Patent ID: 7777907

Claim:
An image forming apparatus having ability information of an available finisher, comprising: a detection unit which detects a stop state of post-processing by a first finisher; a search unit which, when said detection unit detects a stop of the first finisher, searches for a finisher that can alternatively perform processing to be executed by the first finisher based on the ability information; a generation unit which generates post-processing setting information for a second finisher found by said search unit; and a determination unit which, when said detection unit detects the stop of the first finisher, determines, by using the ability information, whether a printing job received by the image forming apparatus can be processed by combining a plurality of finishers, wherein when said determination unit determines that the printing job can be processed by combining a plurality of finishers, said generation unit generates the post-processing setting information for the plurality of finishers.