The systems and methods of the present invention provide optimized mailpiece batching, production, and mailing based on historical and real time, or near-real time, data such as target delivery time, mail fabrication processing costs and capacity, tracked transit times and costs for mailing between induction points and target addresses, and transport times and costs from various printers to various induction points. Additional considerations such as bulk discounts can be used in the analysis to ensure maximum cost reduction while achieving contract delivery times using distributed printing.

An image output system includes a document server, an information processing terminal, and an image output device connected in a network. The information processing terminal designates an output target document out of documents stored in the document server and instructs output of a job to the image output device. If the image output device is not a direct output compatible device that outputs a file format of the output target document, the document server converts the output target document to image data in a given file format, generates job data, and transmits the job data to the image output device. The job data including job control information that defines output setting and job substantive information designating the image data as the output target in a page description language.

A multi-function peripheral (MFP) manages data corresponding to a print job received from an outside, and has a plurality of output management functions including at least a first output management function and a second output management function different from the first output management function as output management functions of outputting the managed data in accordance with an operation performed by a user. The MFP sets which output management function of the plurality of output management functions handles a print job that satisfies a predetermined condition based on a user operation and, in a case where a print job that satisfies the predetermined condition is received, performs control such that data corresponding to the received print job is managed in association with the set output management function.

In a case where a print queue of a printing apparatus is registered in operating system standard print software but is not registered in print control software, a process of registering a print queue of a printing apparatus in print control software configured to generate print data in predetermined format. In a case where the print queue of the printing apparatus is registered in the print control software but is not registered in the operating system standard print software, a process of registering the print queue of the printing apparatus in operating system standard print software configured to generate print data in the different format from the predetermined format are executed.

An image forming apparatus includes: a pull-print data obtaining circuit that obtains rasterized data depending on a resolution of the image forming apparatus from a server device, the server device storing intermediate data and one or more pieces of rasterized data, the intermediate data being generated based on printable data and independent of a resolution, the one or more pieces of rasterized data being generated based on the intermediate data and depending on one or more resolutions, respectively; and an image forming circuit that forms an image based on the obtained rasterized data.

In a system in which communication between an information processing apparatus and a printing apparatus is possible, the information processing apparatus detects that communication with the printing apparatus has become possible and, in response to detection that such communication has become possible, generates print data based upon data that the information processing apparatus is displaying on a display unit connected to or built in the information processing apparatus, and transfers the generated print data to the printing apparatus. The printing apparatus prints the data received from the information processing apparatus.

Image processing apparatus and method capable of performing high-speed printing while suppressing an increase of memory size are provided. The image processing apparatus comprises: a page processing unit to perform processes of a plurality of pages in parallel; a load deciding unit to detect a load level in the page processing unit, for each page; and a controlling unit to control the page processing unit depending on a detection result by the load deciding unit, wherein the page processing unit assigns a thread of an edge extraction process to one or more image data in the page to be processed, and synthesizes an edge of each image data extracted by the thread, and the controlling unit comprises a thread priority order designating unit configured to designate priority order of the thread assigned by the page processing unit, depending on a result of the detection by the load deciding unit.

An image processing apparatus includes a processor having a plurality of cores, each having different specifications. The image processing apparatus further includes a first estimator that estimates a processing capability of each of the plurality of cores, a second estimator that estimates, based on the processing capability of each of the plurality of cores, a required time for each of the plurality of cores to perform a specific process, and a controller. The plurality of cores comprises one or more candidate cores. The required time for each of the one or more candidate cores is equal to or less than a threshold. The controller controls one of the one or more candidate cores to perform the specific process. The required time of the candidate core that performs the specific process is the longest among the one or more candidate cores.

A print control device includes a management unit that receives a print instruction and manages the print instruction, a generation unit that generates print data of an intermediate format based on the received print instruction, a conversion unit that converts the print data of the intermediate format generated by the generation unit to image data for drawing, a print controller that controls a printing device based on the image data converted by the conversion unit and a storage unit that respectively stores attribute information indicating an attribute of the print instruction stored by the management unit and history information indicating a processing state of the print instruction stored by the generation unit and the conversion unit in a nonvolatile memory after execution of a given process.

An image forming apparatus of the present invention acquires information of printing setting that can be executed by a printing instruction apparatus, and then determines whether or not printing setting described in the printing setting information is executable in the printing instruction apparatus, on the basis of the acquisition result. Then, when determining that the printing setting is not executable, the image forming apparatus changes the contents of the printing setting in the printing setting information to printing setting suitable for the image forming apparatus.