Patent ID: 8248645

Claim:
A printing system comprising: a host apparatus connected to a network; at least two printer devices, each printer device assigned a sequential level, from lower level to upper level, the at least two printer devices connected to the network and that receive a print job including print data and a series of process commands from a host apparatus and print the print job in accordance with the process commands, a first printer device among the printer devices including a session setup unit that sets up a session between the host apparatus and a second printer device among the printer devices, receives a print job from the host apparatus, stores the print job, and sends the print job to the second printer device; a job synchronizing unit that maintains if the first printer device is printing the print job, synchronization between the print job that has been stored in the first printer device and the print job that has been stored in the second printer device; a network-disconnection preparation unit that takes measures, if a network disconnection occurs between the host apparatus, so as not to cancel the print job that has been stored in each of the first printer device and the second printer device and not to close the session that has been setup between the host apparatus and the second printer device, unless a network disconnection occurs in middle of receiving a first piece of the print data from the host device, in which case the network-disconnection preparation unit cancels the print job that has been stored in the first printer device and the second printer device, and closes the session that has been setup between the host apparatus and the second printer device; and a network connecting unit that connects the host apparatus and the at least two printer devices via a network by transmitting a printer occupation command from the host apparatus to the printer devices successively, and also sends a withhold command to withhold the printing at the lower level printer device; the host apparatus including a sending unit that sends, if a network reconnection takes place after the network disconnection between the first printer device, only un-received print data to the first printer device by referring to the print data in the print job that has been stored in the first printer device, the un-received print data being print data that the first printer device could not receive from the host apparatus due to the network disconnection.