Patent ID: 8542374

Claim:
A printing system comprising a printing apparatus adapted to execute a print job, a print control apparatus adapted to control said printing apparatus, a print authority management server adapted to manage a print authority of said printing apparatus, and a data base server adapted to hold print function limitation information, said printing apparatus, said print authority management server, and said data base server being connected with one another via a network, wherein said print control apparatus comprises an information requesting unit adapted to transmit two or more pieces of information required to limit a print function of said printing apparatus, to request production of a print authority token or limiting the print function, the transmitted two or more pieces of information including both of user information related to a user of said printing apparatus and application information related to an application for executing the print job, said print authority management server comprises a token producing unit adapted to receive the two or more pieces of information, search the print function limitation information held in said database server by using, as search keys, the user information and the application information included in the respective pieces of information, compose two or more pieces of the searched print function limitation information with each other in an order of priority among the search keys for producing the print authority token, and transmit the print authority token to said print control apparatus, said print control apparatus comprises a token adding unit adapted to add the received print authority token to the print job and then transmit the print job to said printing apparatus, and said printing apparatus comprises a limiting unit adapted to limit an instruction for the print job based on the print authority token, when the print authority token is added to the received print job.