Method for printing mixed color and black and white documents and for recovering from interruptions

1. A method for printing N sets of a source document, N being a natural number, the source document having been split into a first sub-document and a second sub-document, the method comprising:

(a) printing on a first printer N sets of the first sub-document;

(b) placing printed sheets of the N sets of the first sub-document in a paper inserter unit of a second printer;

(c) starting a printing process on the second printer to print N sets of the second sub-document while merging the sheets of the first sub-document in the paper inserter unit with printed sheets of the second sub-document according to a predetermined merging order;

(d) when an interruption occurs in the printing step (c) during printing of an n th set of the second sub-document, n being a natural number and n≦N, performing a recovery process including:

(d1) removing from the second printer already printed and merged sheets of the n set;

(d2) removing from the paper inserter unit any remaining sheets of the n th set of the first sub-document;

(d3) starting a printing process on the second printer to print N-n sets of the second sub-document while merging the sheets of the first sub-document in the paper inserter unit with printed sheets of the second sub-document according to the predetermined merging order;

(d4) determining a point of interruption of the n th set;

(d5) identifying a first sheet of the first sub-document after the point of interruption;

(d6) placing printed sheets of the n th set of the first sub-document starting from the sheet identified in step (d5) in the paper inserter unit of the second printer; and

(d7) starting a printing process on the second printer to print the n th set of the second sub-document starting from the point of interruption while merging the sheets of the n th set of the first sub-document in the paper inserter unit with printed sheets of the second sub-document according to the predetermined merging order.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein step (d4) includes:

(d8) placing in the paper inserter unit the already printed and merged sheets of the n th set that were removed in step (d1);

(d9) counting the sheets in the paper inserter unit by feeding them through the paper inserter unit; and

(d10) based on a counting result of step (d9), determining the point of interruption of the n th set.

3. The method of claim 1 , further including: after step (d5), displaying an image of the first sheet of the first sub-document after the point of interruption on a display device.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein one of the first and second sub-documents is a color sub-document and printed on a color printer and the other one is a black and white sub-document and printed on a black and white printer.

5. A method for producing N sets of a source document, N being a natural number, the source document having been split into a first sub-document and a second sub-document, the N sets of the first sub-document having been printed on a first printer, the method comprising:

(a) displaying an instruction message for a user to place printed sheets of the N sets of the first sub-document in a paper inserter unit of a second printer;

(b) starting a printing process on the second printer to print N sets of the second sub-document while merging the sheets of the first sub-document in the paper inserter unit with printed sheets of the second sub-document according to a predetermined merging order;

(c) when an interruption occurs in the printing step (b) during printing of an n th set of the second sub-document, n being a natural number and n≦N, performing a recovery process including:

(c1) displaying an instruction message for the user to remove from the second printer already printed and merged sheets of the n th set;

(c2) displaying an instruction message for the user to remove from the paper inserter unit any remaining sheets of the n th set of the first sub-document;

(c3) starting a printing process on the second printer to print N-n sets of the second sub-document while merging the sheets of the first sub-document in the paper inserter unit with printed sheets of the second sub-document according to the predetermined merging order;

(c4) determining a point of interruption of the n th set;

(c5) identifying a first sheet of the first sub-document after the point of interruption;

(c6) displaying an instruction message for the user to place printed sheets of the n th set of the first sub-document starting from the sheet identified in step (c5) in the paper inserter unit of the second printer; and

(c7) starting a printing process on the second printer to print the n th set of the second sub-document starting from the point of interruption while merging the sheets of the n th set of the first sub-document in the paper inserter unit with printed sheets of the second sub-document according to the predetermined merging order.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein step (c4) includes:

(c8) displaying an instruction message for the user to place in the paper inserter unit the already printed and merged sheets of the n th set;

(c9) counting the sheets in the paper inserter unit by feeding them through the paper inserter unit; and

(c10) based on a counting result of step (c9), determining the point of interruption of the n th set.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein step (c6) includes displaying an image of the first sheet of the first sub-document after the point of interruption on a display device.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein one of the first and second sub-documents is a color sub-document and printed on a color printer and the other one is a black and white sub-document and printed on a black and white printer.

9. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having a computer executable program code embedded therein for controlling a data processing apparatus, the computer executable program code configured to cause the data processing apparatus to execute a process for producing N sets of a source document, N being a natural number, the source document having been split into a first sub-document and a second sub-document, the N sets of the first sub-document having been printed on a first printer, the process comprising:

(a) displaying an instruction message for a user to place printed sheets of the N sets of the first sub-document in a paper inserter unit of a second printer;

(b) starting a printing process on the second printer to print N sets of the second sub-document while merging the sheets of the first sub-document in the paper inserter unit with printed sheets of the second sub-document according to a predetermined merging order;

(c) when an interruption occurs in the printing step (b) during printing of an n th set of the second sub-document, n being a natural number and n≦N, performing a recovery process including:

(c1) displaying an instruction message for the user to remove from the second printer already printed and merged sheets of the n th set;

(c2) displaying an instruction message for the user to remove from the paper inserter unit any remaining sheets of the n th set of the first sub-document;

(c3) starting a printing process on the second printer to print N-n sets of the second sub-document while merging the sheets of the first sub-document in the paper inserter unit with printed sheets of the second sub-document according to the predetermined merging order;

(c4) determining a point of interruption of the n th set;

(c5) identifying a first sheet of the first sub-document after the point of interruption;

(c6) displaying an instruction message for the user to place printed sheets of the n th set of the first sub-document starting from the sheet identified in step (c5) in the paper inserter unit of the second printer; and

(c7) starting a printing process on the second printer to print the n th set of the second sub-document starting from the point of interruption while merging the sheets of the n th set of the first sub-document in the paper inserter unit with printed sheets of the second sub-document according to the predetermined merging order.

10. The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein step (c4) includes:

(c8) displaying an instruction message for the user to place in the paper inserter unit the already printed and merged sheets of the n th set;

(c9) counting the sheets in the paper inserter unit by feeding them through the paper inserter unit; and

(c10) based on a counting result of step (c9), determining the point of interruption of the n th set.

11. The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein step (c6) includes displaying an image of the first sheet of the first sub-document after the point of interruption on a display device.

12. A method for printing N sets of a source document, N being a natural number, the source document having been split into a first sub-document and a second sub-document, the method comprising:

(a) printing on a first printer N sets of the first sub-document;

(b) placing printed sheets of the N sets of the first sub-document in a paper inserter unit of a second printer;

(c) starting a printing process on the second printer to print N sets of the second sub-document while merging the sheets of the first sub-document in the paper inserter unit with printed sheets of the second sub-document according to a predetermined merging order;

(d) when an interruption occurs in the printing step (c) during printing of an n th set of the second sub-document, n being a natural number and n≦N, performing a recovery process including:

(d1) removing from the second printer already printed and merged sheets of the n th set;

(d2) removing from the paper inserter unit any remaining sheets of the n th set of the first sub-document;

(d3) starting a printing process on the second printer to print N-n sets of the second sub-document while merging the sheets of the first sub-document in the paper inserter unit with printed sheets of the second sub-document according to the predetermined merging order; and

(d4) after finishing printing the N-n sets in step (d3), starting a printing process on the second printer to complete the n th set of the second sub-document while merging the sheets of the n th set of the first sub-document in the paper inserter unit with printed sheets of the second sub-document according to the predetermined merging order.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein step (d4) comprises:

(d5) placing in the paper inserter unit the already printed and merged sheets of the n th set that were removed in step (d1);

(d6) counting the sheets in the paper inserter unit by feeding them through the paper inserter unit; and

(d7) based on a counting result of step (d6), determining the point of interruption of the n th set;

(d8) identifying a first sheet of the first sub-document after the point of interruption;

(d9) placing printed sheets of the n th set of the first sub-document starting from the sheet identified in step (d8) in the paper inserter unit of the second printer; and

(d10) starting a printing process on the second printer to print the n th set of the second sub-document starting from the point of interruption while merging the sheets of the n th set of the first sub-document in the paper inserter unit with printed sheets of the second sub-document according to the predetermined merging order.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein one of the first and second sub-documents is a color sub-document and printed on a color printer and the other one is a black and white sub-document and printed on a black and white printer.