Image forming system and image forming method

Abstract

To allow a user to easily move a paper bundle when dividing one print job and performing printing and sorting.SOLUTION: An image forming system 100 allows a user to move a paper bundle of printing sheets from a tray of a movement source to a tray of a movement destination to execute a print job. The image forming system comprises: a device setting unit 1013 that performs printing operation settings including a direction of a printing surface of the printing sheet to be finally ejected, the tray of the movement destination of the paper bundle, and job division settings for the print job; a job division control unit 1016 that, when moving the paper bundle of printing sheets in one of jobs obtained by dividing the print job on the basis of the job division settings, determines a paper ejection unit, the direction of the printing surfaces, and the order of pages for the jobs obtained through the division on the basis of the printing operation settings, so as to move the paper bundle of printing sheets while maintaining the direction of the printing surfaces of the paper bundle and the order of pages; and a control unit 1015 that sequentially executes the jobs obtained through the division on the basis of the paper ejection unit, the direction of the printing surfaces, and the order of pages determined by the job division control unit.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an image forming system and an image forming method. [Background technology]

[0002] With the spread of image forming devices such as digital copiers and full-color multifunction machines, the number of printed materials is increasing, and print jobs containing a mixture of monochrome and color images are on the rise. It is known that printing color images takes more time and costs more than printing monochrome images.

[0003] For this reason, monochrome pages containing only monochrome images and color pages containing color images in a print job are printed as separate print jobs by different image forming devices. The printed stack of papers may then be moved and collated (sorted) to execute the print job. In this case, the stack of papers must be moved while taking into consideration the front and back of the printed surface (face up / face down) of the printed stack of papers and the order of the pages, which is a time-consuming problem.

[0004] A technology related to the movement of a paper stack in an image forming system is described, for example, in Patent Document 1. Specifically, Patent Document 1 discloses a technology that determines the page order and face-up / down according to a post-processing machine, and enables a user to move a paper stack output by an image forming device to the post-processing machine without rearranging the pages. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] JP 2004-045964 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] According to the above-mentioned prior art, when a stack of paper is moved to a post-processing device, the stack of paper can be moved without being rearranged. However, when one job is divided, printed, and collated, the above-mentioned prior art cannot be applied.

[0007] An object of the present invention is to enable a user to easily move a stack of papers when dividing a single print job and printing and collating the divided sheets. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] In order to solve the above problem, the image forming system of the present invention, in which a user executes a print job by moving a stack of print paper from a source tray to a destination tray, is provided with a device setting unit that sets print operation settings including the orientation of the print surface of the print paper to be finally discharged, the destination tray for the stack of paper, and job division settings for the print job, a job division control unit that determines the paper output unit, print surface direction, and page order of the divided job based on the print operation settings so that when moving a stack of print paper for one job obtained by dividing a print job based on the job division settings, the orientation of the print surface of the stack of paper and the page order are maintained, and a control unit that sequentially executes the divided jobs based on the paper output unit, print surface direction, and page order determined by the job division control unit. Effect of the Invention

[0009] According to the present invention, when a user moves a stack of papers, the stack can be collated without the need for troublesome rearrangement of the stack of papers, simply by carrying the stack from the discharge tray to a designated destination tray. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1A] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a page configuration of a print job. [Figure 1B] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a print form of print job 1 for printing divided color pages. [Figure 1C] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the print form of divided print job 2 for monochrome printing. [Diagram 2]FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an image forming system in which divided print jobs are printed by one image forming apparatus. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the image forming system. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating the operation of the image forming system. [Diagram 5] FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a setting screen for "job division and collation setting." [Figure 6] 13 is a diagram showing a "correspondence table for calculating backwards from the face-up / face-down setting of the final paper ejection" for determining the paper ejection unit, print surface direction, and page order of a print job. FIG. [Figure 7] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a screen for instructing movement of a paper bundle for print job 1. [Figure 8] FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrating the operation of the image forming system according to the second embodiment. [Figure 9] FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a setting screen for “job division and collation setting” in the second embodiment. [Figure 10] FIG. 11 is a configuration diagram of an image forming system according to a third embodiment. [Figure 11] FIG. 11 is a functional block diagram of an image forming system according to a third embodiment. [Figure 12] FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrating the operation of the image forming system according to the third embodiment. [Figure 13] FIG. 4 is a list of device information and tray status information on a network. [Figure 14] FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a setting screen for “job division and collation setting” in the third embodiment. [Figure 15] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a screen for instructing movement of a paper bundle for print job 1 in the third embodiment. [Figure 16] FIG. 13 is a configuration diagram of an image forming system according to a fourth embodiment. [Figure 17] FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a setting screen for “job division and collation setting” in the fourth embodiment. [Figure 18] FIG. 13 is a configuration diagram of an image forming system according to a fifth embodiment. [Figure 19] FIG. 13 is a functional block diagram of an image forming system according to a fifth embodiment. [Figure 20]FIG. 13 is a flow diagram illustrating the operation of the image forming system according to the fifth embodiment. [Figure 21] 11A and 11B are diagrams showing post-processing device information and tray status information on a network. [Figure 22] FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a setting screen for “job division and collation setting” in the fifth embodiment. [Figure 23] FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a setting screen for "post-processing settings." [Figure 24] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a “correspondence table for calculating backwards from face-up / face-down setting of final paper ejection” in the fifth embodiment. [Diagram 25] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a screen for instructing movement of a paper bundle in the fifth embodiment. [Figure 26] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a setting screen for “job division and collation setting” when “additional printing” is performed in the first embodiment. [Figure 27] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a setting screen for “job division and collation settings” when “additional printing” is performed in the third embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0011] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. First, a printing form of a print job in the image forming system of the embodiment will be described.

[0012] FIG. 1A is a diagram showing the page configuration of a print job. The print job is an instruction to print monochrome pages, Page.1 to Page.3, which are composed of monochrome images of text, and color pages, Page.4 to Page.5, which include text and color images.

[0013] In the image forming system of the embodiment, the print job of FIG. 1A is divided into print job 1 for color page printing shown in FIG. 1B and print job 2 for monochrome page printing shown in FIG. 1C, and the divided print jobs are executed to collate the print sheets.

[0014] 1A, it is possible to print Pages.1 to 5 as all color pages by printing Pages.1 to 3 as black pages, and not split the print job. However, since the printing fee for color page printing and monochrome page printing is generally different, the printing fee for Pages.1 to 3 can be reduced by splitting the print job.

[0015] FIG. 1B is a diagram showing a print form of print job 1 for printing divided color pages. In print job 1, blank paper is fed from the image forming system's large capacity paper feed tray, and color pages are printed in the printing order of Page.4, Page.5. Page.4 and Page.5 are discharged face up (printed side facing up) to the paper output tray. Paper is discharged to the paper output tray in a stacked manner, so the printed side of Page.5, the last paper printed, is discharged facing up.

[0016] The user (operator) of the image forming system moves the printed paper stack from the paper output tray to the paper insertion tray according to the instructions. At this time, the user moves the paper stack as it is, without changing the front and back of the paper stack or the printing direction.

[0017] FIG. 1C is a diagram showing the print form of divided print job 2 for monochrome printing. For print job 2, the image forming system feeds blank paper from the large capacity paper feed tray and prints the monochrome pages in the print order of Page.1, Page.2, and Page.3. Page.1, Page.2, and Page.3 are discharged face down (printed side facing down) to the paper output tray. After that, for print job 2, the image forming system picks up the stack of papers for print job 1 from the insertion paper tray from below and feeds them sequentially (in the order of Page.4, Page.5), inverts the papers, discharges them to the paper output tray, and collates them.

[0018] In the above, a case has been described in which the print job ultimately discharges the print paper to the paper output tray face-down. However, if the print job ultimately discharges the print paper to the paper output tray face-up, the following procedure is followed.

[0019] In print job 1, the image forming system feeds blank paper from the large capacity paper feed tray, prints color pages in the printing order of Page.5, Page.4 (in reverse order), and ejects them face-down to the paper output tray. Since the paper is ejected to the paper output tray in a stacked manner, the printed side of Page.5, the first paper printed, is ejected face-down.

[0020] Thereafter, in print job 1, the image forming system moves the printed stack of sheets from the discharge tray to the insertion tray without changing the front and back of the stack of sheets or the printing direction. The image forming system then picks up and feeds the stack of sheets of print job 1 from the input tray in order from below (feeding Page 5, Page 4 in that order), turns the sheets over, and ejects them face-up onto the output tray.

[0021] In print job 2, the image forming system feeds blank paper from the large capacity paper feed tray, prints monochrome pages in the printing order of Page. 3, Page. 2, and Page. 1, and ejects the pages face-up onto the output tray and collates them. As described above, when the print job is printed face-up, the image forming system prints the pages in reverse order and changes the order in which the print papers of print job 1 are discharged reversely.

[0022] In the above, we have described the case where the paper feed direction is the short side feed, but if the paper feed direction is the long side feed, the print job 1 inserted from the insertion paper tray may be printed upside down (upside down of the printed surface). In the following, we will explain the paper feed direction as the short side feed.

[0023] The image forming system according to the embodiment will be described in more detail below. EXAMPLES

[0024] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of an image forming system 100 in which printing of divided print jobs is performed by one image forming apparatus 101. In FIG. The image forming system 100 includes an image forming device 101 that forms an image on print paper based on a print job, a PC (102) that creates the print job, and a network 103 that transmits the print job of the PC (102) to the image forming device 101. This image forming system 100 is used by a user to execute a print job by moving a stack of print paper from a source tray to a destination tray.

[0025] The image forming apparatus 101 includes an operation panel 111 for performing various settings of the printer, a large-capacity paper feed tray 112, and a finisher 113 with an insertion paper tray 116 for holding paper to be inserted during printing. The image forming apparatus 101 further includes a main body paper feed tray 114, a transfer unit 115 for forming a toner image on print paper, a paper discharge tray 117 for holding printed paper, a front / back reversing mechanism 118 for reversing paper to be discharged, and a manual feed tray 119.

[0026] Here, the paper transport of the image forming apparatus 101 will be briefly described. The paper to be printed is fed from large-capacity paper feed tray 112, main body paper feed tray 114, or manual feed tray 119, and a toner image according to the print job is formed in transfer unit 115. Then, when the setting is such that the paper is discharged with the print side facing down (face down), the print side of the print paper is reversed by front / back reversal mechanism 118 and discharged onto paper discharge tray 117. When the setting is such that the paper is discharged with the print side facing up (face up), the print paper is not reversed by front / back reversal mechanism 118.

[0027] Printed paper placed on the insertion paper tray 116 is fed from the insertion paper tray 116 and inserted before, after, or during printing according to the print job. At this time, paper with the print side facing up in the insertion paper tray 116 is inverted to paper with the print side facing down and fed (inserted). Paper with the print side facing down in the insertion paper tray 116 is inverted to paper with the print side facing up and fed (inserted).

[0028] For this reason, the image forming apparatus 101 divides the print job into print job 1 and print job 2, places the print paper of print job 1 on the insertion paper tray 116, and inserts and collates it into the print of print job 2. In detail, the image forming apparatus 101 discharges the print paper with the print side of print job 1 facing the opposite direction to the print side of print job 2. Then, the user moves the stack of print paper directly to the insertion paper tray 116, and the image forming apparatus 101 feeds the print paper of print job 1 from the insertion paper tray 116, inserts it, and collates it.

[0029] Alternatively, the image forming apparatus 101 discharges the print sheets with the print side of print job 1 facing the same direction as the print side of print job 2. Then, the user moves the stack of print sheets directly to the insertion sheet tray 116. Note that the image forming apparatus 101 may feed the print sheets of print job 1 from the insertion sheet tray 116, invert them using the front / back inversion mechanism 118, and then insert and collate them.

[0030] Print paper (printed paper) may be inserted not only from the insertion paper tray 116 but also from the large-capacity paper feed tray 112, the main body paper feed tray 114, or the manual feed tray 119 by placing the printed paper thereon.

[0031] When inserting print paper from manual feed tray 119, print paper is fed from below the print paper stacked in manual feed tray 119, similar to insertion paper tray 116, so the page order for printing can be the same as for insertion paper tray 116. However, when feeding (inserting) paper from manual feed tray 119, print paper is not turned over, so there is no need to turn over the print side of the print paper to be inserted.

[0032] In the main body paper feed tray 114, the stacked sheets are fed from above, and a toner image is formed on the bottom surface of the stacked sheets. In other words, the print sheets are inverted. For this reason, when the image forming device 101 inserts print sheets from the main body paper feed tray 114 and collates them, the order of the printed pages is reversed. Then, the image forming device 101 places the print sheets with their print sides inverted on the main body paper feed tray 114, or uses the front / back reversing mechanism 118 to invert the print sheets to be inserted, and then collates them.

[0033] In the large-capacity paper feed tray 112, the stacked paper is fed from above, a toner image is formed on the top surface of the stacked paper, and the paper is discharged with the printed side facing up (if not inverted by the front-back reversing mechanism 118). In other words, the printed paper is not inverted. Therefore, when inserting printed paper from the large-capacity paper feed tray 112 to collate, the image forming apparatus 101 reverses the page order of the printed paper to be inserted, and inserts and collates the paper from the large-capacity paper feed tray 112 without inverting the printed side.

[0034] FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the image forming system according to the embodiment. The PC (102) that creates print jobs for the image forming system 100 includes a print job generation unit 1021 such as a document creation / editing program, job management software 1022 that manages and monitors print jobs, and a job sending unit 1023 that notifies the image forming device 101 of the print job via the network 103.

[0035] The image forming apparatus 101 includes a job receiving unit 1011 , a destination instruction unit 1012 , a device setting unit 1013 , an image processing unit 1014 , a control unit 1015 , and a job division control unit 1016 .

[0036] The job receiving unit 1011 is a processing unit that receives a print job from the PC (102) via the network 103. The destination instruction unit 1012 is a processing unit that outputs the destination of the paper stack on the paper discharge tray 117 to the operation panel 111 to instruct the user. The device setting unit 1013 is a processing unit that sets the operating mode of the mechanisms of the printing machine, such as the tray and the front / back reversing mechanism 118, depending on the printing form. The device setting unit 1013 performs printing operation settings, including the orientation of the printed surface of the print paper to be finally discharged, the destination tray of the paper stack, and job division settings of the print job. The image processing unit 1014 is a processing unit that generates raster image data for forming a toner image in the transfer unit 115 based on the print job.

[0037] The control unit 1015 is a processing unit that controls the operation of the image forming apparatus 101. The job division control unit 1016 is a processing unit that controls the division of a print job. The job division control unit 1016 determines the paper discharge unit, print surface direction, and page order of the divided job based on the print operation setting so that when moving a stack of print paper for one job obtained by dividing a print job based on the job division setting, the stack of print paper can be moved while maintaining the orientation of the print surface and the page order of the stack of paper. The control unit 1015 sequentially executes the divided jobs based on the paper discharge unit, print surface direction, and page order determined by the job division control unit 1016. As a result, when a user moves a stack of paper, the user can collate the stack of paper by simply carrying it from the paper discharge tray to the designated destination tray without having to perform a cumbersome rearrangement of the stack of paper.

[0038] The device setting unit 1013 sets the insertion paper tray as the destination tray for the paper stack, and sets the job division setting to division according to the page range of the print paper set by the user. The job division control unit 1016 divides the print job into job 1, which prints the page range of the print paper stack placed on the insertion paper tray, set by the user, and job 2, which prints the other page range. Then, when printing job 2, the control unit 1015 inserts the print paper of job 1 from the insertion paper tray and collates them. In this way, when the user moves the paper stack of the page range placed on the insertion paper tray and the paper stack of the other page range, they can be collated without the troublesome rearrangement of the paper stack by simply carrying them from the paper output tray to the designated destination tray.

[0039] The device setting unit 1013 sets the insertion paper tray as the destination tray for the paper stack, and sets monochrome printing / color printing as the job division setting. The job division control unit 1016 divides the print job into job 1 for printing color pages and job 2 for printing monochrome pages, which are printing sheets to be moved to the insertion paper tray. Then, when printing job 2, the control unit 1015 inserts the print sheets of job 1 from the insertion paper tray and collates them. This allows the user to move the stack of color pages and the stack of monochrome pages by simply carrying them from the discharge tray to the specified destination tray, and collating them without the need for cumbersome rearrangement of the stack of papers.

[0040] The device setting unit 1013 sets the job for overprinting as a job division setting, and sets a tray other than the insertion paper tray as the destination tray for the paper stack for overprinting. The job division control unit 1016 divides the print job into job 1 for printing the print paper moved to the destination tray for overprinting, and job 2 for overprinting. The control unit 1015 feeds the print paper for job 1 from the destination tray when printing job 2, and overprints it. Each processing unit of the image forming apparatus 101 will be described in detail below.

[0041] FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating the operation of the image forming system according to the embodiment. In step S1, the control unit 1015 of the image forming apparatus 101 causes the apparatus setting unit 1013 to display a setting screen 200 for "job division and collation setting" shown in FIG. 5 on the operation panel 111, and performs printing operation setting.

[0042] Here, the setting screen 200 for "job division and collation setting" will be described with reference to FIG. The setting screen 200 includes a radio button display 201 for setting whether or not to perform collation, a display area 202 for setting job division based on the user's page designation, a radio button display 203 for face-up / face-down after collation for designating the orientation of the final printed surface of the printed paper discharged after collation, and an "OK" button 204 for registering the setting. The control unit 1015 performs control based on the printing operation setting of "job division and collation setting" set by the user on the setting screen 200.

[0043] Specifically, the user sets the "Yes" button in display 201, and in order to execute a print job with the page configuration described in Fig. 1A in display area 202, as shown in Fig. 1B and Fig. 1C, specifies the pages, and sets the collation paper feed tray as the insertion paper tray for print job 1. In addition, the final print paper after collation is set to be discharged face-down, and this is set as the print operation setting.

[0044] When the "OK" button 204 for registering the settings is pressed, the process returns to FIG. 4, and the control unit 1015 receives the print job from the PC (102) via the job receiving unit 1011 in step S2.

[0045] In step S3, the control unit 1015 determines whether or not to collate based on the print operation setting in step S1, and if to collate (Yes in S3), the process proceeds to step S5, and if not to collate (No in S3), the process proceeds to step S4. In more detail, the control unit 1015 determines whether or not to collate based on the setting of the radio button display 201 for setting whether or not to collate on the setting screen 200 for "Job division and collation setting" in FIG. 5.

[0046] In step S4, the control unit 1015 generates raster image data of the print job received in step S2 in the image processing unit 1014, controls the printing mechanism to print, and ends the processing of the print job.

[0047] In step S5, the control unit 1015 divides the print job into jobs according to the print operation settings in step S1 using the job division control unit 1016. That is, the control unit 1015 divides the print job into jobs according to the settings in the display area 202 for setting job division settings by page designation on the setting screen 200 for "job division and collation settings" in Fig. 5. Specifically, the print job is divided into print job 1 and print job 2 as described in Figs. 1B and 1C.

[0048] In step S6, the control unit 1015 determines the paper output unit, print surface direction, and page order for each job divided based on the final face-up / face-down and the tray to be used, through the job division control unit 1016. For details, the control unit 1015 determines the paper output unit, print surface direction, and page order for print job 1 and print job 2 by referring to the "correspondence table for calculating backwards from the face-up / face-down setting of the final paper output" in FIG.

[0049] 6 shows the relationship between the face-up / face-down setting of the final discharge, the orientation of the print surface (face-up / face-down) in the discharge tray of print job 1 for the type of paper feed unit of print job 1 to be collated, and the page order of the discharge tray of print job 1. In other words, it shows the paper transport conditions of print job 1 and print job 2 described in Fig. 1B and Fig. 1C.

[0050] 5, the final printed paper after collation is set to be discharged face-down, and the collation feed tray is set as the insertion paper tray. As a result, print job 1 has the output tray as the output unit, the print surface direction as face-up, and the page order as normal, and print job 2 has the output tray as the output unit, the print surface direction as face-down, and the page order as normal.

[0051] Returning to Fig. 4, in step S7, the control unit 1015 sets the printing mechanism via the device setting unit 1013 as follows: the printing mode is set to color printing, the paper feed unit is set to large-capacity paper feed tray 112, and because the printing surface orientation is face-up, the paper is conveyed so that it is discharged to the paper discharge tray 117 without operating the front / back inversion mechanism 118. The control unit 1015 then generates raster image data in the normal page order for print job 1 via the image processing unit 1014, and controls the printing mechanism to execute the divided print job 1.

[0052] In step S8, the control unit 1015 causes the movement destination instruction unit 1012 to output the paper stack movement instruction screen for print job 1 in Fig. 7 to the operation panel 111. In this way, the control unit 1015 prompts the user to move the paper stack printed by print job 1.

[0053] 7 displays a paper stack movement instruction message 301, "Please move the paper stack to the insertion paper tray." The screen 300 also illustrates the output status 302 of the print paper, the paper output tray 117 of the image forming device 101 to which the print paper has been discharged, and the insertion paper tray 116 to which the print paper stack will be moved. At this time, the screen 300 clearly indicates the source / destination of the movement by matching the graphic color of the paper output tray 117 and the insertion paper tray 116 with the text color of "FROM→TO." The "Start collated printing" button 303 is a button for notifying that the paper stack has been moved to the insertion paper tray.

[0054] In step S9, when the control unit 1015 detects that the "Start Collate Printing" button 303 has been pressed, it determines that the user has placed a stack of papers in the insertion paper tray, and the process proceeds to step S10.

[0055] In step S10, the control unit 1015 sets the printing mechanism via the device setting unit 1013 as follows: the printing mode is set to monochrome printing, the paper feed unit is set to large-capacity paper feed tray 112, and because the printing surface direction is face-down, the paper is transported by activating the front / back inversion mechanism 118 and discharged to the discharge tray 117. The control unit 1015 then generates raster image data in the normal page order for print job 2 in the image processing unit 1014, and controls the printing mechanism to print the divided print job 2. When printing of print job 2 is completed, the control unit 1015 proceeds to step S11.

[0056] In step S11, the control unit 1015 sets the finisher 113 via the device setting unit 1013 so that the paper is fed from the insertion paper tray 116 and discharged to the paper discharge tray 117 of print job 1 without inverting the print paper by the front / back reversing mechanism 118. The control unit 1015 then picks up and feeds the stack of paper in the insertion paper tray 116 sequentially from below, and inserts and collates it behind the print paper of print job 1. When the insertion of the stack of paper in the insertion paper tray 116 is completed, the print processing of the print job is terminated. EXAMPLES

[0057] In the above embodiment, a case has been described in which a print job is divided according to a user's page designation of monochrome pages / color pages, but in the present embodiment, a case in which job division is performed automatically will be described.

[0058] The functional block diagram of the image forming system 100 of this embodiment is the same as that of Fig. 3, but differs in the function of the job division control unit 1016. Hereinafter, the image forming system 100 of this embodiment will be described, focusing on the differences.

[0059] FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating the operation of the image forming system according to the embodiment. 4, the processing in steps S1 and S3 has been changed, and processing in steps S12 and S13 has been added. Each of these differences will be described below, and descriptions of other processing will be omitted.

[0060] In step S1, the control unit 1015 of the image forming apparatus 101 causes the apparatus setting unit 1013 to display a setting screen 200 for "job division and collation setting" shown in FIG. 9 on the operation panel 111, and performs printing operation setting.

[0061] Here, the setting screen 200 for "job division and collation setting" in FIG. 9 will be described. 9 differs from the setting screen 200 for "job division and collation settings" in Fig. 5 in that, instead of the display area 202 for setting job division by page designation, a display area 205 for setting job division by designating either "monochrome / color" or page setting is provided. In other words, in this embodiment, when "monochrome / color" is designated, the monochrome page range and color page range are analyzed, and job division between monochrome printing and color printing is automatically set.

[0062] Returning to Fig. 8, in step S3, the control unit 1015 determines whether or not to collate based on the print operation setting in step S1. If the sheets are to be collated (Yes in S3), the process proceeds to step S12, and if the sheets are not to be collated (No in S3), the process proceeds to step S4. In more detail, the control unit 1015 determines whether or not to collate based on the setting of the radio button display 201 for setting whether or not to collate on the setting screen 200 for "Job division and collation setting" in Fig. 9.

[0063] In step S12, the control unit 1015 determines whether or not the job division setting in the print operation setting in step S1 is specified as "monochrome / color", that is, whether or not the job is to be automatically divided, through the job division control unit 1016. If "monochrome / color" is specified, the process proceeds to step S13, and if "page specification" is specified, the process proceeds to step S5.

[0064] In step S13, the control unit 1015 analyzes the page range of monochrome printing and the page range of color printing by the image processing unit 1014, and automatically divides the jobs by the job division control unit 1016 into print job 1 for color page printing and print job 2 for monochrome page printing. Then, the process proceeds to step S6.

[0065] In detail, the image processing unit 1014 determines that a page is a color page when pixels other than black and white exist within the data obtained by raster image data processing, and determines that a page is a monochrome page when pixels are only black and white.

[0066] As described above, according to this embodiment, print jobs are analyzed and automatically divided into jobs, so that the load of the user in setting print operations can be reduced and the usability of the image forming system can be improved. Note that, in addition to monochrome printing / color printing, division may be performed based on conditions such as color printing / high-definition color printing, single-sided printing / double-sided printing, paper type, etc. EXAMPLES

[0067] In the above embodiment, we have described a case where the divided print jobs are printed and collated by one image forming device 101. Next, we will explain a case where the divided print jobs are printed and collated by different image forming devices 101.

[0068] Fig. 10 is a configuration diagram of an image forming system 100 of this embodiment. The image forming system 100 is configured by adding an image forming apparatus 104 connected to the image forming apparatus 101 via a network 103 to the image forming system 100 described in Fig. 2. For example, the image forming apparatus 101 is a monochrome printing apparatus equipped with an insertion paper tray 116, and the image forming apparatus 104 is a color printing apparatus. The structure of the image forming apparatus 104 is similar to that of the image forming apparatus 101, and therefore a description thereof will be omitted.

[0069] FIG. 11 is a functional block diagram of an image forming system 100 according to the present embodiment. The functional block diagram of the image forming system in Fig. 11 is configured by adding an image forming apparatus 104 to the functional block diagram of the image forming system in Fig. 3. Hereinafter, the image forming apparatus 101 may be referred to as image forming apparatus A, and the image forming apparatus 104 may be referred to as image forming apparatus B.

[0070] 3, the image forming apparatus 101 further includes a device information collection unit 1017 that collects device information of other image forming apparatuses and post-processing devices connected to the network 103. The functions of the processing units of the image forming apparatus 101 that are different from those in the image forming system of FIG. 3 and the details of the device information collection unit 1017 will be described later.

[0071] Unlike the image forming apparatus 101, the image forming apparatus 104 is provided with a device information notification unit 1048 that notifies device information to a device information collection unit 1017 of the image forming apparatus 101. As will be described in detail later, job division of a print job is performed in the image forming apparatus 101, so there is no need to provide a job division control unit 1016 in the image forming apparatus 104. Details of each processing unit of the image forming apparatus 104 will be described later.

[0072] FIG. 12 is a flow diagram illustrating the operation of the image forming system of this embodiment. 4, the processing of steps S1, S3, and S5 has been changed, processing of step S14 has been added, and step S8 has been changed to step S15. Each of these differences will be explained below, and explanations of other processing will be omitted.

[0073] First, in step S 14 , the control unit 1015 of the image forming apparatus 101 causes the device information collection unit 1017 to collect device information of other image forming apparatuses and post-processing devices connected to the network 103 .

[0074] FIG. 13 is a list of device information and tray status information on the network. The device information collecting unit 1017 collects the device configuration and the types and usage status of various trays notified by the device information notifying unit 1048 of the image forming device or post-processing machine indicated by the device name, and records them as device information and tray status information on the network. The device setting unit 1013 can select the image forming device that has the tray to which the paper stack is to be moved and that will ultimately eject the printed paper, and the image forming device that will execute the divided jobs, based on the device information. The device setting unit 1013 may set the orientation of the printed side of the paper stack specified by the paper feed tray of the post-processing machine to the orientation of the printed side of the printed paper that will ultimately be ejected. This allows the user to move the paper stack without worrying about the top and bottom of the stack.

[0075] Returning to FIG. 12, in step S1, the control unit 1015 of the image forming apparatus 101 causes the apparatus setting unit 1013 to display a setting screen 220 for "job division and collation setting" shown in FIG. 14 on the operation panel 111, and performs printing operation setting.

[0076] Here, the setting screen 220 for "job division and collation setting" in FIG. 14 will be described. 14 differs from the setting screen 200 for "job division and collation settings" in FIG. 5 in that screens 206 and 207 are provided for the user to select the image forming apparatus that will print the divided print jobs.

[0077] In detail, the device setting unit 1013 selects "page designation" to manually set the pages to be divided in the display area 202 for job division settings through a user operation. When "page designation" is selected, the start page and end page are selected, and the collation feed tray is selected in accordance with the screen 207 described later. When dividing a job into four or more parts, "+" is pressed to add a setting line.

[0078] The user operates screen 206 to select the image forming device that will print print job 1 from the tabs (Printer1 or Printer2). The user determines which image forming device to select based on the list of device information on the network and tray status information in FIG. 13 collected by collecting device information in step S14. Furthermore, in the selected image forming device, the user selects and sets the output tray for print job 1 based on the tray status information. In FIG. 14, Printer1 is selected as the image forming device.

[0079] On screen 207, the user operates to select from the tabs (Printer3, Printer4 or Sorter) the image forming device that will collate the print sheets of print job 1. The image forming device to be selected is determined based on the list of device information on the network and tray status information in FIG. 13 collected by collecting device information in step S14. Furthermore, in the selected image forming device, a collation feed tray for the print sheets of print job 1 is selected and set based on the tray status information. In FIG. 14, Printer3 is selected as the image forming device, and the insertion sheet tray is selected as the collation feed tray.

[0080] When the "OK" button 204 is pressed to register the settings, the process returns to FIG. 12, and in step S2, the job receiving unit 1011 receives the print job from the PC (102).

[0081] In step S5, the control unit 1015 divides the print job using the job division control unit 1016 in accordance with the print operation settings in step S1, that is, the settings in the display area 202, screen 206, and screen 207 for setting the job division by page designation on the setting screen 220 for "job division and collation settings" in Fig. 14. Specifically, the job is divided into print job 1 and print job 2 as described in Fig. 1B and Fig. 1C, and print job 1 is printed by Printer 1 and print job 2 is printed by Printer 3.

[0082] Then, in S15, the control unit 1015 causes the destination instruction unit 1012 to output the screen for instructing to move the paper stack of print job 1 shown in Fig. 15 to the operation panel 111. This prompts the user to move the paper stack printed by print job 1.

[0083] 15 includes a screen 312 and a screen 313. Screen 312 shows image forming apparatus 104 that prints print job 1, output tray 122 that ejects print papers, and output state 302 (face up) of the print papers. Screen 313 shows image forming apparatus 101 that inserts and collates print papers for print job 1, insertion paper tray 116 that is the destination of the stack of print papers and is the collation feed tray for print papers, and a paper movement instruction message 311 that reads "Please move the stack of papers to the insertion paper tray of Printer3."

[0084] The paper stack movement instruction screen 310 displays the image forming devices from which and to which the print paper of print job 1 will be moved, and also clearly indicates the source and destination by matching the graphic colors of the paper output tray 117 and the insertion paper tray 116 with the text color of "FROM→TO." This makes it easy for the user to understand the source and destination of the print paper.

[0085] The “Start collated printing” button 303 is a button that notifies the user that the stack of papers has been moved to the insertion paper tray 116. When the control unit 1015 detects that the “Start collated printing” button 303 has been pressed, it assumes that the user has set the stack of papers in the insertion paper tray and prints print job 2.

[0086] In the above, the image forming apparatus for printing the divided print jobs is manually selected. However, as will be described next, the image forming apparatus may be automatically selected. EXAMPLES

[0087] Fig. 16 is a diagram showing the configuration of an image forming system 100 according to this embodiment. This differs from the diagram showing the configuration of the image forming system 100 in Fig. 12 in that a job allocation control unit 1018 is provided in the image forming apparatus A (101). As described above, in the setting screen 220 for "job division and collation settings" in Fig. 14, the user selects from tabs showing candidate image forming apparatuses for performing the divided print jobs, which are determined based on a list of device information and tray status information on the network. However, in this embodiment, the job allocation control unit 1018 automatically selects.

[0088] The job allocation control unit 1018 automatically selects an image forming device that satisfies the conditions of whether or not there is paper for printing the divided jobs in the paper feed tray and whether or not there is free space in the paper output tray. In addition, tray usage schedule information may be collected as an automatic selection condition, and priority may be set in consideration of free time. In addition, layout information of the image forming devices may be collected, and the image forming device and tray closest to the insertion paper tray to which the paper stack is to be moved may be selected and priority may be set.

[0089] The flow diagram for explaining the operation of the image forming system of this embodiment is the same as that of FIG. 12, but the setting screen for "job division and collation setting" for setting the printing operation in step S1 is different. The setting screen 230 for "job division and collation setting" of this embodiment shown in FIG. 17 will be described below.

[0090] A setting screen 230 for "Job division and collation settings" in Fig. 17 is obtained by adding a screen 231 for setting a collation paper feed tray to the setting screen 220 for "Job division and collation settings" in Fig. 14. The screen 231 for setting a collation paper feed tray is provided with radio buttons for automatic selection and manual selection.

[0091] When the user selects the manual selection radio button, the user selects an image forming apparatus, a paper output tray, and a paper feed tray for collation, in the same manner as in the setting screen 220 for "job division and collation settings" in FIG.

[0092] When the user sets the automatic selection radio button, the following process is performed. That is, the job allocation control unit 1018 automatically selects an image forming apparatus that satisfies the following conditions from among the candidates for image forming apparatuses that will perform the divided print jobs, which are obtained based on the list of device information and tray status information on the network, and displays the image forming apparatus on screens 206 and 207. The conditions are whether a collation feed tray is available, whether there is paper for printing the divided jobs in the feed tray, and whether there is space in the output tray.

[0093] 12 by pressing the "OK" button 204 to register the settings, and in step S2, the print job of the PC (102) is received by the job receiving unit 1011. The subsequent processing of the image forming system 100 of this embodiment is the same as that in FIG. 12, and therefore the description will be omitted. EXAMPLES

[0094] In FIG. 10, an image forming system 100 is described in which the divided print jobs are printed and processed by different image forming apparatuses 101 and 104, and then collated. However, in the image forming system 100 of this embodiment, a case is described in which the system is further equipped with post-processing machines such as a creaser, binder, cutter, and sorter.

[0095] Fig. 18 is a configuration diagram of an image forming system 100 of this embodiment. The image forming system 100 is configured by adding a post-processing device 105 connected via a network 103 to the image forming system 100 described in Fig. 10. The post-processing device main body 130 is a creaser, binder, cutter, and sorter, and includes a paper feed tray 132 and a paper discharge tray 131. The image forming devices 101 and 104 are the same as those in Fig. 10, so their description will be omitted.

[0096] FIG. 19 is a functional block diagram of an image forming system 100 according to the present embodiment. The functional block diagram of image forming system 100 in Figure 19 adds to the functional block diagram of Figure 11 a post-processing machine 105 which includes a job receiving unit 1051 which receives jobs, a destination instruction unit 1052 which outputs the destination of the paper stack to the operation panel 111, a device setting unit 1053 which sets the operating mode of the device, a control unit 1054 which controls the operation of the post-processing machine main body 130, and a device information notification unit 1055 which notifies the device information collection unit 1017 of the image forming device 101 of device information about the post-processing machine.

[0097] FIG. 20 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the image forming system of this embodiment. The difference from the flow diagram illustrating the operation of the image forming system in Fig. 12 is that the processes of steps S14, S1, and S6 have been changed, and the processes of steps S16, S17, and S18 have been added. Below, each of the differences will be explained, and explanations of other processes will be omitted.

[0098] First, in step S14, the control unit 1015 of the image forming apparatus 101 collects information about other image forming apparatuses and post-processing apparatuses connected to the network 103 by the device information collection unit 1017. Collects equipment information from the machine. The device information collection unit 1017 collects the device configuration, types of various trays, and usage status notified by the device information notification unit 1048 of the image forming device indicated by the device name, and records the device information and tray status information on the network shown in Figure 13. FIG. 21 shows post-processing device information and tray status information on the network, which are collected by the device information collection unit 1017 from the post-processing device 105 and indicate the device type of the post-processing device and the types and usage status of various trays.

[0099] Returning to FIG. 20, in step S1, the control unit 1015 of the image forming apparatus 101 causes the apparatus setting unit 1013 to display a setting screen 240 for "job division and collation setting" shown in FIG. 22 on the operation panel 111, and sets the printing operation. Here, the setting screen 240 for "job division and collation setting" in FIG. 22 will be described.

[0100] The "Job division and collation settings" setting screen 240 in Fig. 22 has a "Face up / face down after collation" display 241, which is an additional radio button for specifying the orientation of the printed surface of the printed paper after collation according to the post-processing machine, in addition to the display 203 of the "Job division and collation settings" setting screen 230 in Fig. 17. In other words, when the user sets the radio button "Follow the post-processing machine", the paper output setting is performed according to the face up / face down orientation and page order of the paper stack placed on the paper feed tray of the post-processing machine. The other screens of the "Job division and collation settings" setting screen 240 in Fig. 22 are the same as those in Fig. 17, so their explanation will be omitted.

[0101] Pressing the "OK" button 204 to register the settings returns to FIG. 20, and in step S16, post-processing settings are made according to the user settings on the "Post-processing settings" setting screen 250 in FIG.

[0102] Here, the setting screen 250 for "Post-processing setting" in FIG. 23 will be described. Setting screen 250 for "Post-processing Settings" in FIG. 23 includes a radio button display 251 for setting whether or not to perform post-processing, a display area 252 for setting the type of post-processing using a list box, a screen 253 for selecting and displaying the image forming device that will print the divided print job 2, and a screen 254.

[0103] On screen 253, the user operates to select from tabs (Printer3, Printer4, Sorter) the image forming device that will print print job 2. The image forming device to be selected is determined based on the list of device information on the network and tray status information in FIG. 13 collected by collecting device information in step S14. Furthermore, in the selected image forming device, the output tray for print job 2 is selected and set based on the tray status information. In FIG. 23, Printer3 is selected as the image forming device. Additionally, screen 253 displays the automatically selected image forming device.

[0104] On screen 254, the user selects the post-processing device to perform post-processing from the tabs (Creaser, Binder). The post-processing device to be selected is determined based on the post-processing device information on the network and the tray status information of FIG. 21 collected by the device information collection in step S14. Furthermore, for the selected post-processing device, the paper feed tray / paper output tray is selected and set based on the tray status information. In FIG. 23, Creaser is selected as the post-processing device. Also, screen 254 displays the automatically selected image forming device. For example, if the user specifies crease processing as the post-processing processing in the display area 252, screen 254 displays Creaser (post-processing device 105) and selects the paper feed tray.

[0105] Pressing the "OK" button 204 to register the settings returns to FIG. 20, and in step S6 the control unit 1015, through the job division control unit 1016, determines the paper output unit, print surface direction, and page order for each divided job based on the final face-up / face-down and the tray to be used. For more details, based on the print operation settings in step S1 and the post-processing settings in step S16, the control unit 1015 refers to the "correspondence table for calculating backwards from the face-up / face-down setting of the final paper output" in FIG. 24 to determine the paper output unit, print surface direction, and page order for print job 1 and print job 2. Then, in step S7, the divided print job 1 is printed.

[0106] 20, in step S17, the control unit 1015 causes the destination instruction unit 1012 to output an instruction screen for moving the print paper in S11 or S4 to the operation panel 111. This prompts the user to move the stacks of print paper printed in print job 1 and print job 2.

[0107] 25 is made up of screens 321 and 322. Screen 321 shows image forming apparatus 101 printing print job 2, paper output tray 117 to which print paper is discharged, and output state 302 (face up) of the print paper. Screen 322 displays post-processing device 105 (creaser) that post-processes print paper for print job 1 and print job 2, paper feed tray 132 which is the destination of the print paper stack and is the paper feed tray for print paper, and paper movement instruction message 323 saying "Please move the paper stack to the creaser paper feed tray."

[0108] The paper stack movement instruction screen 320 displays the image forming apparatus 101 from which the print paper will be moved and the post-processing device 105 to which it will be moved. Furthermore, the screen 320 clearly indicates the source and destination of the print paper by matching the graphic colors of the paper output tray 117 and paper feed tray 132 with the text colors of "FROM" and "TO." This makes it easy for the user to understand the source and destination of the print paper.

[0109] The "Start post-processing" button 324 is a button for notifying that the stack of print papers has been moved to the paper feed tray 132. When the control unit 1015 detects that the "Start post-processing" button 324 has been pressed, it determines that the user has set the stack of papers in the paper feed tray 132, and proceeds to step 18.

[0110] Returning to FIG. 20, in step S18, post-processing is performed by the post-processing device 105, and the process ends.

[0111] According to the above, the orientation of the print surface of the paper stack on the paper discharge tray of the image forming apparatus 101 can be set to the orientation (face up / face down) of the print surface of the paper stack to be placed on the specified paper feed tray 132 of the post-processing device 105. Furthermore, the image forming apparatus is set to operate and print so that the orientation of the print surface of the paper stack is not changed when the paper stack is moved from the paper discharge tray to the paper feed tray of the post-processing device 105, and when the paper stack of print papers of the divided print jobs is moved from the paper discharge tray to the collation feed tray to be collated. This allows the user to easily move the paper stack. EXAMPLES

[0112] Next, a case in which the image forming system 100 of the embodiment performs "collation" of the divided print jobs and also performs "overprinting" of the divided print jobs will be explained based on the image forming system 100 of Figure 2 and the image forming system 10 of Figure 10. First, a case where "additional printing" is performed in the image forming system 100 of FIG. 2 will be described.

[0113] In this case, in step S1 of FIG. 4, the control unit 1015 of the image forming device 101 causes the device setting unit 1013 to display the "job division and collation settings" setting screen 250 shown in FIG. 26 on the operation panel 111, and sets the printing operation including "overprinting." Then, after the collating process in step S11 or the printing process in step S4, an "additional printing" process (not shown) is performed.

[0114] In detail, the control unit 1015 causes the transfer destination instruction unit 1012 to output a screen for instructing the transfer of the paper bundle to the overprinting paper feed tray on the operation panel 111. This prompts the user to transfer the paper bundle for overprinting. Thereafter, additional printing of the specified page range is performed.

[0115] 26 shows a setting screen 260 for “job division and collation setting” when “additional printing” is performed. The setting screen 260 is made up of a display 201, a display area 261, a display area 262, a display 263, and an “OK” button 204.

[0116] More specifically, display 201 is a display of radio buttons for setting whether or not to perform collation. Display area 261 is a display area for setting job division including overprinting by page designation. Display area 262 is a display area for setting the overprinting paper feed tray. Display 263 shows the final discharge face up / down radio button for specifying the orientation of the print surface of the print paper that is finally discharged. "OK" button 204 is an "OK" button for registering the settings.

[0117] In the display area 261, when setting up a divided job for overprinting, the overprinting item in the page settings is set to "Yes." Also, when setting up overprinting for all divided jobs at once, the "Batch overprinting" checkbox is marked. In the display area 262 for setting the pre-printing paper feed tray, the insertion paper tray is excluded from the options.

[0118] Next, a case where "additional printing" is performed in the image forming system 100 of FIG. 10 will be described. In this case, in step S1 of FIG. 12, the control unit 1015 of the image forming device 101 causes the device setting unit 1013 to display the "Job division and collation settings" setting screen 260 shown in FIG. 27 on the operation panel 111, and sets the printing operation including "overprinting". Then, after the collating process in step S11 or the printing process in step S4, an "additional printing" process (not shown) is performed.

[0119] In detail, the control unit 1015 causes the transfer destination instruction unit 1012 to output a screen for instructing the transfer of the paper bundle to the overprinting paper feed tray on the operation panel 111. This prompts the user to transfer the paper bundle for overprinting. Thereafter, additional printing of the specified page range is performed.

[0120] 27 shows a setting screen 270 for “Job division and collation setting” when “additional printing” is performed. The setting screen 270 includes a display 201, a display area 261, a display area 262, a display 263, an “OK” button 204, a screen 271, and a screen 272.

[0121] In more detail, display 201 is a radio button for setting whether or not to perform collation. Display area 261 is a display area for setting job division including overprinting by the same page specification as setting screen 260 in FIG. 26. Display area 262 is a display area for setting the overprinting paper feed tray. Display 263 displays a radio button for final discharge face up / down, which specifies the orientation of the printing surface of the printing paper that is finally discharged. "OK" button 204 is an "OK" button for registering the setting. Screen 271 is a screen displayed by an image forming device that prints printing paper for overprinting. Screen 272 is a screen displayed by an image forming device that performs overprinting.

[0122] More specifically, similar to the setting screen 220 for "Job division and collation settings" in Fig. 14, on screen 271, the user selects a tab for a candidate image generating device to select an image forming device that will print the print paper for overprinting. Then, the user selects an output tray to which the print paper for overprinting will be discharged. In Fig. 27, the setting is made so that the print paper for overprinting will be printed on Printer1 and the print paper for overprinting will be discharged to the output tray.

[0123] On screen 272, the user selects the tab of the candidate image generating device to select the image forming device to perform overprinting. Then, select the overprinting paper feed tray on which the print paper to be overprinted is placed. In Fig. 27, overprinting is performed on Printer3, and the print paper to be overprinted is set to be fed from the large capacity paper feed tray.

[0124] In the setting screen 270 for "Job division and collation setting" in FIG. 27, a stack of print sheets for which overprinting is to be performed is set to be moved from the paper output tray of Printer1 to the large-capacity paper feed tray of Printer3.

[0125] According to the above, the final printed paper after overprinting can be discharged in the specified printing surface orientation (face up / face down). Furthermore, when moving the stack of printed paper of the divided print jobs from the paper output tray to the collation feed tray to collate, and when moving the stack of paper to the feed tray for overprinting, the image forming device is set to operate and printed so that the orientation of the printing surface of the stack of paper is not changed, so that the user can easily move the stack of paper.

[0126] Although the above describes a case where both collation and overprinting are performed, the present invention can also be applied to a case where collation is not performed and overprinting is performed as one of the divided jobs.

[0127] Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned examples, and various modified examples are included. The above-mentioned embodiments have been described in detail to easily explain the present invention, and the present invention is not necessarily limited to those having all of the configurations described. Furthermore, it is possible to replace a part of the configuration of one embodiment with the configuration of another embodiment, and it is also possible to add the configuration of another embodiment to the configuration of one embodiment. [Explanation of symbols]

[0128] 101 Image forming device 111 Operation Panel 112 Large capacity paper tray 113 Finisher 114 Main unit paper feed tray 115 Transcription section 116 Insert Paper Tray 117 Output tray 118 Front and back reversal mechanism 119 Manual feed tray 1011 Job Reception Unit 1012 Destination instruction section 1013 Device setting section 1014 Image processing section 1015 Control section 1016 Job division control unit

Claims

1. An image forming system in which a user executes a print job by moving a stack of print papers from a source tray to a destination tray, a device setting section for setting printing operation including the orientation of the printed surface of the final printed paper, the tray to which the paper stack is to be moved, and job division settings for the print job; a job division control unit that determines a paper output unit, a print surface direction, and a page order of the divided job based on the print operation setting so that when a stack of print paper of one job obtained by dividing a print job based on the job division setting is moved, the stack of print paper can be moved while maintaining the print surface direction and page order of the paper; a control unit that sequentially executes the divided jobs based on the paper discharge unit, print surface direction, and page order determined by the job division control unit; An image forming system comprising:

2. 2. The image forming system according to claim 1, the device setting unit sets an insertion paper tray as a destination tray of the paper stack, and sets division by a page range of print paper set by a user as the job division setting; the job division control unit divides the print job into a job 1 for printing a page range in which a page range of print paper is placed on the insertion paper tray, and a job 2 for printing the other page range, the control unit inserts print sheets of the job 1 from the insertion sheet tray and collates them when printing the job 2; Image forming system.

3. 2. The image forming system according to claim 1, The device setting section sets the insertion paper tray as a destination tray of the paper stack, and sets monochrome printing / color printing as the job division setting. The job division control unit divides a print job into a job 1 for printing color pages and a job 2 for printing monochrome pages, the job being for printing print sheets to be moved to the insertion paper tray, the control unit inserts print sheets of the job 1 from the insertion sheet tray and collates them when printing the job 2; Image forming system.

4. 2. The image forming system according to claim 1, further comprising: a device information collection unit that collects device information of a plurality of image forming apparatuses connected to a network, the control unit executes the divided jobs in at least one of the image forming apparatuses. Image forming system.

5. 5. The image forming system according to claim 4, the device setting unit selects an image forming device having a tray to which the paper stack is to be moved and which finally ejects the print paper, and an image forming device which executes the divided jobs, based on the device information; Image forming system.

6. 2. The image forming system according to claim 1, the device setting unit sets the orientation of the print surface of the paper stack specified in the paper feed tray of the post-processing device as the orientation of the print surface of the print paper to be finally discharged; Image forming system.

7. 2. The image forming system according to claim 1, The device setting unit sets the job to be overprinted as the job division setting, and sets a tray other than the insertion paper tray as a destination tray for the paper stack to be overprinted, The job division control unit divides the print job into a job 1 for printing the print paper moved to the destination tray and for overprinting, and a job 2 for overprinting, the control unit feeds print paper of the job 1 from the destination tray and performs overprinting when printing the job 2; Image forming system.

8. An image forming method for an image forming system in which a user moves a stack of print paper from a source tray to a destination tray to execute a print job, comprising: A step in which a device setting unit sets printing operation settings including the orientation of the printing surface of the print paper to be finally discharged, the tray to which the paper stack is to be moved, and job division settings for the print job; determining a paper output unit, a print surface direction, and a page order of the divided job based on the print operation settings so that, when a job division control unit moves a stack of print papers of one job obtained by dividing the print job based on the job division settings, the stack of print papers can be moved while maintaining the orientation of the print surface and the page order of the paper; a control unit sequentially executing the divided jobs based on the paper discharge unit, the print surface direction, and the page order determined by the job division control unit; An image forming method comprising the steps of:

Images