Information processing apparatus, method of distributing a print job, and non-transitory computer readable recording medium

A method of distributing a print job by an information processing apparatus, the information processing apparatus including printer driver circuits that drive different image forming devices, respectively, the method comprising:

• by a virtual printer driver circuit configured to perform virtual printing,
• describing a document to be printed in a device-independent format to generate device-independent spool data, and
• describing a variable for printing the document in a standard print setting storage format to generate standard-format job data;
• by a distribute circuit,
• selecting a printer driver circuit to generate print data of the document based on the variable described in the standard-format job data out of the printer driver circuits by retrieving a table that records combinations of variables of functions and the printer driver circuits in association with each other, and by selecting a printer driver circuit in association with a combination of variables of functions selected by the user, and
• supplying the device-independent spool data and the standard-format job data to the selected printer driver circuit;
• and
• by the selected printer driver circuit configured to perform re-printing after the virtual printing,
• obtaining the device-independent spool data and the standard-format job data from the distribute circuit,
• interpretting the device-independent spool data and the standard-format job data and generates print data, an image forming device driven by the selected printer driver circuit being capable of interpreting the print data, the print data including a variable of a function specific to the image forming device driven by the selected printer driver circuit, and
• supplying the print data to the image forming device.

A non-transitory computer readable recording medium that records a program executable by a computer of an information processing apparatus, the information processing apparatus including printer driver circuits that drive different image forming devices, respectively, and a virtual printer driver circuit configured to perform re-printing after the virtual printing that describes a document to be printed in a device-independent format to generate device-independent spool data, and describes a variable for printing the document in a standard print setting storage format to generate standard-format job data, the program causing the computer to:

• select a printer driver circuit to generate print data of the document based on the variable described in the standard-format job data out of the printer driver circuits by retrieving a table that records combinations of variables of functions and the printer driver circuits in association with each other, and by selecting a printer driver circuit in association with a combination of variables of functions selected by the user;
• and
• supply the device-independent spool data and the standard-format job data to the selected printer driver circuit, wherein
• the selected printer driver circuit configured to perform re-printing
• obtains the device-independent spool data and the standard-format job data from the distribute circuit,
• interprets the device-independent spool data and the standard-format job data and generates print data, an image forming device driven by the selected printer driver circuit being capable of interpreting the print data, the print data including a variable of a function specific to the image forming device driven by the selected printer driver circuit, and
• supplies the print data to the image forming device.