Patent ID: 8605302

Claim:
An image processing system comprising: an image forming apparatus which outputs target image data; and a plurality of image processing servers which cooperatively perform a series of image processing services in a predetermined order on target image data originated from the image forming apparatus, while being connected to the image forming apparatus via a network, the image forming apparatus comprising: an area information obtainer which obtains area information indicating target areas to be subjected to image processing by the image processing servers, from the image processing servers by outputting thereto the target image data; a judgment portion which judges whether or not the target areas to be subjected to image processing by the image processing servers are overlapping each other, based on the area information obtained by the area information obtainer; a target area adjustment controller which examines the priority levels set in advance for the image processing servers if it is judged by the judgment portion that the target areas are overlapping each other, then repeats to instruct an image processing server with a lower priority level than another image processing server to adjust the position of its target area until it is judged by the judgment portion that the target areas are not overlapping each other; and a transmitter which transmits information of the target areas which are determined by the judgment portion to be not overlapping each other, the image processing servers each comprising: a target area adjuster which adjusts the positions of the target areas according to instructions from the image forming apparatus; and an image processor which performs an image processing service on the target image data based on the information of the target areas determined to be not overlapping each other, which is received from the image forming apparatus.