Patent ID: 8125674

Claim:
A method for scheduling print jobs in a parallel printing assembly having a plurality of print engines, a storage device for storing print jobs in queue and a printer assembly output having a plurality of sheet outputs wherein a user initiates a reallocation of the queue at a local user interface at the printer assembly output, comprising: executing a first print job in the parallel printing assembly, including printing the first print job on all of the plurality of print engines and outputting printed sheets of the first print job at a first sheet output; sending a second print job to the parallel printing assembly and queuing the second print job behind the first print job; decreasing the number of the plurality of print engines assigned for executing the first print job to less than all of the plurality of print engines; executing the second print job contemporaneously with the executing of the first print job including maintaining the printing of the first print job with a first of the plurality of engines while printing the second print job with at least a second of the plurality of engines made available from the decreasing; and outputting sheets from the second print job at a second sheet output, whereby the user initiating the second print job is adapted to receive second print job output sheets prior to completion of the first print job.