Image forming system

An image forming system, comprising:

• a plurality of image forming apparatuses;
• and
• a transmission apparatus for interconnecting said plurality of image forming apparatuses to allow them to communicate with each other by transmitting and receiving image data;
• wherein at least one of said plurality of image forming apparatuses serves as a first image forming apparatus which includes:
• a first processing section for processing the image data with a predetermined image processing function;
• an image recording section for forming a visible image based on the image data;
• an input section for inputting an instruction with regard to the image processing function to be performed by said first image forming apparatus;
• a transmission-side control section for storing function data indicative of types of image processing functions provided in each of said plurality of image forming apparatuses including said first image forming apparatus, selecting a plurality of image forming apparatuses provided with a selected image processing function based on an instruction for requesting a predetermined image processing function to be applied to the image data and the function data from said input section so as to distribute the image data to be processed, and transferring the image data respectively to said first processing section of the selected first image forming apparatus and said second image forming apparatus through said transmission apparatus while realigning the processed image data by said first processing section of said first image forming apparatus and the processed image data returned from said second image forming apparatus to be supplied to said image recording section;
• and
• said second image forming apparatus includes:
• a second processing section for processing the image data with a predetermined image processing function;
• and
• a processing-side control section for supplying the image data inputted through said transmission apparatus to said second processing section and returning the image data processed by said second processing section to said first image forming apparatus through said transmission apparatus.

An image forming system, comprising:

• at least one image forming apparatus;
• at least one image processing apparatus;
• and
• a transmission apparatus for allowing them to communicate with each other by transmitting and receiving data,
• wherein each image processing apparatus includes:
• a first memory section for storing image data inputted through said transmission apparatus, and
• each image forming apparatus includes:
• an image take-in section for taking-in an original document image as image data;
• a second memory section for storing the image data taken in by said image taken-in section;
• an input section for inputting an instruction with regard to the image processing function to be performed by said image forming apparatus;
• a processing section for processing the image data with a predetermined image processing function;
• an image recording section for forming a visible image based on the processed image data;
• and
• a control section for controlling a memory capacity of said second memory section, said control section controlling such that when an amount of image data to be inputted exceeds the memory capacity of the second memory section, image data in an excess amount of the memory capacity are transferred to other image forming apparatus or image processing apparatus through said transmission apparatus.

An image forming system, comprising:

• at least one image forming apparatus;
• at least one image processing apparatus;
• and
• a transmission apparatus for allowing them to communicate with each other by transmitting and receiving data,
• wherein each image processing apparatus includes:
• a first memory section for storing image data inputted through said transmission apparatus, and
• each image forming apparatus includes:
• an image take-in section for taking in an original document image as image data;
• a second memory section for storing the image data taken in by said image taken-in section;
• an input section for inputting an instruction with regard to the image processing function to be performed by said image forming apparatus;
• a processing section for processing the image data with a predetermined image processing function;
• an image recording section for forming a visible image based on the processed image data;
• and
• a control section for controlling a memory capacity of said second memory section, said control section controlling such that when an amount of image data to be inputted exceeds the memory capacity of said second memory section, the image data to be transferred are selected in accordance with an object specified by an operator, and the selected image data are transferred to other image forming apparatus or image processing apparatus through said transmission apparatus.

An image forming system, comprising:

• at least one image forming apparatus;
• at least one image processing apparatus;
• and
• a transmission apparatus for allowing them to communicate with each other by transmitting and receiving data,
• wherein each image processing apparatus includes:
• a first memory section for storing image data inputted through said transmission apparatus, and
• each image forming apparatus includes:
• an image take-in section for taking in an original document image as image data;
• a second memory section for storing the image data taken in by said image taken-in section;
• an input section for inputting an instruction with regard to the image processing function to be performed by said image forming apparatus;
• a processing section for applying a predetermined image process to said image data;
• an image recording section for forming a visible image based on the processed image data;
• and
• receiving end selection means for controlling a memory capacity of said second memory section, said receiving end selection means controlling such that when an amount of image data to be inputted exceeds the memory capacity of said second memory section, other image forming apparatus or image processing apparatus is selected in accordance with an object specified by the operator, and a predetermined image data are transferred to the selected apparatus through said transmission apparatus.