Patent ID: 8064097

Claim:
An image recording apparatus including an insertion unit configured to accept an external storage medium, the image recording apparatus being configured to record an image stored in an external storage medium on recording paper, the image recording apparatus comprising: a reading unit configured to read a document; a classification unit configured to classify a plurality of images stored in the external storage medium into one or more image groups; a comparison unit configured to compare the number of images stored in the external storage medium with a threshold value determined based on the number of image groups classified by the classification unit and the numbers of images included in the respective image groups; an image group selection sheet print unit configured such that, if a result of the comparison made by the comparison unit indicates that the number of images stored in the external storage medium is greater than the threshold value, then the image group selection sheet print unit prints an image group selection sheet for use by a user to select one or more of the image groups classified by the classification unit; a first detection unit configured to detect an image group selected by a user, based on image data obtained by reading the image group selection sheet by the reading unit; a print specification sheet print unit configured to print a print specification sheet such that images included in the image group detected by the first detection unit are printed on the print specification sheet; a second detection unit configured to detect an image selected by the user from the images included in the image group, based on a result of analysis on the image data obtained by reading the print specification sheet by the reading unit; and a recording unit configured to read the image detected by the second detection unit from the external storage medium and record the image on recording paper.