Patent ID: 7537205

Claim:
A ring-binding control device comprising: a thickness input unit that inputs thickness information representing a total thickness of sheets stacked on a predetermined stacking unit; a size storing unit that stores therein a size of a ring member for binding the sheets; a range determining unit that determines whether the thickness represented by the thickness information is larger than a minimum total thickness of sheets that are allowed to be bound with a ring member having the size stored in the size storing unit and equal to or smaller than a maximum total thickness of sheets that can be bound with the ring member; a setting unit that sets, when it is determined that the thickness represented by the thickness information is equal to or smaller than the minimum total thickness or larger than the maximum total thickness, the size stored in the size storing unit to a different size; and an instructing unit that issues an instruction for binding the sheets stacked on the stacking unit with a ring member having the size stored in the size storing unit.