Printer controller that has a printer perform print processing on print jobs transmitted from a plurality of terminals, an image forming apparatus for performing print processing on the plurality of print jobs, and a terminal that transmits print jobs to the printer controller

Abstract

A printer server is connected to a plurality of terminals. The printer server includes a terminal status detecting unit that receives a piece of operation information 'key' indicating that a operation has been performed from each terminal, measures an elapsed time since each piece of operation information 'key' was received by referring to a timer, and sets a non-operational status ‘status’ for each terminal according to the length of the elapsed time, a priority determining unit that determines a priority level from the non-operational status ‘status’, and a print job processing unit that has print job processing performed by, when a plurality of print jobs are waiting to be processed, giving preference to print jobs transmitted from terminals with higher priority levels.