An image processing apparatus includes an acquiring unit and an assigning unit. The acquiring unit is configured to acquire first image information on a first image and second image information on a second image read by irradiating, with light at respective different wavelengths for read, a printing medium on which at least the first image and the second image to be irradiated with light at different wave lengths to read are mixed. The assigning unit is configured to assign image information on one or more color systems constituting the first image information and image information on one or more color systems constituting the second image information to any of communication paths for supplying image information to a subsequent stage image processing unit configured to perform predetermined image processing on the first image information and the second image information.

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 or different printing devices as well as provide separate print instructions for the components. Rules also are used to define job batching within the printing devices.

A system and method are provided which enable overriding a custom color callout in a print job. Provision is made for a user to associate a unique ID with a custom color callout in a print job, e.g., during generation of the print job or at the printer. The custom color callout provides for a part of the print job to be rendered with a specific custom colorant, e.g., by identifying the name of the custom colorant. The unique ID is associated, in memory, with a custom colorant station of a print engine, independent of any custom colorant that may be housed in the custom colorant station. The method further includes identifying the custom colorant station of the print engine associated with the unique ID and sending the print job in a format for printing to the print engine for printing the part of the print job with a first custom colorant housed in the identified custom colorant station.

An image forming system includes: an image forming apparatus that forms a first image according to a job on a plurality of first sheets and inserts a second sheet between the plurality of first sheets; a cutting processor that sequentially performs cutting processing on the plurality of first sheets and the second sheet that are conveyed from the image forming apparatus; and a sheet discharging tray on which an output object obtained by the cutting processing on each of the plurality of first sheets and a slip sheet obtained by the cutting processing on the second sheet are stacked, wherein the cutting processor performs the cutting processing on each of the plurality of first sheets in accordance with a first cutting condition, and performs the cutting processing on the second sheet in accordance with a second cutting condition different from the first cutting condition.

An information processing apparatus includes a print management unit configured to allocate a plurality of print data sets to a plurality of image forming apparatuses, respectively, the plurality of print data sets being obtained by dividing one print data set; a separator data generation unit configured to generate, for each of the plurality of image forming apparatuses, print data for a separator, the print data for the separator including management information that includes information regarding a particular print data set among the plurality of print data sets and information regarding a particular image forming apparatus among the plurality of image forming apparatuses to which the particular print data set is allocated; and an output unit configured to output, for each of the plurality of image forming apparatuses, the particular print data set and the print data for the separator to the particular image forming apparatus.

An image forming apparatus according to the present disclosure includes: a hardware processor configured to control an image former on a basis of a job pertaining to a printing execution command. The hardware processor is configured to divide the job pertaining to the printing execution command into a plurality of shortjobs, and configured to stop conveyance of the roll sheet and forcibly eject degraded toner from a developing device of the image former at a pause timing between short jobs temporally adjacent to each other among the plurality of short jobs; and the hardware processor sets a job content of each of the plurality of short jobs such that an image of a printing target is inverted upside down for each job switching of the plurality of short jobs.

A data state manager may include a production intent module to define a production intent, a capability module to identify a number of capabilities of a plurality of media printing devices to which the data state manager is coupled, and a data stream module to, through a plurality of communication links to the media printing devices, stream a plurality of data streams to the plurality of media printing devices in a synchronized manner based on a number of characteristics of the streamed data and the identified capabilities of the media printing devices, with the data streams defining the production intent.

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.

An information processing apparatus includes at least one processor and at least one memory coupled to the at least one processor and storing instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor and the at least one memory to act as a display unit configured to display, on a plurality of pages of an operation screen, a plurality of display objects for giving instructions to perform processing, and an acquisition unit configured to acquire use histories of the plurality of display objects. A number of display objects to be displayed on a single page of the operation screen among the plurality of display objects is determined based on at least the acquired use histories.

An apparatus includes a setting unit and a control unit. The setting unit performs a first print setting indicating a poster printing function that divides a single piece of image data into a plurality of pieces of image data and generates print jobs, and a second print setting indicating a correction function for correcting calculated gray values when an image processing apparatus converts a plurality of pieces of color image data to grayscale, based on a number of colors acquired from each of the plurality of pieces of color image data. The control unit restricts the setting unit from performing the first print setting and the second print setting. In a state where one of the first print setting and the second print setting is performed by the setting unit, the control unit controls the setting unit not to perform the other print setting.