Printing control apparatus, printing management apparatus, printing system, printing control method, printing management method, printing control program, and printing management program

A printing management apparatus in a printing system, the printing system comprising a terminal apparatus;

• a plurality of printer apparatuses connected to the terminal apparatus;
• and a printing control apparatus provided for one of the printer apparatuses;
• the printing management apparatus connected to the printing system, the printing management apparatus comprising:
• a reception unit that receives a print job sent by the printing control apparatus;
• a print job storage unit that stores the print job received by the reception unit;
• a print job transmission unit that reads the print job from the print job storage unit in response to a print job send request from the printing control apparatus, and sends the print job to the printing control apparatus;
• a list information storage unit that stores a list of the at least one print job that is stored in the print job storage unit;
• and
• a list information transmission unit that reads from the list information storage unit the list in response to a list information send request sent from the printing control apparatus, and sends the read list to the printing control apparatus.

A printing system, comprising:

• a terminal apparatus;
• a plurality of printer apparatuses connected to the terminal apparatus;
• a printing control apparatus provided for one of the printer apparatuses;
• and a printing management apparatus connected the printing system,
• wherein the printing control apparatus comprises:
• a reception unit that receives a print job sent by the terminal apparatus;
• a transmission unit that sends the print job received by the reception unit to the printing management apparatus;
• a print job requesting unit that sends the printing management apparatus a print job send request requesting at least one print job that has been sent by another printing control apparatus that is different from the printing control apparatus;
• an output unit that receives a print job sent by the printing management apparatus in response to the print job send request from the print job requesting unit, and sends the received print job to the printer apparatus;
• a list requesting unit that sends to the printing management apparatus a print job list information send request requesting a list of at least one print job stored in the printing management apparatus;
• and
• a list information reception unit that receives print job list information sent from the printing management apparatus in response to the list information send request from the list requesting unit,
• wherein the printing management apparatus comprises:
• a reception unit that receives a print job sent by the printing control apparatus;
• a print job storage unit that stores the print job received by the reception unit;
• and
• a print job transmission unit that reads the print job from the print job storage unit in response to a print job send request from the printing control apparatus, and sends the print job to the printing control apparatus.

A print control method used in a printing control apparatus in a printing system, the printing system comprising a terminal apparatus;

• a plurality of printer apparatuses connected to the terminal apparatus;
• and a printing management apparatus connected to the printing system, the print control method comprising:
• receiving a print job sent by the terminal apparatus;
• sending the received print job to the printing management apparatus;
• sending to the printing management apparatus a print job send request requesting at least one print job that has been sent by another printing control apparatus that is different from the printing control apparatus;
• receiving a print job sent by the printing management apparatus, and sending the received print job to the printer apparatus;
• sending to the printing management apparatus a print job list information send request requesting a list of at least one print job stored in the printing management apparatus;
• and
• receiving print job list information sent from the printing management apparatus in response to the list information send request from the list requesting unit.

A print management method used in a printing management apparatus in a printing system, the printing system comprising a terminal apparatus;

• a plurality of printer apparatuses connected to the terminal apparatus;
• a printing control apparatus provided for one of the printer apparatuses;
• and the printing management apparatus connected to the printing system, the printing management method comprising:
• receiving and storing a print job sent by the printing management apparatus;
• reading from a print job storage unit the print job in response to a send request from the printing control apparatus, and sending the print job to the printing control apparatus;
• storing a list of the at least one print job that is stored in the print job storage unit;
• reading from a list information storage unit the list in response to a list information send request sent from the printing control apparatus;
• and
• sending the read list to the printing control apparatus.

A printing control program used in a printing control apparatus in a printing system, the printing system comprising a terminal apparatus;

• a plurality of printer apparatuses connected to the terminal apparatus;
• and a printing management apparatus connected to the printing system, the printing control program comprising the steps of:
• receiving a print job sent by the terminal apparatus;
• sending the received print job to the printing management apparatus;
• sending to the printing management apparatus a print job send request requesting at least one print job that has been sent by another printing control apparatus that is different from the printing control apparatus;
• receiving a print job sent by the printing management apparatus, and sending the received print job to the printer apparatus;
• sending to the printing management apparatus a print job list information send request requesting a list of at least one print job stored in the printing management apparatus;
• and
• receiving print job list information sent from the printing management apparatus in response to the list information send request from the list requesting unit.

A printing management program used in a printing management apparatus in a printing system, the printing system comprising a terminal apparatus;

• a plurality of printer apparatuses connected to the terminal apparatus;
• a printing control apparatus provided for one of the printer apparatuses;
• and the printing management apparatus connected to the printing system, the printing management program comprising:
• receiving and storing a print job sent by the printing management apparatus;
• reading from a print job storage unit the print job in response to a send request from the printing control apparatus, and sending the print job to the printing control apparatus;
• storing a list of the at least one print job that is stored in the print job storage unit;
• reading from a list information storage unit the list in response to a list information send request sent from the printing control apparatus;
• and
• sending the read list to the printing control apparatus.