Patent ID: 8151267

Claim:
A method of providing one or more alternative modular printing system configurations relative to an actual modular printing system configuration including a primary scheduler for one or more printing jobs and a shadow scheduler for the one or more printing jobs, the method comprising: a) receiving data representing the one or more printing jobs and communicating the data to the primary scheduler and the shadow scheduler; b) the primary scheduler, scheduling the execution of the one or more print jobs by identifying a set of printing system module capabilities associated with the actual modular printing system configuration capable of executing the one or more printing jobs, and determining a sequence of operations associated with the actual modular printing system configuration capable of executing the one or more printing jobs; c) determining a metric value associated with the execution of the one or more print jobs for the actual modular printing system configuration; d) the shadow scheduler, scheduling the execution of the one or more print jobs by identifying a set of printing system module capabilities associated with the alternative modular printing system configuration capable of executing the one or more printing jobs, determining a sequence of operations associated with the alternative modular printing system configuration capable of executing the one or more print jobs, and determining the metric value associated with the execution of the one or more print jobs for the alternative modular printing system configuration; e) performing a comparison of the metric value associated with the execution of the one or more print jobs for the actual modular printing system configuration relative to the metric value associated with the execution of the one or more print jobs for the alternative modular printing system configuration; f) producing comparison results; and g) communicating the comparison results to a data receiving device.