Image forming system, image forming device, image forming method, and non-transitory computer readable medium

1. An image forming system comprising:

a plurality of image forming devices each of which forms an image corresponding to image data,

each of the plurality of image forming devices including

a memory that stores one or more pieces of image data,

a determining unit that determines whether or not usage of the memory of the image forming device is larger than a threshold,

a selecting unit that selects, if the determining unit determines that usage of the memory is larger than the threshold, a piece of image data to be transferred from among the pieces of image data stored in the memory,

a specifying unit that specifies a specific image forming device to which the piece of image data selected by the selecting unit is to be transferred among the other image forming devices, and

a transferring unit that transfers the piece of image data selected by the selecting unit to the specific image forming device specified by the specifying unit,

wherein the determining unit performs the determination at a time when the image forming device is operating in a power saving mode, when the memory of the image forming device stores the piece of image data.

2. The image forming system according to claim 1 ,

wherein the determining unit performs the determination at predetermined time, when the memory of the image forming device stores the piece of image data.

3. The image forming system according to claim 1 ,

wherein the selecting unit selects, from among the pieces of image data stored in the memory of the image forming device, a piece of image data for which an image has been formed a larger number of times in another image forming device among the other image forming devices than in the image forming device, or a piece of image data for which an image was last formed at the oldest date and time in the image forming device or in another image forming device among the other image forming devices, the selected piece of image data being the piece of image data to be transferred.

4. The image forming system according to claim 1 ,

wherein the specifying unit specifies, among the plurality of image forming devices, any of a specific image forming device in which usage of the memory is equal to or smaller than the threshold, a specific image forming device connected to a subnet shared by the image forming device if the plurality of image forming devices are connected to one another so as to be capable of communicating with one another, a specific image forming device whose facsimile function is effectively operating if any of the plurality of image forming devices has a facsimile function of transmitting and receiving a facsimile, a specific image forming device in which an elapsed time from power-on is shorter than a predetermined time period, and a specific image forming device which has formed an image corresponding to the piece of image data to be transferred a number of times larger than a predetermined number, the specified image forming device serving as a transfer destination.

5. An image forming device comprising:

a memory that stores one or more pieces of image data;

an image forming unit that forms an image corresponding to a piece of image data among the pieces of image data stored in the memory;

a determining unit that determines, if usage of the memory of the image forming device is larger than a threshold, that a piece of image data among the pieces of image data is to be transferred from the memory of the image forming device to another image forming device;

a selecting unit that selects, if the determining unit determines that a piece of image data among the pieces of image data is to be transferred to the other image forming device, the piece of image data to be transferred from among the pieces of image data stored in the memory of the image forming device;

a specifying unit that specifies the other image forming device to which the piece of image data selected by the selecting unit is to be transferred; and

a transferring unit that transfers the piece of image data selected by the selecting unit to the other image forming device specified by the specifying unit,

wherein the determining unit performs the determination at a time when the image forming device is operating in a power saving mode, when the memory of the image forming device stores the piece of image data.

6. An image forming method comprising:

storing one or more pieces of image data in a memory of an image forming device;

determining whether or not usage of the memory is larger than a threshold;

selecting, if the determining determines that usage of the memory is larger than the threshold, a piece of image data to be transferred from among the pieces of image data stored in the memory;

specifying another image forming device to which the selected piece of image data is to be transferred; and

transferring the selected piece of image data to the specified other image forming device,

wherein the determining is performed at a time when the image forming device is operating in a power saving mode, when the memory of the image forming device stores the piece of image data.

7. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program causing a computer to execute a process, the computer being provided in an image forming device which includes a memory that stores one or more pieces of image data and which forms an image corresponding to a piece of image data among the pieces of image data stored in the memory, the process comprising:

determining whether or not usage of the memory is larger than a threshold;

selecting, if the determining determines that usage of the memory is larger than the threshold, a piece of image data to be transferred from among the pieces of image data stored in the memory;

specifying another image forming device to which the selected piece of image data is to be transferred; and

transferring the selected piece of image data to the specified other image forming device,

wherein the determining is performed at a time when the image forming device is operating in a power saving mode, when the memory of the image forming device stores the piece of image data.