Patent ID: 8854653

Claim:
An image forming system, comprising: at least one information processing apparatus capable of transmitting print data including setting information related to image formation; a server receiving said print data from an information processing apparatus; and a plurality of image forming apparatuses capable of data communication with said server; wherein said server includes a device information storage unit storing, in advance of receiving said print data from said information processing apparatus, device information of each image forming apparatus of said plurality of image forming apparatuses, a print data storage unit storing said print data from said information processing apparatus, a data converting unit converting, upon receiving said print data from said information processing apparatus and prior to a request for said print data from an image forming apparatus, said print data to converted data for each image forming apparatus of said plurality of image forming apparatuses in communication with the server based on said device information of each image forming apparatus stored in the device information storage unit, a converted data storage unit storing said converted data of each image forming apparatus in communication with the server and information specifying its associated image forming apparatus from said plurality of image forming apparatuses, and a converted data transmitting unit responsive to a data request from a particular image forming apparatus from the plurality of image forming apparatuses for transmitting said converted data corresponding to the particular image forming apparatus, stored in said converted data storage unit; and each image forming apparatus includes a data requesting unit transmitting said data request for converted data to said server in accordance with a user operation, and a processing unit for performing an image forming process based on said converted data received from said server, wherein the converted data stored in the converted data storage unit includes at least two kinds of converted data for the plurality of image forming apparatuses, a first converted data is based on a printing method of at least one first image forming apparatus of the plurality of image forming apparatuses with a first set of printing capabilities, a second converted data is based on a printing method of at least one second image forming apparatus of the plurality of image forming apparatuses with a second set of printing capabilities, and the first set of printing capabilities is different from the second set of printing capabilities.