A method for page management for use with an image forming apparatus includes receiving a request from a user for processing one or more pages of one or more documents. Further, the method includes displaying on a display (a) a thumbnail image generated for each page and (b) a plurality of options for processing the one or more pages. Furthermore, the method includes receiving a selection by the user of at least one option of the plurality of options. Thereafter, the method includes processing the one or more pages, according to the at least one option of the selection received from the user.

A printing system includes a printing mechanism. The printing mechanism is configured to perform printing. The printing system stores a plurality of print jobs in a storage, and receives selections of two or more print jobs to be executed as two or more target jobs from among the plurality of print jobs stored in the storage. The printing system determines a total fee to be charged for executing the two or more target jobs, and performs a settlement related process related to settlement of the determined total fee. The printing system executes the two or more target jobs to print images by using the printing mechanism in response to completion of settlement of the total fee.

A peer-to-peer network of printing devices is configured to share printing device information, such as job queue status, configuration information, and resource information for automated load balancing, capability matching, failover, and print splitting operations. A digital front end (DFE) of a printing device establishes connections with the DFEs of other printing devices to manage output within the peer-to-peer network in an automated manner. When a print job is received at a DFE for a printing device, it is evaluated to determine how to best manage the output for the print job.

A peer-to-peer network of printing devices is configured to share printing device information, such as job queue status, configuration information, and resource information for automated load balancing, capability matching, failover, and print splitting operations. A digital front end (DFE) of a printing device establishes connections with the DFEs of other printing devices to manage output within the peer-to-peer network in an automated manner. When a print job is received at a DFE for a printing device, it is evaluated to determine how to best manage the output for the print job.

A method for operating a printing machine having a processor and a device for detecting features of printing substrates includes storing print jobs with the printing substrates appropriate thereto in a database. Features of at least one printing substrate are detected by using the device. The detected features of the at least one printing substrate are compared by the processor with the printing substrates of the print jobs from the database. The processor selects at least one print job in which the printing substrates of the print jobs from the database correspond to the at least one detected printing substrate or attain a predefined similarity. The at least one print job selected by the processor is subsequently executed on the printing machine.

In one aspect, a computer-implemented method for estimating ink use by a printer is provided. The method involves receiving, by a computer, a request for a comingled print job comprising a plurality of print jobs to be carried out by the printer. The method also involves traversing, by the computer, pages of the comingled print job and identifying, for each page of the comingled print job, a print job of the plurality of print jobs to which the page belongs. The method also involves for each of the plurality of print jobs, calculating, by the computer, an estimated total amount of ink required for printing the print job. The method also involves communicating, by the computer, to a client terminal, the estimated total amounts of ink required for printing the plurality of print jobs.

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 method for page management for use with an image forming apparatus includes receiving a request from a user for processing one or more pages of one or more documents. Further, the method includes displaying on a display (a) a thumbnail image generated for each page and (b) a plurality of options for processing the one or more pages. Furthermore, the method includes receiving a selection by the user of at least one option of the plurality of options. Thereafter, the method includes processing the one or more pages, according to the at least one option of the selection received from the user.

A printing system including a first printer and a second printer is provided with: a job group creation unit that creates a job group defining a plurality of jobs to be grouped and a print order thereof; a job group storage unit that stores information on the print order of the plurality of jobs; a job group updating unit that updates the information on the print order stored in the job group storage unit based on information on an output order when printing is executed by the second printer; and a print instruction unit that instructs the first printer to execute printing based on the plurality of jobs in the print order stored in the job group storage unit.

Provided is a production method including a reception step of receiving a plurality of matters as a group, a display step of displaying a list in which the received matters are grouped in a unit of the group and the group is configured to be distinguished from other groups, and a production step of producing a finished product by executing processing that includes a plurality of processes corresponding to the received matters, in which the display step displays a progress for each process together with the list.