Patent ID: 7148984

Claim:
An image forming system, comprising: image reading means for reading an image on a document and for converting said image into image data; first storage means for storing said image data; second storage means, provided separately from said first storage means, for storing said image data; image outputting means for outputting said image data, stored in said first storage means, as an image; job registering means for registering a plurality of jobs, each corresponding to image data, in relation with an image forming process; priority order determining means for determining a priority order for outputting said plurality of jobs; first control means for determining an outputting order of said image data, corresponding to each of said plurality of jobs, to be outputted from said image outputting means in accordance with said priority order; remaining capacity detecting means for detecting a remaining capacity of said first storage means; first necessary storage capacity estimating means for estimating a first storage capacity, which is necessary for each of an image reading job with said image reading means and an image outputting job with said image outputting means, so as to preserve said first storage capacity as a first threshold value; second necessary storage capacity estimating means for estimating a second storage capacity, which is necessary for a job having a highest priority order among said plurality of jobs stored in said second storage means, so as to preserve said second storage capacity as a second threshold value; second control means for transmitting image data of a job having a lowest priority order among said plurality of jobs, from said first storage means to said second storage means when said remaining capacity of said first storage means becomes not more than said first threshold value, and for returning image data of the job having the highest priority order among said plurality of jobs stored in said second storage means, from said second storage means to said first storage means when said remaining capacity of said first storage means recovers to not less than said second threshold value.