Patent ID: 7372588

Claim:
A system, comprising: a plurality of printers operationally coupled to individually respond to instructions received via a network, each of the plurality of printers comprising a controller adapted to determine standby print information indicative of an amount of standby print operations received via the network from all of a plurality of discrete sources, a memory operatively connected to the controller, and an interface adapted to transfer data between the controller and the network; and a plurality of computers independently communicating by transferring data via the network, each of said computers comprising a controller, an interface adapted to transfer data between the controller and the network, and a memory individually registering network printer information representative of said plurality of printers, each controller of each of the computers being adapted to individually complete registration items of network print information by: accessing via the network printer information registered in the memory of in response to reception of a command for printing print-data, to directly transmit an instruction to each of the printers via the interface to command the printers to transmit standby print information via the network, from among the printers operationally coupled to the network determining on a basis of standby print information received from the printers in response to the instruction, a least used printer having a least amount of standby print operations, and independently of others of said plurality of computers, to initiate printing of print-data by directly transmitting the print-data via the network to the printer determined to be the least used printer.