Patent ID: 8068238

Claim:
An image processing apparatus having first and second discharge trays and a program code stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium, comprising: a reception unit configured to receive setting information and drawing data; an output unit configured to output a part of a printed material based on the setting information and the drawing data to the first discharge tray, wherein a finishing process based on the setting information is applied to the part of the printed material; a first judgment unit configured to judge whether or not a process based on the setting information and the drawing data is delayed after the part of the printed material is outputted by the output unit; a second judgment unit configured to judge whether or not there is an external device capable of executing the finishing process that should be processed in the image processing apparatus when the first judgment unit judges that the process is delayed after the part of the printed material is outputted by the output unit; a creation unit configured to create setting information for the external device based on the setting information received by the reception unit for causing the external device to execute the finishing process when the second judgment unit judges that the external device capable of executing the finishing process that should be processed in the image processing apparatus exists; and a transmitting control unit configured to transmit the setting information for the external device created by the creation unit to the external device, wherein the output unit outputs a rest of the printed material based on the setting information and the drawing data received by the reception unit to the second discharge tray without executing the finishing process when the second judgment unit judges that the external device capable of executing the finishing process that should be processed in the image processing apparatus exists, then the external device executes the finishing process for the rest of the printed material.