Patent ID: 6872015

Claim:
A method of printing digital print files in a network system including a print service and a plurality of printers, wherein a digital print file includes print image data and metadata specifying job information including a required number of copies to be printed, and wherein at least one of the printers is provided with a local memory and a local operator control unit with an inputting unit and a display and is adapted for permitting interactive printing, the interactive printing representing printing a print file only upon selection of that print file and entering a print command through the operator control unit, the method comprising: a first step of, by the print service, receiving print files, storing the received print files in a storage, and distributing information on the stored print files, including metadata, to a plurality of the printers; and a second step of starting a print process for a first print file in one of the printers and, while said print process is active, starting an interactive print process for the first print file in another one of the printers, wherein the print service controls the printers processing said first print file to print together a total number of copies of the first print file, which is equal to the required number of copies specified in the metadata of said print file.