Patent ID: 8274709

Claim:
A device comprising: a generating unit configured to read a plurality of documents and generate document images corresponding to the documents; and an extracting unit capable of extracting conditional output permission information and output inhibition information from the generated document images, wherein if the conditional output permission information and the output inhibition information are extracted by the extracting unit, the generated document images are not output, wherein the extracting unit is capable of extracting a condition and document identification information associated with the conditional output permission information, wherein if a predetermined or larger number of pieces of the conditional output permission information associated with different pieces of the document identification information are extracted by the extracting unit, the generated document images are not output, and wherein if a smaller number than the predetermined number of pieces of the conditional output permission information associated with different pieces of the document identification information are extracted by the extracting unit, and if all conditions associated with the smaller number of pieces of the conditional output permission information are satisfied, the generated document images are output.