METHOD FOR CONTROLLING PLURAL PRINTERS

PURPOSE: To improve the efficiency of print output by providing a means for recognizing how many slave printers are connected with a master printer and printing the volume, that cannot be processed with the master printer, by allocating it to plural slave printers. CONSTITUTION: When a job to be printed is inputted through a network 9, that job is inputted to a controller 4 of a master printer 1. In this case, the master printer 1 analyzes the contents of this job and graps how many matters are printed out by the printers. At such a time, the master printer 1 grasps the states of slave printers 1' and 1'' and can allocate the sheets to be printed by the respective slave printers 1' and 1'' in optimum conditions. Namely, since the number of output trays at the master printer 1 and the slave printers 1' and 1'' and printing processing speed are grasped, it can be optimized the printer to perform printing processing and the number of sheets to be printed. Thus, the image can be extended at high speed.