Patent ID: 8384927

Claim:
A method for managing a plurality of print jobs, implemented in a print management system including a print job management apparatus connected to a plurality of printing devices, the method comprising: the print job management apparatus receiving a plurality of print jobs; the print job management apparatus prescribing grouping criteria; the print job management apparatus grouping the plurality of print jobs into a plurality of groups in accordance with the prescribed grouping criteria, wherein the print jobs grouped into groups are maintained as individual print jobs for submission to printing devices; the print job management apparatus displaying the plurality of groups using a user interface display, including: displaying a plurality of group identifiers each identifying one of the plurality of groups, and for each group, displaying one or more print jobs belonging to the group, wherein each of the one or more print jobs is displayed with a job ticket identifier that identifies the print job; the print job management apparatus receiving instructions from an operator, which specify at least some groups of print jobs for printing based on the groups displayed on the user interface display; in response to the instructions received from an operator, the print job management apparatus submitting all print jobs in the specified groups to printing devices for printing, wherein all print jobs in a submitted group are submitted to a same printing device, and wherein print jobs in at least some different groups are submitted to different printing devices; and each printing device printing the print jobs submitted to it by the print job management apparatus.