Patent ID: 7969618

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: a generating unit that generates a control image representing control information that controls an operation performed by the image forming apparatus, the control image comprising a page number of a page of an original document and a total number of pages of the original document; a superimposing unit that superimposes the control image generated by the generating unit on each of a plurality of pages of the original document, the control image superimposed on the plurality of pages respectively comprising the page number of the page of the original document and the total number of pages of the original document; and an output unit that respectively outputs the control image superimposed on each of the plurality of pages as superimposed pages of a superimposed document, wherein the control information controls the image forming apparatus to produce a copy of the superimposed document in response to receiving the superimposed document and determining that all of the pages of the superimposed document are received by the image forming apparatus based on the control image superimposed on each of the pages of the superimposed document.