Image forming system, and control apparatus, control method and storage medium therefor

摘要

An image forming system capable of immediately responding to a job command given by a user, reducing power consumption, and preventing the service life of component parts from being adversely affected. In a case where no printing is to be performed, a main controller of the image forming system controls each of first and second image forming apparatuses of the image forming system to assume either a standby state or a sleep state. In a case where printing is to be performed, the main controller controls each of the first and second image forming apparatuses to assume either the standby state or the sleep state according to whether double-sided printing should be performed or single-sided printing should be performed.

主权项

1. An image forming system comprising:
a first image forming apparatus that has a first containing section for holding a plurality of recording sheets and that forms an image on one of the recording sheets conveyed from the first containing section; a second image forming apparatus that has a second containing section for holding a plurality of recording sheets and that forms an image on one of the recording sheets conveyed from the second containing section, the second image forming apparatus being coupled to a downstream side of the first image forming apparatus in a recording sheet conveyance direction; a receiving unit configured to receive a print job from an external device; a first control unit disposed in said first image forming apparatus and configured to control an image forming operation of the first image forming apparatus; a second control unit disposed in said second image forming apparatus and configured to control an image forming operation of the second image forming apparatus; and a third control unit configured to:
cause, based on the print job, each of said first control unit and said second control unit to respectively control the first image forming apparatus and the second image forming apparatus to assume a standby state where a fixing unit that fixes the image on the recording sheets is maintained at a predetermined temperature or a sleep state where a power consumption is lower than in the standby state;determine whether the print job received by said receiving unit is single-sided printing where an image formed on one surface of a recording sheet or double-sided printing where an image is formed on both sides thereof;in a case where the third control unit determines that the print job received by said receiving unit is double-sided printing where images are to be formed on both sides of a recording sheet, cause said first control unit and said second control unit to respectively control both the first and second image forming apparatuses to assume the standby state, and assign the print job to said first control unit and said second control unit to cause the first image forming apparatus to form the image on one side of the recording sheet that is conveyed from the first containing section and then cause the second image forming apparatus to form the image on the other side of the recording sheet with the one side formed with the image by the first image forming apparatus; andin a case where the third control unit determines that the print job received by said receiving unit is single-sided printing where an image is to be formed only on one side of a recording sheet, cause said first control unit to control the first image forming apparatus to assume the sleep state and said second control unit to control the second image forming apparatus to assume the standby state, and transmit the print job to said second control unit to cause the second image forming apparatus to form the image on the one side of the recording sheet that is conveyed from the second containing unit.