Printing system and method therefor, program for implementing the method, and storage medium storing the program

A printing method of a printing system comprising a printing apparatus adapted to execute a print job, a print control apparatus adapted to control said printing apparatus, a print authority management server adapted to manage a print authority of said printing apparatus, and a data base server adapted to hold print function limitation information, said printing apparatus, said print authority management server, and said data base server being connected with one another via a network, and the printing method comprising the steps of:

• said print control apparatus transmitting two or more pieces of information required to limit a print function of said printing apparatus, to request production of a print authority token for limiting the print function, the transmitted two or more pieces of information including both of user information related to a user of said printing apparatus and application information related to an application for executing the print job;
• said print authority management server receiving the two or more pieces of information, searching the print function limitation information held in said database server by using, as search keys, the user information and the application information included in the respective pieces of information, composing two or more pieces of the searched print function limitation information with each other in an order of priority among the search keys for producing the print authority token, and transmitting the print authority token to said print control apparatus;
• said print control apparatus adding the received print authority token to the print job and then transmitting the print job to said printing apparatus;
• and
• said printing apparatus limiting an instruction for the print job based on the print authority token, when the print authority token is added to the received print job.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores a program that, when executed by one or more computers in a printing system, causes the one or more computers to execute a printing method, the printing system comprising a printing apparatus adapted to execute a print job, a print control apparatus adapted to control said printing apparatus, a print authority management server adapted to manage a print authority of said printing apparatus, and a data base server adapted to hold print function limitation information, said printing apparatus, said print authority management server, and said data base server being connected with one another via a network, and said printing method comprising the steps of:

• said print control apparatus transmitting two or more pieces of information required to limit a print function of said printing apparatus, to request production of a print authority token for limiting the print function, the transmitted two or more pieces of information including both of user information related to a user of said printing apparatus and application information related to an application for executing the print job;
• said print authority management server receiving the two or more pieces of information, searching the print function limitation information held in said database server by using, as search keys, the user information and the application information included in the respective pieces of information, composing two or more pieces of the searched print function limitation information with each other in an order of priority among the search keys for producing the print authority token, and transmitting the print authority token to said print control apparatus;
• said print control apparatus adding the received print authority token to the print job and then transmitting the print job to said printing apparatus;
• and
• said printing apparatus limiting an instruction for the print job based on the print authority token, when the print authority token is added to the received print job.