Patent ID: 7639381

Claim:
A printing device connecting with a network, the printing device comprising: a data receiver module that receives a print job, which includes specification of a number of copies to be printed and is transmitted from a device connecting with the network; a printing device specification module that specifies each of other printing devices connecting with the network as an alternative printing device to which the print job is transferable; a job transfer module that, when the specified number of copies to be printed is a plural number, transfers a modified print job, which includes setting of a lesser number of copies than the specified number as a number of copies to be transferred, to at least part of the specified alternative printing devices for printing; and a copy number management module that manages a total number of copies including a number of copies printed by the at least part of the specified alternative printing devices, so as to eventually attain printing of the specified number of copies, and determines whether there are still multiple copies to be printed, wherein the print job and the modified print job include print data, and wherein the job transfer module repeatedly executes the transfer of the modified print job, in a case where there are still multiple copies to be printed.