Patent ID: 7850159

Claim:
A method of preparing one or more print jobs for finishing: (A) providing an output related attribute for at least one offline finishing device, the output related attribute of the at least one offline finishing device corresponding with a first print output stack height; (B) dividing a portion of the one or more print jobs into a first set of pages with each page of the first set of pages being in a single-up format and a second set of pages with each page of the second set of pages being in the single-up format, wherein the first set of pages corresponds with a first print output stack having a second stack height and the second set of pages corresponds with a second print output stack having a third stack height; (C) providing a printing instruction for causing at least one of the first and second sets of pages to be printed in a multiple up format when either one of the second print output stack height and the third print output stack height is greater than the first print output stack height or the sum of the second print output stack height and the third print output stack height is greater than the first print output stack height; and (D) printing the first and second sets of pages with the printing instruction, wherein, (1) during said printing, the at least one of the first print output stack and the second print output stack is printed in multiple-up format, and (2) neither the second print output stack height nor the third print output stack height is greater than the first print output stack height.