A method is disclosed for controlling at least one printer engine, the at least one printer engine having plural trays, each of the plural trays is aligned independently for imaging on a sheet of print medium. The method includes obtaining information according to first conditions in which each of the plural trays has been aligned, and the alignment of the each of plural trays is an adjustment to a position of a printable area on the sheet of print medium so that the printable area is centered on the sheet of print medium; obtaining information according to a second condition in which the at least one printer engine executes a print job; judging differences between each of the first conditions and the second condition; selecting a tray for the print job based on the judged differences; and instructing the print engine to execute the print job using the selected tray.

An image forming apparatus includes a first ejection destination, a second ejection destination, and a controller. The first ejection destination is a destination to which sheets having an image formed thereon by using rendered data are to be ejected. The second ejection destination is a destination to which a sheet serving as a sample print among the sheets is to be ejected. The controller sets the sheet serving as the sample print by using at least one of pixel density, number of colored pixels, number of extra colors, number of objects, object size, and object color information that are included in the rendered data.

A multifunction apparatus includes a reading mechanism including a document discharge port configured to discharge a document, a recording mechanism including a medium discharge port configured to discharge a recording medium, and a control unit, and a path through which a leading end of the recording medium discharged from the medium discharge port passes and the document discharged from the document discharge port have such a positional relationship to intersect with each other at an intersecting position, and when the leading end of the recording medium is discharged from the medium discharge port in a stop state where the document discharged from the document discharge port blocks the path of the leading end of the recording medium discharged from the medium discharge port, the control unit performs a predetermined operation for canceling the stop state before causing the leading end of the recording medium to reach the intersecting position.

It is possible to continue printing processing without suspension even in the case where print data is not prepared in time in continuous printing that is performed by continuously feeding sheets. An image forming apparatus includes: a generation unit configured to generate image data based on a print job; a determination unit configured to determine whether image data corresponding to a sheet passing a predetermined location of a conveyance path through which sheets are conveyed is prepared in time; and a control unit configured to perform, in the case where the determination unit determines that image data is not prepared in time, control to leave the sheet as a blank sheet by skipping processing to form an image for the sheet, and the control unit changes a printing order determined in advance in the case where the determination unit determines that image data is not prepared in time.

A print control method includes, when a sorting method for sorting printed matters in a printing device is set, displaying an image indicating an output aspect of the printed matters output from the printing device, based on the set sorting method and a previous output aspect of the printing device.

An image recording apparatus, including a body including a path to convey a sheet from a feeder tray to an ejection tray; a conveyer unit to convey the sheet; a recording unit to record an image on the sheet; and a controller to control the conveyer unit and the recording unit, is provided. The controller is configured to execute a ejection request accepting process, in which the controller accepts a request for executing a sheet ejection job being a single job to eject the sheet without causing a recording action in the recording unit; and a sheet ejecting process, in which, after accepting the request for executing the sheet ejection job, the controller controls the conveyer unit to convey the sheet from the feeder tray to the ejection tray without causing the recording action in the recording unit.

An image forming apparatus including: an image forming unit configured to form an image on a sheet; a plurality of discharge trays to which the sheet is discharged; a receiving unit configured to receive, from an external apparatus, print information including first image data, second image data, and discharge destination information that indicates a discharge destination of a printed product; and a control unit configured to control the image forming unit to form a first image on a first sheet for the printed product based on the first image data, and to form a second image on a second sheet for separating printed products based on the second image data, wherein the first sheet and the second sheet are discharged to one of the plurality of discharge trays that corresponds to the discharge destination set by the control unit based on the discharge destination information.

An image forming system including a printer that forms an image on a sheet and an inspection apparatus that inspects an image on a sheet delivered from the printer. A discharge mode for discharging a sheet inspected by the inspection apparatus and binding processing for binding a plurality of sheets as one bundle are set on a console panel. In a case where a first mode for discharging a first sheet determined as normal by the inspection apparatus to a first discharge destination, discharging a second sheet determined as defective by the inspection apparatus to a second discharge destination different from the first discharge destination, and discharging a third sheet conveyed subsequently to the second sheet, determined as normal by the inspection apparatus, to the first discharge destination is set as the discharge mode, and the binding processing is set, execution of the corresponding job is stopped.

A printer is caused to perform a checking print for a job in a case that a predetermined user's instruction is received via a user interface. The printer is caused to perform the checking print for the job without receiving the predetermined user's instruction in a case that the job meets a predetermined condition.

A sheet discharging apparatus includes a first discharge unit and a second discharge unit configured to discharge a sheet respectively, a first stacking unit configured to stack the sheet discharged by the first discharge unit, a second stacking unit disposed below the first stacking unit, and configured to stack the sheet discharged by the second discharge unit, a lifting unit configured to lift and lower the first and second stacking units, and a control unit configured to perform a separation process of moving at least one of the first and second stacking units so as to increase a distance between the first and second stacking units in a vertical direction in a case where a matter has come into contact with a lower surface of the first stacking unit.