A method, job management apparatus, and computer program product are disclosed for a job management apparatus, the job management apparatus managing a print job for at least one printer, wherein the code computer readable code configured to cause the job management apparatus to display a job scheduling screen. The process includes (a) obtaining first information on a job to be executed by the at least one printer; (b) obtaining second information on color reproduction state of the at least one printer; and (c) generating the job scheduling screen, wherein the job scheduling screen is a two dimensional chart in which a first axis indicates an execution length of time for the job or a number of sheets of paper to be used for the job, and in which a part of a second axis of the two dimensional chart indicates the color reproduction state of the at least one printer.

An example method for operating a printing system in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure includes receiving, at a printing unit, a print job, receiving, at the printing unit, a trigger generated by a finishing unit, and initiating the print job based on the generated trigger.

An object is to use a post processing apparatus effectively and to shorten execution waiting time of a print job of a user due to moving of a self-traveling post processing apparatus. In an image forming system including a self-traveling post processing apparatus which separably connects with each of a plurality of image forming apparatuses, in a case of having received a print job which is executed by any of the plurality of image forming apparatuses and performs the post processing by the post processing apparatus, the post processing apparatus is made to self-travel by a traveling section such that the post processing apparatus moves toward an image forming apparatus which has received a print job which performs post processing.

A post processing apparatus is used effectively, an execution waiting time of a print job due to moving of a self-travelling post processing apparatus is shortened, and a total printing time is shortened, whereby productivity is increased. In an image forming system which includes a self-travelling post processing apparatus being separably connected to an image forming apparatus, when receiving a plurality of print jobs including both a print job which performs the post processing by the post processing apparatus and a print job which does not perform post processing, an execution order of the plurality of print jobs is changed in accordance with a connecting state of the post processing apparatus to the image forming apparatus.

A control device that is communicable with a plurality of image forming apparatuses, comprises: an information obtaining part that obtains history information from the plurality of image forming apparatuses; a spool destination deciding part that decides two or more image forming apparatuses as spool destinations of an accepted job from the plurality of image forming apparatuses based on plural pieces of history information obtained by the information obtaining part; and a job transmitter that transmits a job to the two or more image forming apparatuses decided by the spool destination deciding part.

A media processing system is arranged to process image receiving media under predetermined physical conditions. The system includes a scheduler arranged to schedule jobs to be processed in the system and to calculate predicted timings (T0) at which media will have to be ready for processing and to indicate the predicted timings on a user interface. The system further includes a buffer in which a supply of media that has been received from a first environment is kept in a specified second environment before being processed. The scheduler is configured to calculate an acclimatization time required for the media to acquire the predetermined physical conditions by being kept in the second environment in the buffer, and to calculate and indicate a predicted timing (T1) at which the media should be present in the sheet buffer at the latest in view of the calculated acclimatization time.

A printing system includes a first printer configured to execute an initial operation to transition to a printable state when receiving an activation instruction and a second printer configured to execute an initial operation to transition to a printable state when receiving an activation instruction. Activation instruction processing for outputting the activation instruction to the second printer is executed when the second printer is designated as a following printer to be activated subsequently to the first printer. In the activation instruction processing, the activation instruction is output to the second printer at second activation timing obtained based on, with timing at which the first printer receives the activation instruction as a starting point, a first initial operation time, a first maintenance time, and a second initial operation time.

An image processing apparatus, communicable with an image forming apparatus useable for an image forming operation on a recording medium based on input image data, includes a processor to acquire output-side sheet information from the image forming apparatus, the output-side sheet information correlating attribution information related to the recording medium and engine adjustment information indicating image formation processing contents to be used for an image forming operation, to refer processing-side sheet information stored in the image processing apparatus, the processing-side sheet information correlating attribution information related to the recording medium and image processing setting information indicating image processing contents to be applied to the input image data, to generate integrated sheet information by correlating the attribution information, the image processing setting information, and the engine adjustment information, and to store the integrated sheet information in a memory.

A server includes circuitry to receive, from an information processing apparatus, a print condition, a print file to be printed, and position information of the information processing apparatus, generate a travel route of a self-propelled image forming apparatus based on the position information of the information processing apparatus, position information of the self-propelled image forming apparatus, and map data, instruct the self-propelled image forming apparatus to move to a destination, determine, in response to a print continuation request received from the self-propelled image forming apparatus, whether a continued-printing operation is allowed for the self-propelled image forming apparatus, instruct the self-propelled image forming apparatus to stay at a current location when the circuitry determines that the continued-printing operation is allowed, identify continued-printing print data transmitted from the information processing apparatus, and transmit the continued-printing print data to the self-propelled image forming apparatus being stayed at the current location.

A method for printing digital images on at least one input roll of media in order to form at least one output roll by means of a roll-to-roll printing system is disclosed. The roll-to-roll printing system includes a digital image queue including an entry for each digital image to be printed. The method includes registering in an entry of the digital image queue a first digital item identifying the digital image and digital items of print properties of the digital image, printing the digital image according to the order of the entry in the digital image queue, and registering in the entry a second digital item identifying an input roll on which the digital image is going to be printed and a third digital item identifying an output roll on which the printed digital image is going to be wound. A roll-to-roll printing system is configured to apply the method.