Patent ID: 8363285

Claim:
An image forming apparatus, including a non-transitory recording medium storing a program, to print an image on a recording medium based on print data, the image forming apparatus comprising: a storing unit to store the print data; an image processing unit to perform image processing on image data included in the print data; a printing operation specification unit to specify implementation of a printing operation using the image processing unit; a marking unit to embed marking data in the image data; a marking printing operation specification unit to specify implementation of a marking printing operation using the marking unit; a printing operation implementation unit to implement the printing operation specified by the printing operation specification unit or the marking printing operation specified by the marking printing operation specification unit; a print data determination unit to determine whether or not the print data includes a setting for the marking printing operation when implementation of the printing operation is specified by the printing operation specification unit at the same time as when implementation of the marking printing operation is specified by the marking printing operation specification unit; a printing operation change unit to change a printing operation performed by the printing operation implementation unit depending on a determination result obtained by the print data determination unit; a marking option setting unit to set an option for authorizing the marking printing operation from among multiple options for the marking printing operation; a first data determination unit to determine whether or not the print data corresponds to the option for authorizing the marking printing operation set by the marking option setting unit, wherein the printing operation change unit comprises a unit to prohibit the printing operation performed by the printing operation implementation unit when the first data determination unit determines that the print data does not correspond to the option for authorizing the marking printing operation based on a determination result obtained by the first data determination unit; and a reporting unit to report cancellation of a print job and the reason therefor when the printing operation performed by the printing operation implementation unit is prohibited by the printing operation change unit.