Image forming apparatus, image forming system, and image forming operation control method

Abstract

An image forming system includes a plurality of image forming apparatuses which are connected to each other via a communication line. Each of the image forming apparatuses includes an image reader that reads an image of an original document as image data; an image data storage that stores the image data; an image forming unit that forms an image onto a sheet of paper from the image data; and a communication unit that transmits and receives any one of the image data and control data for controlling an image forming operation. At least one of the image forming apparatuses includes an output timing controller that controls the plurality of image forming apparatuses so that start time of an image forming operation are different among the plurality of image forming apparatuses.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.