A method, a non-transitory computer readable medium, and a system are disclosed for processing and scheduling print jobs on a plurality of printers. The method includes: collecting job information on one or more past print jobs; collecting job information on a plurality of print jobs currently being processed, each of the plurality of print jobs being assigned to one or more operators from a plurality of operators; generating a process workflow visualization for the plurality of print jobs currently being processed with a processing mining algorithm based on the job information collected on the one or more past print jobs and the job information collected on the plurality of print jobs currently being processed; and displaying the process workflow visualization for the plurality of print jobs currently being processed.

An advertisement system has a printer and a posting server that can communicate with the printer. The advertisement system uses the printer to issue a flyer on which advertisement images are printed. The posting server acquires a plurality of advertisement images of different advertisers, and selects a plurality of advertisement images from the plurality of acquired advertisement images according to a distribution period for the flyer, the distribution period being set for each acquired advertisement image. The posting server then creates print data involved in printing the plurality of selected advertisement images, and transmits the created print data to the printer. The printer receives the print data created by the posting server. To issue the flyer, the printer executes printing according to the received print data.

A management apparatus includes a registration section that registers plural pieces of printing data related to a printing request by a user based on data received from a terminal apparatus of the user, a generation section that groups printing data which has identical or similar printing data characteristics to generate group identification information, a receiving section that receives the group identification information from a printing apparatus, and a providing section that provides the printing apparatus with the plural pieces of printing data which belong to a group identified by the group identification information received by the receiving section.

A printing system includes a printing device having a digital front end (DFE) and at least one client device that sends print jobs to the printing device. A print job may include different components needed to completely print a document, such as a cover and block of pages for a book. The DFE identifies the different components within the print job and provides tight integration to coordinate the printing of the different components. Rules are used to identify the different components. Once identified, the DFE can route the components accordingly to different output bins as well as provide separate print instructions for the components. Rules also are used to define job batching within the printing device.

A method prepares a print job for a printing operation and includes providing at least one first data set associated with the print job and multiple reference data sets associated with reference jobs. The method is characterized in that it contains the steps of providing multiple mutually complementary data sets for each one of a plurality of reference jobs, automatically filtering the reference data sets of the plurality of reference jobs to provide at least one second data set, and using the second data set in the printing operation as a replacement of or an addition to the at least one first data set. The method provides a way of manufacturing high-quality printed products while saving time, e.g. makeready time for the printing operation, and costs, e.g. caused by unusable prints or low-quality prints.

A printing management apparatus includes a processor configured to generate a printing schedule based on a printing group, which is acquired by performing grouping on components that constitute a product for each attribute and in which is possible to change a printing order of the components in the group on which the grouping is performed, in a case where the product is manufactured using a printing apparatus and a post processing apparatus, and generate a post processing schedule based on a post processing group which is acquired by performing grouping on the product constituted by the components included in the printing group.

An information processing apparatus includes a selector and a sender. The selector receives plural print jobs and selects, from among templates applicable to a printer, a template to which each of the plural print jobs is allocated in accordance with a paper size specified in a corresponding print job and a size of continuous-form paper set in the printer. The sender allocates the plural print jobs to the corresponding templates selected by the selector, integrates some of the print jobs together, and then sends an integrated print job to the printer.

An information processing device includes a processor that is configured to receive execution instructions that instruct printing to be executed, group the execution instructions into an aggregation in accordance with attributes of the execution instructions, perform control in such a way that a first execution instruction that has been received and a second execution instruction that has not been received are displayed using different display modes in accordance with type information indicating types of the execution instructions constituting the aggregation.

A technique is provided with which it is possible to effectively consume a plurality of continuous base materials with different remaining amounts. A job list and a continuous paper list are prepared. The job list registers job attribute information that includes print length information that indicates the length of continuous paper necessary for printing of each print job. The continuous paper list registers continuous-base-material attribute information that includes paper remaining information that indicates a remaining length of each roll of continuous paper. Then, a job batch is generated in accordance with the continuous-paper attribute information and the job attribute information. The job batch defines one roll of continuous paper and a print job, the continuous paper being selected from among the continuous paper list, the print job being extracted from among the job list and printable on the selected continuous paper.

An information processing apparatus includes a saving process unit configured to save, in a storage area, a first print job generated with a first printing apparatus specified and a second print job generated with a second printing apparatus different from the first printing apparatus specified, and a display control unit configured to display, in a case where a third print job including identification information corresponding to the first printing apparatus is received in a state where the first and second print jobs are saved in the storage area, a screen that includes a job name of the received third print job and a job name of the first print job and does not include a job name of the second print job.