Patent ID: 8553291

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a causing unit which causes a printing unit to print a plurality of separate image patches and a plurality of pieces of identification information on a sheet, each of the plurality of separate image patches corresponding to a different piece of the plurality of pieces of identification information, wherein each of the plurality of separate image patches printed on the sheet includes two parts, one part of the two parts including larger dots than the other part of the two parts, with each separate image patch having a density difference between the one part including the larger dots and the other part, and wherein the density difference for each separate image patch is different from the density difference for each of the other separate image patches; and an input unit which inputs a piece of identification information from the plurality of pieces of identification information that corresponds to one of the separate image patches having a density difference between the one part including the larger dots and the other part, wherein, after the input unit inputs the piece of identification information, the causing unit causes the printing unit to print on a sheet an image generated using information related to the input piece of identification information that corresponds to one of the separate image patches having a density difference between the one part including the larger dots and the other part, and wherein the printed image generated using the information related to the input piece of identification information includes two parts, one part of the two parts including larger dots than the other part of the two parts.