Patent ID: 7760376

Claim:
A printing method for a printing system having a plurality of image forming devices and a plurality of data transfer devices, comprising: prior to transferring printing data to an image forming device, performing an arithmetic step of calculating data transfer speed in transferring data from a first data transfer device to the plurality of image forming devices in the printing system, and a comparison judgment step of comparing the data transfer speed calculated in said arithmetic step with printing speed at the image forming devices in the printing system, and judging whether image deficiency will occur in printing data that is to be transferred from the first data transfer device to at least one of the plurality of image forming devices based on the comparison wherein in said comparison judgment step, a judgment is made that image deficiency will occur in printing when the data transfer speed calculated in said arithmetic step is lower than the printing speed of said plurality of image forming devices; and a control step of providing control for transferring a first portion of said printing data that is less than an entirety of the printing data to at least one of the image forming devices from a second data transfer device if it is judged in said judgment step that image deficiency will occur in the first portion of said printing data, and transferring a second portion of said printing data that is less than the entirety of the printing data to at least one of the image forming devices from the first data transfer device if it is judged in said judgment step that image deficiency will not occur in the second portion of said printing data.