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. The DFE stores a device capability file that sets forth device and print options available for the printing device. The print options include a priority value, an option type, a grouping option, a print option icon, and a preview overlay graphic. A copy of the device capability file is made available to a client application on the client device. The client application retrieves all the print information from the device capability file. The client application also presents and previews the print options using the appropriate preview graphic overlay.

An information processing system includes an image processing apparatus capable of obtaining image data and a server-for-service connected with the image processing apparatus through a network. The server-for-service holds profile information, which defines processing executed on the image data uploaded from the image processing apparatus, in association with authorization information on a user. Thereafter, the server-for-service executes the processing in accordance with the profile information on the image data in response to a request from a terminal device or the image processing apparatus.

An information processing apparatus includes a processor configured to: display on a device a flow list of flows that each include a series of processes and that have already been created; and create a flow for the device by replacing a process in a flow selected from the flow list by a user using the device with a process corresponding to device information set for the device.

An image forming apparatus includes a processor configured to: receive, from each of plural print image data generation apparatuses that generate plural pieces of print image data on a basis of a print instruction, the plural pieces print image data corresponding to the print instruction; and notify a user of a result of comparison between sample data indicating a feature of a print result desired with the print instruction and the plural pieces of print image data.

A printing system is provided including a printer server accessible over a first network at a first location and a cloud service accessible from both the first location and a second network at a second network. A user with a client computer moving between the first network and the second network can print using either the printer server, when the user is on the first network, or the cloud service, when the user is on the second network. The client computer is configured detect its location and receive configuration information from the cloud service. The configuration information changes the method used by the client computer to print depending upon the client computer's detected location.

A print control server that controls printing through an SNS includes a registration section configured to register, in association with each other, a first account that is an account of a user of the SNS and print setting information including designation information of a printer to be used for printing. The registration section issues a first password when accepting a designation of the first account and a designation of a second account that is an account of a user of the SNS and that is to be a share destination of a print setting, notifies the first account of the first password through the SNS, and registers, when a password posted on the SNS by the second account coincides with the first password, the print setting information registered in association with the first account also in association with the second account.

A printing system includes a printing apparatus and a printing control apparatus. The printing apparatus obtains stored first attribute information of a sheet, and sends the obtained first attribute information to the printing control apparatus. The printing control apparatus includes an information storing unit and a first and second receiving unit. The information storing unit stores first and second attribute information of sheets. The first receiving unit receives first attribute information and the second sending unit reads sheet candidates corresponding to the received first attribute information and sends the sheet candidates to the printing apparatus. The printing apparatus further receives the received sheet candidates, displays the received sheet candidates, selects sheet information from the displayed sheet candidates, and sets the second attribute information of a selected sheet as attribute information of a sheet to be stored.

Information apparatus and application software supporting printing over air or network are herein disclosed and enabled. The information apparatus may include one or more software components that include (1) a discovery component to discover a supported printer in a local area network (LAN) and to receive device information related to the printer (e.g., capability, language or format supported, identification) from the printer, and (2) a printing component to generate or obtain print data based on the device information received and to transmit the print data to the discovered printer. After establishing the connection to the LAN, application software (e.g., Internet browser, email, photos, documents) in the information apparatus may print digital content by using the discovery component to discover the printer in the LAN, and may use the printing component to obtain and transmit print data in a form that is acceptable to the printer for printing the digital content.

A printer includes a controller, a memory, and a user interface. The printer has a first mode and a second mode. The controller disables the first mode when enabling the second mode and disables the second mode when enabling the first mode. The controller executes a first printing process while the first mode is enabled. In the first printing process, the controller receives a print job from a client device, stores the received print job in the memory, and performs printing based on the stored print job upon receiving a storage print command. The controller executes a second printing process and restricts the first printing process while the second mode is enabled. In the second printing process, the controller receives a print job from a server in response to receiving a prescribed input operation via the user interface, and performs printing based on the received print job from the server.

A printing device comprises a housing, a communication interface configured to communicate with a server, and a controller. The printing device is configured to operate either in a contract mode or in a normal mode. The housing is configured such that one or more consumables including a first type consumable and a second type consumable are attachable. The first type consumable is dedicated for the contract printing, and the second type consumable is usable for printing in both the contract mode and the normal mode. The controller is configured to activate the contract mode in response to an activation instruction from the server. In a case where the second type consumable is attached to the housing when the contract mode is activated, the controller changes a state of the printing device to a contract printing state in which the contract printing is activated after activating the contract mode.