Distributed printing system and image forming apparatus, method, and software program for switching between a collaborative processing mode and a centralized processing mode

摘要

A distributed printing system, in which a parent device divides image data into first and second image data, the first image data edited by the parent device itself, and the second image data requested of a child device to edit. The parent device sends the second image data to the child device and requests the child device to edit the second data, and generates first edited image data and sends the first edited image data to the child device. The child device generates second edited image data by editing the second image data received from the parent device, sends the second edited image data to the parent device, and prints out the first edited image data received from the parent device and the second edited image data sequentially. The parent device prints out the first edited image data and the second edited image data received from the child device sequentially.