Image forming apparatus, system and method using printing layout templates

An image forming method comprising:

• requesting a layout template list from an image forming apparatus;
• transmitting the layout template list to a communication device;
• determining a layout template for printing an image from the layout template list;
• transmitting the image and information on the determined layout template to the image forming apparatus;
• and
• printing an image layout by using the information transmitted from the communication device.

A communication device comprising:

• a data storage unit for storing data of an image;
• a first display unit for displaying the image and a layout template list;
• a first user interface unit for receiving a control command of a user;
• a first interface unit for interfacing with an image forming apparatus to transmit/receive data;
• and
• a data transmission/receive control unit for controlling a request for the layout template list and controlling for transmitting the image and the information to the image forming apparatus.

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• a second interface unit for interfacing with a communication device to transmit/receive data;
• a template storage unit for storing at least one layout template;
• a layout template list transmitter for transmitting a layout template list to the communication device;
• a template extractor for extracting the layout template corresponding to information received from the communication device from the at least one layout template stored in the template storage unit;
• a processing data storage unit for storing an image transmitted from the communication device and the layout template extracted by the template extractor;
• an extensible hypertext markup language (XHTML)-Print data generator for generating XHTML-Print data of an image layout corresponding to the at least one stored layout template;
• an XHTML-print data analyzer for analyzing the generated XHTML-Print data;
• a buffer for temporarily storing the analyzed XHTML-Print data;
• and
• a printing engine unit for printing the image layout.