Print system, print server, print control method, and non-transitory computer-readable recording medium encoded with print control program

A print system comprising a print server and a plurality of image forming apparatuses,

• a hardware processor of the print server executing:
• a server-side receiving step of externally receiving a print job including user identification information for identifying a user and image data;
• a server-side extracting step of, in response to reception of a download request including user identification information from any one of the plurality of image forming apparatuses, extracting a print job that includes user identification information identical with the user identification information included in the received download request from among one or more print jobs received in the server-side receiving step;
• a print job transmitting step of, in response to reception of the download request from a first image forming apparatus among the plurality of image forming apparatuses, transmitting the extracted print job to the first image forming apparatus;
• a progress status detecting step of detecting a progress status in which, among the plurality of image forming apparatuses, a first image forming apparatus that has received the print job executes the print job;
• a job-in-progress detecting step of, in response to reception of a download request from a second image forming apparatus different from the first image forming apparatus among the plurality of image forming apparatuses, detecting the print job transmitted to the first image forming apparatus as a job in progress, if the print job transmitted to the first image forming apparatus includes user identification information identical with user identification information included in the download request received from the second image forming apparatus and the progress status detected in the progress status detecting step of the print job executed in the first image forming apparatus is in progress;
• and
• a job-in-progress information transmitting step of, if the job in progress is detected, transmitting job-in-progress information including the job in progress and device identification information for identifying the first image forming apparatus to the second image forming apparatus,
• a hardware processor of each of the plurality of image forming apparatuses executing:
• a user detecting step of detecting a user;
• a download request step of transmitting a download request including user identification information of the user detected in the user detecting step to the print server;
• and
• a job executing step of, if the print job is received from the print server in response to transmission of the download request, executing the print job,
• a hardware processor of the second image forming apparatus executing:
• a progress status acquiring step of, if the job-in-progress information is received from the print server, acquiring a progress status of executing the job in progress from the first image forming apparatus specified by the device identification information included in the job-in-progress information;
• a splitting step of splitting the job in progress into a first split job that is a preceding section and a second split job that is a following section, based on the acquired progress status of the job in progress;
• a split job executing step of executing the second split job;
• and
• an end command transmitting step of transmitting an end command to terminate the job in progress at a location defined by the first split job to the first image forming apparatus,
• the hardware processor of the first image forming apparatus further executing a job cancel step of terminating execution of the job in progress at a location defined by the end command if the end command is received from the second image forming apparatus.

A print server comprising a hardware processor that executes:

• a server-side receiving step of externally receiving a print job including user identification information for identifying a user and image data;
• a server-side extracting step of, in response to reception of a download request including user identification information from any one of the plurality of image forming apparatuses, extracting a print job that includes user identification information identical with the user identification information included in the received download request from among one or more print jobs received in the server-side receiving step;
• a print job transmitting step of transmitting the extracted print job to, among the plurality of image forming apparatuses, an image forming apparatus that has transmitted the download request;
• a progress status detecting step of detecting a progress status in which, among the plurality of image forming apparatuses, a first image forming apparatus that has received the print job executes the print job;
• a job-in-progress detecting step of, in response to reception of a download request from a second image forming apparatus different from the first image forming apparatus, detecting the print job transmitted to the first image forming apparatus as a job in progress, if the print job transmitted to the first image forming apparatus includes user identification information identical with user identification information included in the download request received from the second image forming apparatus and the progress status detected in the progress status detecting step of the print job executed in the first image forming apparatus is in progress;
• a splitting step of, if the job in progress is detected, splitting the job in progress into a first split job that is a preceding section and a second split job that is a following section, based on the progress status of the job in progress;
• a split job transmitting step of transmitting the second split job to the second image forming apparatus;
• and
• an end command transmitting step of transmitting an end command to terminate the job in progress at a location defined by the first split job to the first image forming apparatus.

A print control method performed in a print server, comprising:

• a server-side receiving step of externally receiving a print job including user identification information for identifying a user and image data;
• a server-side extracting step of, in response to reception of a download request including user identification information from any one of a plurality of image forming apparatuses, extracting a print job that includes user identification information identical with the user identification information included in the received download request from among one or more print jobs received in the server-side receiving step;
• a print job transmitting step of transmitting the extracted print job to, among the plurality of image forming apparatuses, an image forming apparatus that has transmitted the download request;
• a progress status detecting step of detecting a progress status in which, among the plurality of image forming apparatuses, a first image forming apparatus that has received the print job executes the print job;
• a job-in-progress detecting step of, in response to reception of a download request from a second image forming apparatus different from the first image forming apparatus, detecting the print job transmitted to the first image forming apparatus as a job in progress, if the print job transmitted to the first image forming apparatus includes user identification information identical with user identification information included in the download request received from the second image forming apparatus and the progress status detected in the progress status detecting step of the print job executed in the first image forming apparatus is in progress;
• a splitting step of, if the job in progress is detected, splitting the job in progress into a first split job that is a preceding section and a second split job that is a following section, based on the progress status of the job in progress;
• a split job transmitting step of transmitting the second split job to the second image forming apparatus;
• and
• a command transmitting step of transmitting an end command to terminate the job in progress at a location defined by the first split job to the first image forming apparatus.

A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium encoded with a print control program executed in a computer that controls a print server, the program causing the computer to execute:

• a server-side receiving step of externally receiving a print job including user identification information for identifying a user and image data;
• a server-side extracting step of, in response to reception of a download request including user identification information from any one of a plurality of image forming apparatuses, extracting a print job that includes user identification information identical with the user identification information included in the received download request from among one or more print jobs received in the server-side receiving step;
• a print job transmitting step of transmitting the extracted print job to, among the plurality of image forming apparatuses, an image forming apparatus that has transmitted the download request;
• a progress status detecting step of detecting a progress status in which, among the plurality of image forming apparatuses, a first image forming apparatus that has received the print job executes the print job;
• a job-in-progress detecting step of, in response to reception of a download request from a second image forming apparatus different from the first image forming apparatus, detecting the print job transmitted to the first image forming apparatus as a job in progress, if the print job transmitted to the first image forming apparatus includes user identification information identical with user identification information included in the download request received from the second image forming apparatus and the progress status detected in the progress status detecting step of the print job executed in the first image forming apparatus is in progress;
• a splitting step of, if the job in progress is detected, splitting the job in progress into a first split job that is a preceding section and a second split job that is a following section, based on the progress status of the job in progress;
• a split job transmitting step of transmitting the second split job to the second image forming apparatus;
• and
• a command transmitting step of transmitting an end command to terminate the job in progress at a location defined by the first split job to the first image forming apparatus.

An image forming apparatus comprising a hardware processor, wherein the hardware processor executes:

• a user detecting step of detecting a user;
• a download request step of transmitting a download request including user identification information of the user detected in the user detecting step to a print server;
• a job executing step of, if a print job is received from the print server in response to transmission of the download request, executing the print job,
• a progress status acquiring step of, if job-in-progress information including a job-in-progress as a print job being executed in another first image forming apparatus and device identification information for identifying the first image forming apparatus is received from the print server in response to transmission of the download request, acquiring a progress status of executing the job in progress from the first image forming apparatus specified by the device identification information included in the first job-in-progress information;
• a splitting step of splitting the job in progress into a first split job that is a preceding section and a second split job that is a following section, based on the acquired progress status of the job in progress;
• a split job executing step of executing the second split job;
• an end command transmitting step of transmitting a first end command to terminate the job in progress at a location defined by the first split job to the first image forming apparatus;
• and
• a job cancel step of, if a second end command is received from another second image forming apparatus receiving from the print server job information of a second job in progress including the print job in progress in the job executing step, terminating execution of the print job in progress in the job executing step at a location defined by the second end command.

A print control method executed by an image forming apparatus, comprising:

• a user detecting step of detecting a user;
• a download request step of transmitting a download request including user identification information of the user detected in the user detecting step to a print server;
• a job executing step of, if a print job is received from the print server in response to transmission of the download request, executing the print job,
• a progress status acquiring step of, if first job-in-progress information including a job-in-progress as a print job being executed by another first image forming apparatus and device identification information for identifying the first image forming apparatus is received from the print server in response to transmission of the download request, acquiring a progress status of executing the job-in-progress from the first image forming apparatus specified by the device identification information included in the first job-in-progress information;
• a splitting step of splitting the job-in-progress into a first split job that is a preceding section and a second split job that is a following section, based on the acquired progress status of executing the job-in-progress;
• a split job executing step of executing the second split job;
• an end command transmitting step of transmitting a first end command to terminate the job-in-progress at a location defined by the first split job to the first image forming apparatus;
• and
• a job cancel step of, if a second end command is received from another second image forming apparatus receiving from the print server second job-in-progress information including the print job being executed in the job executing step, terminating execution of the print job-in-progress in the job executing step at a location defined by the second end command.