in S14), causes the display unit 12 to display that normal printing (printing based on a print job that is not divided) is to be performed instead of distributed printing (S19), and causes the image forming unit 18 to perform printing based on the print job (S20). In the case of the print job with the job ID "6" shown in FIG. 9, the control unit 21 causes the communication unit 16 to print (form an image) an image indicated by the print data related to the print job (a print job for copying three copies of 320 pages) received and stored in the data storage unit 19 on recording paper (S20). After the process of S18 or the process of S20, this process ends.

[0083] In the above embodiment, a case has been described in which a print job is accepted by the image forming apparatus 1A and the print job is divided and processed in the image forming apparatus 1A. However, when a print job is accepted by any of the image forming apparatuses 1B to 1D, the same process as the print job division process in the image forming apparatus 1A described above is performed. In this case, the image forming apparatus 1A operates as another image forming apparatus that receives and executes the divided print job. Therefore, in the image forming system 100, when performing distributed printing, even if a print job is input to any of the image forming apparatuses 1A to 1D constituting the image forming system 100, the print job including print data with a large data size can be divided and distributed to the other image forming apparatus. This allows the image forming apparatuses 1A to 1D constituting the image forming system 100 to print print data with a large data size more efficiently.

[0084] Moreover, according to the image forming system 100 of the above embodiment, when the determination unit 24 determines that all of the first condition that the number of printed pages NP exceeds the reference number of pages CP, the second condition that the number of printed copies NC exceeds the reference number of copies CC, and the third condition that the data size PS exceeds the reference data size CPS are not satisfied, the image forming unit 18 executes printing by the print job. That is, in the case of a print job in which the number of printed pages NP and the number of printed copies NC are small and the data size PS is small, it is possible to prevent distributed printing from being executed. That is, it is possible to prevent execution of unnecessary distributed printing. Also, when at least one of the first condition that the number of printed pages NP exceeds the reference number of pages CP, the second condition that the number of printed copies NC exceeds the reference number of copies CC, and the third condition that the data size PS exceeds the reference data size CPS is satisfied, distributed printing is executed, so that distributed printing can be executed more accurately than a configuration in which the execution or non-execution of distributed printing is determined only by the data size PS of the print data. For example, in the case of monochrome print data, even if the data size PS is small, distributed printing is executed if the number of printed pages NP or the number of printed copies NC is large. This allows distributed printing to be carried out accurately.

[0085] Furthermore, the identifying unit 23 identifies the number of devices ND, which is the total number of image forming device 1A and second image forming device 1B (other image forming device). When the determining unit 24 determines that at least one of the first to third conditions is satisfied, it determines whether a first value TH1 obtained by dividing the number of print copies NC by the number of devices ND is a natural number, and determines whether a second value TH2 obtained by dividing the number of print pages NP by the number of devices ND is a natural number. The generation unit 25 (i) divides the number of print copies NC of the print job by the number of devices ND to generate a divided print job for the first image forming device and a divided print job for the second image forming device when the judgment unit 24 judges that only the first value TH1 is a natural number, (ii) divides the number of print pages NP of the print job by the number of devices ND to generate a divided print job for the first image forming device and a divided print job for the second image forming device when the judgment unit 24 judges that only the second value TH2 is a natural number, and (iii) divides the number of print pages NP of the print job by the number of devices ND to generate a divided print job for the first image forming device and a divided print job for the second image forming device when the judgment unit 24 judges that neither the first value TH1 nor the second value TH2 is a natural number, A divided print job for the first image forming device is generated, the divided print job being composed of a quotient and remainder obtained by dividing a predetermined one of the number of copies NC or the number of pages NP of the print job by the number of devices ND, and a divided print job for the second image forming device is generated, the divided print job being composed of a quotient obtained by dividing the predetermined one of the number of copies NC or the number of pages NP of the print job by the number of devices ND, and (iv) when the determination unit 24 determines that both the first value TH1 and the second value TH2 are natural numbers, the divided print job for the first image forming device and the divided print job for the second image forming device are generated by dividing the predetermined one of the number of copies NC or the number of pages NP of the print job by the number of devices ND. This allows distributed printing to be performed with equal or nearly equal processing amounts in the image forming device 1A and the second image forming device 1B (the other image forming device).

[0086] Furthermore, when a distributed printing instruction is given by the user via touch panel 15 (operation unit), if determination unit 24 determines that the instruction has been given, control unit 21 causes display unit 12 to display a display screen shown in Fig. 12(B) including a message indicating that printing will be performed using a divided print job for the first image forming device and a message indicating that printing will be performed using a divided print job for the second image forming device. This makes it possible to notify that distributed printing will be performed in the first image forming device and the second image forming device.

[0087] Furthermore, control unit 21 causes display unit 12 to display the status of the divided print job for the first image forming device based on status information indicating the printing status of the divided print job for the first image forming device, and also causes display unit 12 to display the status of the divided print job for the second image forming device (see FIGS. 13(A) and 15(A)) based on status information from second image forming device 1B received by communication unit 16. This makes it possible to notify the user of the status of distributed printing in image forming device 1A and second image forming device 1B (another image forming device).

[0088] Furthermore, when a distributed printing instruction is given by the user via touch panel 15 (operation unit), if determination unit 24 determines that the instruction is not satisfied, control unit 21 causes the display unit to display that the distributed printing will not be performed and that printing will be performed according to the print job. This makes it possible to notify the user that distributed printing will not be performed and that normal printing will be performed in image forming device 1A.

[0089] In addition, (iii) when the judgment unit 24 judges that neither the first value TH1 nor the second value TH2 is a natural number ("neither is a natural number" in S55), the generation unit 25 may determine one of the predetermined number of copies NC or the number of pages NP to be printed of the print job in accordance with a selection instruction from the user, and generate a divided print job for the first image forming device consisting of the quotient and remainder obtained by dividing the one of the predetermined values ​​of the print job by the number of devices ND, and a divided print job for the second image forming device consisting of the quotient of the one of the predetermined values ​​of the print job divided by the number of devices ND.

[0090] In the above embodiment, (iv) when the determination unit 24 determines that both the first value TH1 and the second value TH2 are natural numbers, the generation unit 25 divides the number of print pages NP, which is a predetermined one of the number of print copies NC and the number of print pages NP of the print job, by the number of devices ND to generate a divided print job for the first image forming device and a divided print job for the second image forming device, but the number of print copies NC may be divided by the number of devices ND to generate a divided print job for the first image forming device and a divided print job for the second image forming device. In this case, as shown in FIG. 11, the generation unit 25 divides the number of print copies NC of a print job with a job ID of "7" (a print job for copying 1000 pages into two copies) by the number of devices ND of "2" to generate a divided print job for the first image forming device (a divided print job for copying 1000 pages into one copy) and a divided print job for the second image forming device (a divided print job for copying 1000 pages into one copy). Furthermore, the generation unit 25 may determine a predetermined one of the number of copies NC or the number of pages NP to be printed for the print job according to a selection instruction from the user. That is, if the user selects the number of copies NC, the generation unit 25 divides the number of copies NC by the number of devices ND to generate a divided print job for the first image forming device and a divided print job for the second image forming device.

[0091] The reference number of pages CP, the reference number of copies CC, and the reference data size CPS in the reference data table TB1 shown in Fig. 5 may be changed to any value by the user. Also, the values ​​may be set by machine learning.

[0092] Next, a second embodiment of the distributed printing process in the image forming apparatus constituting the image forming system 100 will be described. FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a state in which a new image forming apparatus has been added to the image forming system 100, and distribution of divided print jobs to each of the image forming apparatuses. As with the above-described first embodiment, the distributed printing process according to the second embodiment can be performed by any of the image forming apparatuses 1A to 1D. Here, a case in which the second embodiment of the distributed printing process is executed in the image forming apparatus 1A will be described with reference to FIG. 16 as well as the above-described FIGS. 6 to 8. In the second embodiment, the same process as in the above-described first embodiment is performed unless otherwise specified.

[0093] 16, it is assumed that image forming system 100 initially comprises four image forming apparatuses 1A to 1D. It is assumed that image forming apparatus 1A receives a large-sized print job, and based on this print job, generation unit 25 of image forming apparatus 1A generates divided print jobs in the same manner as in the first embodiment, and distributes the divided print jobs to the other image forming apparatuses 1B to 1D, and printing based on the divided print jobs is being executed in image forming apparatuses 1A to 1D.

[0094] When the image forming system 100 is in this state, a new image forming apparatus 1E having the same configuration and functions as the image forming apparatuses 1A to 1D is connected to the image forming apparatuses 1A to 1D as an image forming apparatus constituting the image forming system 100 (for example, connected to the same LAN as the image forming apparatuses 1A to 1D).

[0095] At this time, if the control unit 21 of image forming device D receives an instruction to start a distributed printing process based on the user's operation of touch panel 15 and further receives a new print job, the control unit 21 of image forming device 1D would normally set image forming device 1D to the distributed printing mode at the time it receives the instruction to start the distributed printing process. However, since image forming device 1D is already set to the distributed printing mode in this case, this setting is omitted and a distributed printing mode signal is sent from its communication unit 16 to each of image forming devices 1A-1C, 1E as the other image forming devices (S11).

[0096] When the control units 21 of the image forming apparatuses 1A to 1C, 1E determine that they have received a distributed printing mode signal (YES in S31), if the image forming apparatuses are not set to the distributed printing mode, they set the image forming apparatuses to the distributed printing mode, and if the image forming apparatuses are already set to the distributed printing mode, they omit setting the distributed printing mode. In this example, the image forming apparatus 1E is not yet set to the distributed printing mode, so the control unit 21 sets the image forming apparatuses to the distributed printing mode. At the same time, the control units 21 of the image forming apparatuses 1A to 1C, 1E transmit the response signal from the communication unit 16 to the image forming apparatus 1D, but in the second embodiment, an image forming apparatus that is already executing printing based on a divided print job (a divided print job distributed and distributed for another image forming apparatus) transmits a response signal indicating that it is unavailable because it is not possible to perform a printing operation based on the divided print job for the second image forming apparatus, and an image forming apparatus that is not executing printing based on the divided print job transmits a response signal indicating that it is available (S32).

[0097] In the image forming device 1D that has accepted the new print job, the processes of S13 and S14 are performed, and when the judgment unit 24 judges in S14 that "one or more is true", the generation unit 25 performs the process of generating the divided print jobs (S15).

[0098] At this time, image forming device 1D executes S51 to S58 shown in FIG. 7 as the process of generating a divided print job, but based on the above-mentioned response signals received from image forming devices 1A to 1C, 1E as other image forming devices, generation unit 25 of image forming device 1D determines, among image forming devices 1A to 1C, 1E that have sent the above-mentioned response signals, the image forming device whose response signal indicates availability is an image forming device that is not executing a divided print job for the second image forming device, and generates a divided print job for the second image forming device only for the determined image forming device (image forming device 1E in this example).

[0099] As a result, as shown in FIG. 16, when image forming devices 1A to 1D are executing a divided print job and a new image forming device 1E is added to image forming system 100, if a new print job (for example, a print job to print 50 copies of 100 pages) is accepted by image forming device 1D, the image forming devices that perform printing based on the divided print job can be limited to image forming device 1D itself and image forming device E that is not performing printing operations based on a divided print job for other image forming devices, and a divided print job (for example, a print job to print 25 copies of 100 pages) can be generated and the divided print job can be executed by image forming devices 1D and 1E.

[0100] In addition, if a new image forming apparatus 1E is added to image forming system 100 and a new print job is accepted by image forming apparatus 1D while image forming apparatuses 1A-1D are not executing a divided print job, the above response signals from image forming apparatuses 1A-1C, 1E all indicate that they are available, so the image forming apparatuses that will perform printing based on the divided print job are image forming apparatus 1D itself and the other image forming apparatuses 1A-1C, 1E.

[0101] Therefore, according to the second embodiment, it is possible to prevent an image forming device that is already executing a divided print job for another image forming device from overlapping printing based on the divided print job, and to avoid a situation in which the divided print job for the other image forming device is given priority in the image forming device, and the execution of a print job accepted by the image forming device is postponed and not executed immediately.

[0102] Next, a modified embodiment of the first and second embodiments will be described. In the modified embodiment, the same process as in the first or second embodiment is performed unless otherwise specified. In this modified embodiment, the operation unit 14 in the image forming apparatuses 1A to 1D (including the image forming apparatus 1E in the case of the second embodiment) accepts an input of an instruction to switch whether or not to enable a distributed printing process that divides a print job to generate divided print jobs for itself and other image forming apparatuses, and transmits and receives the divided print jobs to and from the other image forming apparatuses to execute the distributed printing process.

[0103] When an instruction to enable the distributed printing process is received from the operation unit 14, each control unit 21 of the image forming devices 1A to 1D (including the image forming device 1E in the second embodiment) executes the distributed printing process and, in response to receiving a distributed printing mode signal from the other image forming device, returns the response signal indicating availability from the communication unit 16, and when the communication unit 16 receives from the other image forming device a divided printing job generated by the other image forming device, causes the image forming unit 18 to perform printing based on the divided printing job.

[0104] Furthermore, when an instruction to disable the distributed printing process is received from the operation unit 14, each control unit 21 of the image forming devices 1A to 1D (including the image forming device 1E in the second embodiment) does not execute the distributed printing process, and in response to receiving a distributed printing mode signal from the other image forming device, returns the response signal indicating unavailability from the communication unit 16, preventing the communication unit 16 from receiving from the other image forming device the divided printing job generated by the other image forming device, and preventing the image forming unit 18 from printing based on the divided printing job from the other image forming device.

[0105] This makes it possible to easily switch between whether or not to cause each image forming device constituting the image forming system 100 to execute distributed printing processing, or whether or not to perform printing based on a divided print job from another image forming device, depending on the content of the instructions input to the operation unit 14.

[0106] It should be noted that the configuration and processing shown in the above embodiment with reference to FIGS. 1 to 16 are merely one embodiment of the present invention, and the configuration and processing of the present invention are not limited to this. [Explanation of symbols]

[0107] 1. Image forming device 1A Image forming device 1B~1E Image forming device 12 Display section (operation section) 14 Control section 15 Touch panel (operation section) 16 Communications Department 17 Image reading unit 18 Image forming section 21 Control section 22 Acquisition Department 23 Specific section 24 Judgment section 25 Generation part

Claims

1. An image forming system including a plurality of image forming apparatuses connected via a network, Each of the plurality of image forming apparatuses includes: an image forming unit that prints an image on a recording medium; a control unit that receives a print job including a print request and print data, and causes the image forming unit to perform printing based on the print job; an acquisition unit that acquires the number of pages to be printed and the number of copies to be printed, which are indicated by the printing conditions included in the print request for the received print job, and a data size of the print data for the print job; a storage unit for storing a predetermined reference number of pages, a predetermined reference number of copies, and a predetermined reference data size; a determination unit that determines whether at least one of a first condition that the number of printed pages exceeds the reference number of pages, a second condition that the number of printed copies exceeds the reference number of copies, and a third condition that the data size exceeds the reference data size is satisfied or whether all of the conditions are not satisfied; a generation unit that divides the print job and generates a divided print job for the image forming device itself and a divided print job for another image forming device when the determination unit determines that the at least one of the conditions is satisfied; a communication unit that, when the determination unit determines that the print job is established and the generation unit has generated a divided print job for the other image forming device, transmits the divided print job for the other image forming device to the other image forming device and receives the divided print job transmitted from the other image forming device, The control unit is When the determination unit determines that the print job is successful, the image forming unit performs printing using the divided print job for the image forming device itself, and when the determination unit determines that the print job is not successful, the image forming unit performs printing using the accepted print job that is not divided. When the divided print job is received from the other image forming apparatus by the communication section, the image forming system causes the image forming section to print the divided print job.

2. Each of the plurality of image forming apparatuses includes: the control unit causes the communication unit to transmit to the other image forming apparatus a response signal indicating that a distributed printing process is performed in which the control unit divides a print job to generate divided print jobs, divides the print job to generate divided print jobs for itself and the other image forming apparatus, and transmits and receives the divided print jobs to and from the other image forming apparatus and executes the divided print jobs, when printing based on the divided print jobs received from the other image forming apparatus is not being executed; The image forming system of claim 1, wherein when generating the split print job, the generation unit generates the split print job for the other image forming devices based on the response signal received from the other image forming devices, and targets only those image forming devices among the other image forming devices that are not executing the split print job for the other image forming devices.

3. an operation unit that receives an input of an instruction to switch between enabling and disabling the execution of the distributed printing process; The control unit is When the operation unit has received the instruction to enable, the operation unit divides the print job to generate divided print jobs, and when the communication unit receives the divided print jobs from another image forming apparatus, the image forming unit performs printing based on the divided print jobs.

3. The image forming system according to claim 2, wherein when the instruction to disable is received by the operation unit, a split print job is not generated by dividing the print job, and printing based on the split print job from another image forming device is not performed by the image forming unit.

4. a detection unit for detecting a number of devices, the number being a total number of the plurality of image forming devices; When the determination unit determines that the at least one of the conditions is satisfied, the determination unit determines whether a first value obtained by dividing the number of copies by the number of devices is a natural number, and determines whether a second value obtained by dividing the number of pages to be printed by the number of devices is a natural number, The generation unit (i) divides the number of print copies of the print job by the number of devices when the determination unit determines that only the first value is a natural number, to generate a divided print job for the first image forming device and a divided print job for the second image forming device, (ii) divides the number of print pages of the print job by the number of devices when the determination unit determines that only the second value is a natural number, to generate a divided print job for the first image forming device and a divided print job for the second image forming device, and (iii) divides the number of print copies of the print job or an image forming system as described in any one of claims 1 to 3, generating a split print job for the first image forming device consisting of a quotient and remainder obtained by dividing a predetermined one of the number of print pages by the number of devices, and a split print job for the second image forming device consisting of a quotient obtained by dividing the predetermined one of the number of print copies or the number of print pages of the print job by the number of devices; and (iv) when the determination unit determines that both the first value and the second value are natural numbers, dividing a predetermined one of the number of print copies or the number of print pages of the print job by the number of devices to generate a split print job for the first image forming device and a split print job for the second image forming device.

5. An image forming apparatus connected to another image forming apparatus via a network, an image forming unit that prints an image on a recording medium; a control unit that receives a print job including a print request and print data, and causes the image forming unit to perform printing based on the print job; an acquisition unit that acquires the number of pages to be printed and the number of copies to be printed, which are indicated by the printing conditions included in the print request for the received print job, and a data size of the print data for the print job; a storage unit for storing a predetermined reference number of pages, a predetermined reference number of copies, and a predetermined reference data size; a determination unit that determines whether at least one of a first condition that the number of printed pages exceeds the reference number of pages, a second condition that the number of printed copies exceeds the reference number of copies, and a third condition that the data size exceeds the reference data size is satisfied or whether all of the conditions are not satisfied; a generation unit that divides the print job and generates a divided print job for the image forming device itself and a divided print job for another image forming device when the determination unit determines that the at least one of the conditions is satisfied; a communication unit that, when the determination unit determines that the print job is established and the generation unit has generated a divided print job for the other image forming device, transmits the divided print job for the other image forming device to the other image forming device and receives the divided print job transmitted from the other image forming device, The control unit is When the determination unit determines that the print job is successful, the image forming unit performs printing using the divided print job for the image forming device itself, and when the determination unit determines that the print job is not successful, the image forming unit performs printing using the accepted print job that is not divided. When the divided print job is received from the other image forming apparatus by the communication unit, the image forming apparatus causes the image forming unit to print the divided print job.

Images