Minolta Company, Ltd.

Yoshio Morikawa

Kenro Hama

Yoshinori Sugahara

In order to carry out a printing operation without waiting for a while in the case in which a printing device receiving printing job data cannot execute the printing operation for some reason, a plurality of printing devices () which are network-connected are formed into groups based on a processable language and one of the printing devices belonging to the same language group is caused to act as a managing printing device. The managing printing device receives a status signal from all the printing devices belonging to the same language group, and distributes the printing job data transmitted from the printing device to the other printing devices belonging to the same language group when any of the printing devices cannot carry out the printing operation. In this case, one printing device for supporting a plurality of languages can be set as a managing printing device which is common to each group.

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Izumiotsu, Japan

Yoshio Morikawa