Image forming apparatus and discharge destination display method

An image forming apparatus communicably connected to a plurality of terminal devices, and having a plurality of discharge destination trays, comprising:

• an inquiry portion configured to, upon receiving a predetermined print job, inquire a terminal device as a transmission source of the print job as to whether or not another terminal device exists near the terminal device;
• a determination portion configured to, when the result of the inquiry is that the other terminal device exists, determine whether or not the other terminal device is included in a transmission destination of a print job of a printed matter existing in a discharge destination, based on the present state of the discharge destination;
• and
• a discharge destination display portion configured to, when the result of the determination is that the other terminal device is included in the transmission destination of the print job of the printed matter existing in the discharge destination, display a discharge destination of a printed matter corresponding to the other terminal device, and user identification information of a user who owns the other terminal device, wherein
• the inquiry portion determines that another terminal device exists, upon receiving address information of the other terminal device from the terminal device as the transmission source,
• based on a table in which discharge destinations, user identification information of users who have transmitted print jobs of printed matters discharged to the discharge destinations, and address information of terminal devices owned by the users of the user identification information are stored in association with each other, the determination portion determines whether or not the received address information of the other terminal device is included in the address information of the terminal devices in the table, and
• when the result of the determination is that the received address information of the other terminal device is included in the address information of the terminal devices in the table, the discharge destination display portion obtains, from the table, a discharge destination and user identification information corresponding to the address information of the other terminal device, and displays the discharge destination of the printed matter corresponding to the other terminal device and the user identification information of the user who owns the other terminal device.

A discharge destination display method of an image forming apparatus communicably connected to a plurality of terminal devices and having a plurality of discharge destination trays, the method comprising the steps of:

• inquiring, when a predetermined print job is received, a terminal device as a transmission source of the print job as to whether or not another terminal device exists near the terminal device;
• determining, when the result of the inquiry is that the other terminal device exists, whether or not the other terminal device is included in a transmission destination of a print job of a printed matter existing in a discharge destination, based on the present state of the discharge destination;
• and
• displaying, when the result of the determination is that the other terminal device is included in the transmission destination of the print job of the printed matter existing in the discharge destination, a discharge destination of a printed matter corresponding to the other terminal device, and user identification information of a user who owns the other terminal device, wherein
• in the inquiring step, it is determined that another terminal device exists, upon receiving information of the other terminal device from the terminal device as the transmission source, within a given set time from when the inquiry portion makes the inquiry to the terminal device as the transmission source.