JP2011076402A - Image forming device and image forming system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To print, by an image forming device, a file created by various kinds of application software and recorded in a recording medium. <P>SOLUTION: This image forming device includes: a processing decision part deciding that it is impossible to process a read file in an image processing part when attribute information of the file read from a recording medium by a recording medium reading part is not included in attribute information of a file stored in a storage part; and a control part transmitting the attribute information of the file decided that the processing is impossible in the processing decision part to a server, receiving a request from the server after transmitting the attribute information, transmitting the read file to the server, receiving a print job into which the server converts the file, and making an image processing part generate image data from the print job. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus for converting a file into image data and printing, and an image forming system including the image forming apparatus and a print server.

  In recent years, bitmaps taken with a so-called digital camera, TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) image files and PDF (Portable Document Format) files are recorded on a memory card, and the memory card is directly attached to the card slot of the image forming apparatus. Accordingly, a direct printing method from a memory card capable of printing an image recorded on the memory card has become widespread.

  In such an image forming apparatus compatible with the conventional direct printing method, a file recorded on a memory card is read, and the file is converted into printable image data and printed on paper (for example, Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-174261 (paragraph “0042” to “0050”, FIG. 3)

  However, in the above-described conventional direct printing method, a bitmap, TIFF, or PDF file recorded on a memory card can be printed, but various application software (for example, document creation software, display There is a problem that files created by calculation software, presentation software, etc.) cannot be printed. This is because the file created by the application software needs to be converted by a printer driver on the host computer side such as a personal computer into a page description language called PDL (Page Description Language) suitable for an image forming apparatus to be printed. This is because the image forming apparatus performs printing based on the converted page description language.

  An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to allow an image forming apparatus to print a file created by various application software and recorded on a recording medium.

  Therefore, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes a transmission / reception unit that transmits / receives data to / from a server, a recording medium reading unit that reads a file from an attached recording medium, and a file read by the recording medium reading unit An image processing unit that generates image data from a print job received by the transmission / reception unit, a printer engine unit that prints and outputs an image based on the image data generated by the image processing unit, and image data that can be generated by the image processing unit A storage unit that stores file attribute information in advance, a file that is read by the recording medium reading unit by comparing the attribute information of the file that is read by the recording medium reading unit with the attribute information of the file that is stored in the storage unit When the attribute information of the file stored in the storage unit is not included in the attribute information of the file Is read by the image processing unit, and the attribute information of the file determined to be unprocessable by the process determining unit is transmitted to the server by the transmitting / receiving unit. Receiving a request from the server after transmitting information and transmitting the read file to the server; receiving a print job that can be processed by the image processing unit converted from the file by the server from the server; The image processing unit includes a control unit that generates image data from the print job.

  According to the present invention as described above, there is obtained an effect that a file created by various application software and recorded on a recording medium can be printed by the image forming apparatus.

1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image forming system in a first embodiment. Block diagram showing data flow in the first embodiment Explanatory drawing of the extension table in the first embodiment Flowchart showing image forming processing in the first embodiment FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an image forming system in a second embodiment. Explanatory drawing showing the display operation part at the time of the application selection screen display in 2nd Example Flowchart showing image forming processing in the second embodiment

  Hereinafter, embodiments of an image forming apparatus and an image forming system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the image forming system in the first embodiment.

  In FIG. 1, when a printer 1 as an image forming apparatus receives a print job converted into data in PDL format, the printer 1 edits and develops the print job to generate printable image data, and generates the generated image. An image forming process for printing data on paper is performed.

  Here, data handled by the printer 1 will be described with reference to a block diagram showing a data flow in the first embodiment of FIG.

  In FIG. 2, an application file 16 is a file opened by application software (hereinafter referred to as “application”) on a computer such as a personal computer. When a printing operation is performed from an application on the computer, the application file 16 is converted into data in PDL format such as PostScript (registered trademark) by a printer driver (software).

  The data converted into the PDL format is a print job 17. When the printer 1 receives the print job 17, the printer 1 performs processing called editing and expansion on the received print job 17 to obtain printable image data 18. Generate.

  The printer 1 can also process an application file 19 having a format suitable for printing, such as a TIFF format image file or a PDF file, as a file other than the PDL format. In this case, the printer 1 directly edits and develops an application file 19 suitable for printing, and generates image data 18.

  Returning to the description of FIG. 1, the communication IF unit 2 receives a print job, various data, and the like from a computer (server) which is an external device connected via a communication line, and transmits data to the computer. A network interface having a function.

  The memory insertion unit 3 as a recording medium reading unit is a recording medium slot for inserting (mounting) a removable recording medium such as a memory card storing a file or a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory. In this embodiment, the recording medium is described as a memory card such as an SD card.

  A memory card 10 serving as a recording medium is a memory card inserted into the memory insertion unit 3, and a file to be printed is stored in the memory card together with a file name.

  The memory insertion unit 3 has a function of reading a file and its file name from the inserted memory card 10.

  The data transmission / reception unit 4 has a data transmission / reception function of transmitting data inside the printer 1 using the communication IF unit 2 and receiving a print job or the like from an external device as a server such as a print server. When it is determined that the print job received from the external device and the file read from the memory insertion unit 3 can be processed, the print job or file is delivered to the subsequent image processing unit 5. Yes.

  The image processing unit 5 translates and edits the print job received from the external device via the communication IF unit 2 and the file read via the memory insertion unit 3 into image data that can be printed by the printer engine unit 6. , Has a function to perform deployment.

  The printer engine unit 6 includes a paper transport mechanism, an image drum, a fixing unit, and the like, and has a function of printing out an image on paper based on the image data generated by the image processing unit 5.

  The display operation unit 7 has an input function such as a key or a touch panel for accepting a key input operation from an operator, and displays a word or the like on a display mechanism such as a display panel (liquid crystal display) of the apparatus.

  The process determination unit 8 has a function of determining whether the file read from the memory card 10 inserted into the memory insertion unit 3 can be subjected to image forming processing by the printer 1.

  The attribute information extraction unit 9 has a function of extracting attribute information of the file from the file and file name read from the memory insertion unit 3. Specifically, the attribute information extraction unit 9 extracts an extension as attribute information from the file name of the read file. For example, when the file name is “filenameA.pdf”, the extension is “pdf”.

  The process determination unit 8 described above determines from the file extension extracted by the attribute information extraction unit 9 whether the file can be image-formed. The process determining unit 8 includes the extension of the file extracted by the attribute information extracting unit 9 in the extension table 20 shown in FIG. 3 used as a criterion for determining whether the printer 1 can process the file. In this case, it is determined that the file can be processed, and when it is not included, it is determined that the file cannot be processed.

  The extension table 20 shown in FIG. 3 stores in advance file extensions that can be processed by the printer 1 in a storage unit such as a memory in advance. For example, “prn”, “pdf”, “tif”, etc. The extension is stored.

  The printer 1 is configured as described above, and a control unit such as a central processing unit (not shown) controls the operation of the entire printer 1 based on a control program (software) stored in a storage unit such as a memory (not shown).

  The print server 11 is an external device of the printer 1 that is communicably connected to the printer 1 via a communication line. The print server 11 receives an operator's operation and transmits a print job to the printer 1. The print server 11 receives information such as a file name and a file extension transmitted from the printer 1 by the receiving means, and determines whether the print server 11 can process the file from the received information. A dedicated application 12 is provided as a file conversion availability determination unit for determination.

  The dedicated application 12 has a processing application installed by comparing the file extension transmitted from the printer 1 with a processing application (for example, application A14, application B15, etc.) for each extension stored in the storage unit in advance. When the print server 11 determines that the extension can be processed, the file to be processed is read from the printer 1 as a file reading unit. The application A14 and the application B15 are application software on a computer such as spreadsheet software and presentation software.

  The dedicated application 12 reads the target file from the printer 1, starts an application corresponding to the extension, opens the file from the application, and further uses the printer driver (software) 13 as a file conversion unit to print the target file to the printer. 1 has a function as a transmission unit that converts the file into a PDL format file that can be processed and transmits the converted file to the printer 1, that is, a print job.

  The print server 11 is configured as described above, and a control unit such as a central processing unit (not shown) controls the operation of the entire print server 11 based on a control program (software) stored in a storage unit such as a memory (not shown).

  The operation of the above-described configuration will be described with reference to FIG. 1 according to the step represented by S in the flowchart of the image forming process in the first embodiment of FIG.

  In this embodiment, when the file stored in the memory card 10 can be processed by the printer 1 (processing flow 1), the file stored in the memory card 10 cannot be processed by the printer 1, but the print server 11 is processed by the printer 1 after being converted (process flow 2), and the file stored in the memory card 10 cannot be processed by both the printer 1 and the print server 11 (process flow 3). The flow of processing for these three cases will be described in detail.

  First, a case where the file stored in the memory card 10 can be processed by the printer 1 (processing flow 1) will be described.

  S1a: The control unit of the printer 1 waits for an instruction to print the file stored in the memory card 10. Note that an instruction to print a file stored in the memory card 10 is performed by an input operation of the operator, and the display operation unit 7 receives the input operation.

  S2a: The control unit of the printer 1 shifts the process to S3a when the display operation unit 7 detects the print instruction, and shifts the process to S1a when it does not detect and waits for the print instruction.

  S3a: The control unit of the printer 1 that has detected the print instruction reads the file to be printed and the file name from the memory card 10 using the memory insertion unit 3, and stores them in the storage unit.

  S4a: The attribute information extraction unit 9 extracts a file extension (attribute information) from the read file name.

  S5a: The process determination unit 8 compares the extension extracted by the attribute information extraction unit 9 with the extension table stored in the storage unit, and determines whether or not the extracted extension is included in the extension table. That is, it is determined whether the printer 1 can perform image forming processing on the read file.

  S6a: If it is determined that the extracted extension is included in the extension table, that is, the process can be performed by the printer 1, the process proceeds to S7a.

  S7a: When the process determining unit 8 determines that the printer 1 can process, the image processing unit 5 accepts the read file as print data.

  S8a: The image processing unit 5 generates image data from the received file.

  S9a: The printer engine unit 6 prints the image data on a sheet based on the generated image data, and ends the image forming process.

  Next, a case where the file stored in the memory card 10 cannot be processed by the printer 1 but is converted by the print server 11 and can be processed by the printer 1 (processing flow 2) will be described.

  S1a to S5a: Since they are the same processes as S1a to S5a in the process flow 1 described above, the description thereof is omitted.

  S6a: If it is determined that the extracted extension is not included in the extension table, that is, the process cannot be performed by the printer 1, the process proceeds to S10a.

  S10a: When it is determined that the process cannot be performed by the printer 1, the data transmission / reception unit 4 transmits the file extension information (attribute information) extracted by the attribute information extraction unit 9 to the print server 11.

  S11a: The control unit of the printer 1 waits for a notification that conversion is possible from the print server 11, and receives a notification that conversion is possible from the print server 11.

  S12a: When the control unit of the printer 1 receives a notification from the print server 11 that conversion is possible, the control display unit 7 displays the notification on the display mechanism such as a display panel in order to notify the operator to that effect.

  S13a: The print server 11 reads a file to be printed by the printer 1. Specifically, the data transmission / reception unit 4 of the printer 1 that has received the request from the print server 11 transmits a file read in advance and stored in the storage unit to the print server 11.

  S <b> 14 a: The control unit of the printer 1 waits for reception of a print job from the print server 11.

  Here, processing of the print server 11 when a file extension is transmitted from the printer 1 will be described.

  S15a: The receiving means of the print server 11 receives and accepts information on the extension of the file transmitted from the printer 1.

  S16a: The print server 11 that has received the extension information activates the dedicated application 12. The activated dedicated application 12 determines whether or not a file having the extension can be converted into a print job in a format printable by the printer 1 from the information on the extension of the file as a file conversion possibility determination unit.

  Here, the determination as to whether or not conversion to a printable format is possible is made by comparing the file extension transmitted from the printer 1 with the processing application for each extension stored in advance in the storage unit of the print server 11. When the application corresponding to the extension is installed in the print server 11 and the application can be started to open the file with the extension, it is determined that the file can be converted into a printable format. Shall.

  S17a: If it is determined that conversion is possible, the process proceeds to S18a.

  S18a: The control unit of the print server 11 informs the printer 1 that the file having the extension can be converted from the information on the extension of the file received from the printer 1 into a print job having a format that the printer 1 can print. Notice.

  S19a: The dedicated application 12 of the print server 11 reads a file to be printed from the printer 1 as a file reading unit.

  S20a: The dedicated application 12 of the print server 11 converts the read file into a format that the printer 1 can perform image formation processing as a file conversion unit.

  Here, as an example of conversion to a format that allows image formation processing, if the printer 1 can process a PDL file such as PostScript (registered trademark) or PCL, an application that can handle the file to be printed For example, if the target file is a CSV file with the extension “csv”, spreadsheet software (eg EXCEL (registered trademark)), and if the target file is a PPT file with the extension “ppt”, presentation software (For example, PowerPoint (registered trademark)) is activated and converted into a PDL file using a printer driver.

  S <b> 21 a: The control unit (transmission unit) of the print server 11 transmits a file in a format printable by the printer 1 converted by the dedicated application 12, that is, a print job to the printer 1.

  Here, the process returns to S14a, and the printer 1 waiting for the reception of the print job from the print server 11 receives the print job, and the process proceeds to S7a.

  S7a: The control unit of the printer 1 receives a print job transmitted from the print server 11 and capable of image formation.

  S8a: In response to an instruction from the control unit of the printer 1, the image processing unit 5 generates image data from the received print job.

  S9a: The printer engine unit 6 of the printer 1 prints the image data on a sheet based on the generated image data, and ends the image forming process.

  When it is determined that the file read from the memory card with the printer installed is in a format that cannot be printed by the printer alone, the file is sent to the print server and converted to a file format that can be printed on the print server. By doing so, the printer can print even if the file read from the memory card is in a format that cannot be printed by the printer alone.

  Next, a case where a file stored in the memory card 10 cannot be processed by both the printer 1 and the print server 11 (processing flow 3) will be described.

  S1a to S16a: Since the processing is the same as S1a to S16a in the above-described processing flow 2, the description thereof is omitted.

  S17a: If it is determined that conversion is impossible, the process proceeds to S22a.

  S22a: The control unit (file conversion enable / disable judging unit) of the print server 11 cannot convert the file having the extension from the file extension information received from the printer 1 into a print job having a format printable by the printer 1. The printer 1 is notified that it is possible.

  S23a: The control unit of the printer 1 receives a notification from the print server 11 that conversion is impossible.

  S24a: When the control unit of the printer 1 receives a notification from the print server 11 that conversion is not possible, the control unit 7 cannot notify the operator of the fact, and the operation display unit 7 cannot print the file stored in the memory card 10. A message to that effect is displayed on the display mechanism, and the image forming process ends.

  As described above, in the first embodiment, when the printer determines that the file read from the installed memory card is a file in a format that cannot be printed by the printer alone, the file is transmitted to the print server. By converting the print server to a printable file format, the printer can print even if the file read from the memory card cannot be printed by the printer alone.

  In the first embodiment, for a file in a format that is determined to be incapable of image forming processing by the printer alone, the printer sends the extension of the file to the print server, and the extension of the extension is received on the print server side. Determine whether the file can be opened by an application in the print server. If the file can be opened, read the file from the printer, open the read file with the application corresponding to the extension, and use the printer driver. By converting, it is converted into a format that can be processed by the printer.

  However, if the print server side does not properly associate the file extension with the application corresponding to that extension, the dedicated application on the print server side cannot process the file with that extension. judge. As a result, there arises a problem that the operator cannot print the file.

  In order to solve such a problem, in this embodiment, when the print server side determines that a file with an extension determined that the printer alone cannot perform image forming processing cannot be processed on the print server side. Even so, when the operator selects an application on the printer side as a processing method for processing the file, the application on the print server side can convert the file into a printable format file.

  FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the image forming system in the second embodiment. Note that parts similar to those of the first embodiment described above are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.

  In FIG. 5, an application information holding unit 56 of the printer 1 is a storage unit that stores in advance information (application name) of an application as a processing method installed in the print server 11. In the application information holding unit 56, application information such as an application name installed in the print server 11 is stored and registered in advance. For example, the application information holding unit 56 receives a notification from the print server 11 and registers the information in the print server 11. It is assumed that information on the installed application is registered, or information on an application installed in the print server 11 when an operator's input operation is received by the display operation unit 7 of the printer 1 is registered.

  When the control unit of the printer 1 receives a notification from the print server 11 that the file extension information transmitted by the data transmission / reception unit 4 cannot be converted into a printable format from the print server 11 First, a list of application information installed in the print server 11 registered in advance is read from the application information holding unit 56, and an application selection screen is displayed on the display operation unit 7.

  Thus, even when the file with the extension cannot be converted into a format printable by the print server 11, the operator selects an application as a processing method for converting the file into a printable format from the list. Is possible.

  FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a display operation unit when an application selection screen is displayed.

  6, a list of applications (for example, applications A to E) as processing methods installed in the selectable print server 11 is displayed on an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) panel 57 of the display operation unit 7. It is displayed as. An operator can select an application for processing a file to be printed from the application selection screen via a touch panel.

  The operation of the above-described configuration will be described with reference to FIG. 5 according to the step indicated by S in the flowchart showing the image forming process in the second embodiment of FIG.

  In this embodiment, when the file stored in the memory card 10 can be processed by the printer 1 (processing flow 1: S1b to S9b), the file stored in the memory card 10 cannot be processed by the printer 1. However, when the conversion processing is performed by the print server 11 without the operator selecting an application and the printer 1 can perform the processing (processing flow 2: S1b to S6b, S10b to S21b, S7b to S9b), Since it is the same as in the embodiment, the description thereof is omitted, and the file stored in the memory card 10 cannot be processed by the printer 1, but can be processed by the print server 11 by the operator selecting an application (processing flow 3). The flow of processing for this case will be described.

  S1b to S17b, S22b: Since they are the same processes as S1a to S17a and S22a in FIG.

  S23b: The control unit of the printer 1 receives a notification from the print server 11 that conversion is impossible.

  S24b: The control unit of the printer 1 reads a list of application information installed in the print server 11 registered in advance from the application information storage unit 56 in order to prompt the operator to select an optimum application, and then selects an application selection screen. Is displayed on the display operation unit 7.

  In this application selection screen, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, guidance words for causing the operator to select an application such as “Please select an application that processes filename.ppt” and the name of the application are displayed on the LCD panel 57. The operation button is used to select the application.

  S25b: When the control unit of the printer 1 displays an application selection screen on the display operation unit 7, the control unit waits for an operation for selecting an application by the operator.

  S26b: When the control unit of the printer 1 detects an operation of selecting the operator's application by the display operation unit 7, the process proceeds to S27b.

  S27b: The control unit of the printer 1 notifies the print server 11 of the application name of the selected application as file attribute information, and waits for reception of a print job from the print server 11.

  Here, the flow of processing on the print server 11 side when an application name for processing a file is notified from the printer 1 will be described.

  S30b: The control unit (file reading means) of the print server 11 receives and accepts the application name. Then, the dedicated application 12 reads a file to be printed that has been read in advance from the printer 1 and activates an application corresponding to the notified application name, and causes the application to read the file read from the printer 1. . For example, if the application name is “EXCEL”, EXCEL (registered trademark) is activated, and if it is “PowerPoint”, PowerPoint (registered trademark) is activated to read the file read from the printer 1.

  S31b: The dedicated application 12 of the print server 11 converts the file read based on the received application as the processing method into a PDL file as a file conversion means, that is, the file read using the printer driver by the activated application. Convert to PDL file.

  S32b: The dedicated application 12 of the print server 11 determines whether the file has been converted into a PDL file. If it is determined that the file has been converted, the process proceeds to S21b.

  S <b> 21 b: The control unit (transmission unit) of the print server 11 transmits a file in a format printable by the printer 1 converted by the dedicated application 12, that is, a print job to the printer 1.

  S14b: The printer 1 waiting for reception of the print job from the print server 11 receives the print job, and shifts the processing to S7b.

  S7b: The control unit of the printer 1 accepts the print job transmitted from the print server 11.

  S8b: The image processing unit 5 of the printer 1 generates image data from the received file.

  S9b: The printer engine unit 6 of the printer 1 prints the image data on a sheet based on the generated image data.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in S32b that the file could not be converted into a PDL file, the process proceeds to S33b.

  S33b: If the application started on the print server 11 cannot open the file due to a problem that the format of the file cannot be recognized, the printer 1 indicates that the print server 11 cannot be converted. Notify

  S28b: The control unit of the printer 1 receives a notification from the print server 11 that conversion is impossible.

  S29b: When the control unit of the printer 1 receives notification from the print server 11 that conversion is not possible, the control unit 7 cannot print the file stored in the memory card 10 by the operation display unit 7 in order to notify the operator to that effect. A message to that effect is displayed on the display mechanism, and the image forming process ends.

  As described above, in the second embodiment, in addition to the effects of the first embodiment, a file having an extension that is determined to be incapable of image forming processing by the printer alone can be processed by the print server. Even if the print server determines that it is not possible, the print server prints the file with the selected application because the operator selects the print server application that processes the file on the printer side. It becomes possible to convert the print job into a print job in a possible format, and the print job can be printed by the printer.

  In the first and second embodiments, the image forming apparatus has been described as a printer. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and is not limited thereto. A facsimile, a copier, a digital multifunction peripheral, a printer multifunction peripheral, an MFP (Multi Function Peripheral), or the like It is also good.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Printer 2 Communication IF part 3 Memory insertion part 4 Data transmission / reception part 5 Image processing part 6 Printer engine part 7 Display operation part 8 Process judgment part 9 Attribute information extraction part 10 Memory card 11 Print server 12 Dedicated application 13 Printer driver 14 Application A
15 Application B
56 Application information storage

Claims (5)

A transmission / reception unit for transmitting / receiving data to / from the server;
A recording medium reading unit for reading a file from the mounted recording medium;
An image processing unit for generating image data from a file read by the recording medium reading unit or a print job received by the transmission / reception unit;
A printer engine unit that prints out an image based on the image data generated by the image processing unit;
A storage unit that pre-stores attribute information of a file that can generate image data in the image processing unit;
A file in which the attribute information of the file read by the recording medium reading unit is collated with the attribute information of the file stored in the storage unit, and the attribute information of the file read by the recording medium reading unit is stored in the storage unit A processing determination unit that determines that the file read by the recording medium reading unit is not processable by the image processing unit when not included in the attribute information of
The attribute information of the file determined to be unprocessable by the process determination unit is transmitted to the server by the transmission / reception unit. After transmitting the attribute information, the request is received from the server and the read file is transmitted to the server. And a control unit that receives from the server a print job that can be transmitted and processed by the image processing unit converted from the file by the server, and causes the image processing unit to generate image data from the print job. An image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1.
The image forming apparatus, wherein the attribute information is a file extension. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
A display operation unit for displaying a screen for selecting a processing method for a file read by the recording medium reading unit and receiving an operation of an operator for selecting the processing method;
The control unit determines, by the transmission / reception unit, the processing method selected by the display / operation unit to the server for a file that is determined to be unprocessable by the processing determination unit and receives a notification that processing is not possible from the server. The server receives a request from the server after transmitting the processing method, transmits the read file to the server, and prints a print job that can be processed by the image processing unit converted from the file by the server. An image forming apparatus that causes the image processing unit to generate image data from the print job. An image forming system comprising: the image forming apparatus according to claim 1; and a server connected to the image forming apparatus so as to be able to communicate with the image forming apparatus.
The server
Receiving means for receiving file attribute information from the image forming apparatus;
File conversion availability determination means for determining whether the file can be converted into a print job based on the attribute information;
A file reading means for notifying the image forming apparatus of a request and reading the file from the image forming apparatus when the file conversion enable / disable determining means determines that conversion is possible;
File conversion means for converting the file read by the file reading means into a print job that can be processed by the image forming apparatus;
An image forming system comprising: a transmission unit that transmits the print job converted by the file conversion unit to the image forming apparatus. An image forming system comprising: the image forming apparatus according to claim 3; and a server communicably connected to the image forming apparatus.
The server
Receiving means for receiving file attribute information from the image forming apparatus;
File conversion enable / disable determining means for determining whether to convert the file into a print job based on the attribute information and notifying the determination result to the image forming apparatus;
A file reading unit that notifies the request to the image forming apparatus and receives the file processing method from the image forming apparatus and reads the file when the file conversion possibility determination unit determines that the conversion is impossible;
File conversion means for converting the file read by the file reading means into a print job that can be processed by the image forming apparatus based on the processing method;
An image forming system, comprising: a transmission unit that transmits the print job converted by the file conversion unit to the image forming apparatus.

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