Patent ID: 8368939

Claim:
A printing apparatus comprising: first decoding means for decoding an image to provide image data for display thereof, and for storing the decoded image data for display in a memory; image selecting means for selecting a plurality of images to be printed; printing paper selecting means for selecting a size or a kind of a printing paper; layout selecting means for selecting a layout of printing; preview generating means for generating a preview image of a plurality of pages of the plurality of images selected by the image selecting means, on the basis of the image data decoded by the first decoding means and the layout selected by the layout selecting means; instructing means for providing an instruction to perform printing after the preview image generated by the preview generating means is displayed; second decoding means for decoding an image to provide image data for printing thereof and for storing the decoded image data for printing in the memory; and printing controlling means for printing the decoded image data stored by the second decoding means, in response to the instruction to perform printing being provided by the instructing means, wherein in response to the layout being selected by the layout selecting means before the instructing means provides the instruction to perform printing, the second decoding means decodes a plurality of images which are laid out in the first page of the plurality of pages to be printed in accordance with the selected layout, from among the plurality of images selected by the image selecting means, thereby providing the decoded image data of the first page for printing thereof, wherein when the second decoding means completes decoding of the plurality of images laid out in first page of the plurality of pages to be printed, the print controlling means then confirms whether the instructing means has provided the instruction to perform printing, and controls to await the instruction to perform printing if the instructing means has not yet provided the instruction to perform printing, and wherein if the instruction to perform printing is provided by the instructing means while the print controlling means is awaiting the instruction, the second decoding means decodes the images which are laid out in the second and subsequent pages of the plurality of pages to be printed in accordance with the selected layout.