Printing control apparatus, printing control method, and printing system

A printing control method in a printing control apparatus, the method comprising:

• displaying, via an image acquisition section, a list of images stored in a terminal device on the terminal device and acquiring an image selected as a print target from the list on the terminal device;
• displaying, via a multi-up layout acquisition section, candidates for a plurality of multi-up layouts on the terminal device and acquiring the multi-up layout selected from the candidates;
• displaying, via a preview display section, a preview image in which the selected image is arranged according to the multi-up layout on the terminal device;
• and
• generating, via a printing instruction transmission section, print data in which the selected image is arranged according to the multi-up layout and transmitting a printing instruction for the print data to a printing apparatus, wherein
• at least one of the image acquisition section, the multi-up layout acquisition section, and the preview display section is processed via a chat server.

A printing system comprising:

• a printing control apparatus;
• and
• a printing apparatus,
• the printing control apparatus configured to include
• an image acquisition section that causes a terminal device to display a list of images stored in the terminal device and acquires an image selected as a print target from the list on the terminal device,
• a multi-up layout acquisition section that causes the terminal device to display candidates for a plurality of multi-up layouts and acquires the multi-up layout selected from the candidates,
• a preview display section that causes the terminal device to display a preview image in which the selected image is arranged according to the multi-up layout, and
• a printing instruction transmission section that generates print data in which the selected image is arranged according to the multi-up layout and transmits a printing instruction for the print data to the printing apparatus, wherein
• the printing apparatus executes printing based on the print data, and
• at least one of the image acquisition section, the multi-up layout acquisition section, and the preview display section is processed via a chat server.