The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 20, 2013
Filed:
May. 07, 2010
Masaaki Igarashi, Saitama, JP;
Hozumi Yonezawa, Tokyo, JP;
Hiroshi Gotoh, Tokyo, JP;
Takeshi Yoshizumi, Tokyo, JP;
Osamu Inoue, Chiba, JP;
Masaaki Igarashi, Saitama, JP;
Hozumi Yonezawa, Tokyo, JP;
Hiroshi Gotoh, Tokyo, JP;
Takeshi Yoshizumi, Tokyo, JP;
Osamu Inoue, Chiba, JP;
Ricoh Company, Limited, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A printer includes a first receiving unit that receives a print job containing a printing requirement, where the printing requirement is set as either an indispensable requirement that is indispensable for executing the print job or a desired requirement that is desirable for executing the print job; a second receiving unit that receives, from each of external image forming apparatuses connected to the image forming apparatus via a network, a printability level indicating whether the external image forming apparatus has a printing function satisfying the indispensable requirement or a printing function satisfying the desired requirement; a selecting unit that selects an image forming apparatus that executes the print job from the external image forming apparatuses by checking the printability level; and a print-operation control unit that sends the print job to the selected image forming apparatus and causes the selected image forming apparatus to execute the print job.