Patent ID: 7612921

Claim:
A print job management apparatus that manages print jobs, which are executed by a printing device, said print job management apparatus comprising: a job acceptance module that receives each print job with image data; a job storage module that has a capacity of storing multiple print jobs received by said job acceptance module with reference paths for reading the image data of the print jobs at a time of executing each print job; a redundant image retrieval module that retrieves redundant image data among image data of print jobs stored in said job storage module relative to image data of a single print job received by the job acceptance module; a job status setting module that leaves at least one of the redundant image data retrieved by said redundant image retrieval module while deleting the other of the retrieved redundant image data, overwrites a reference path for reading the image data of a print job in which the image data was deleted, with a reference path for reading the image data of a print job having the remaining image data among the multiple print jobs having the redundant image data, and sets a status of the print job in which the image data was deleted, such that the remaining image data among redundant image data is shared by the print job having the remaining image data and print jobs in which the image data was deleted; and a job status changing module that changes an execution status of a print job in a printed status among the print jobs stored in said job storage module, from a ‘printed status’ to a ‘print queuing status,’ such that the print job in the printed state is to be reprinted by a user's reprinting request, wherein each print job includes identification information for identifying the image data, and said redundant image retrieval module retrieves image data having identical identification information among the image data of the print jobs stored in said job storage module, as the redundant image data.