Patent ID: 7228314

Claim:
A print control apparatus for controlling a printing device, comprising: a memory configured to store a plurality of conflict process rules generated by a conflict process rule generation apparatus, the conflict process rule generation apparatus for generating conflict process rules that define conditions for avoiding a conflict between settings related to printing, the conflict process rule generation apparatus comprising: a memory configured to store a principal rule that corresponds to a part of the conflict process rules; and an inference engine configured to generate a complementary rule that corresponds to the rest of the conflict process rules based on the principal rule stored in said memory, and to additionally write the complementary rule in said memory, wherein said memory stores the conflict process rules as a conflict process rule description file, and wherein the conflict process rule description file is described in accordance with a predetermined markup language, and wherein the conflict process rule description file describes a local rule which can be applied to a specific printing device, and a universal rule decription file that describes a universal rule which can be commonly applied to a plurality printing devices is externally referred to; a user interface for selection of print options; and a conflict manager configured to resolve a conflict between the print options input via said user interface by applying the plurality of conflict process rules stored in said memory.