Patent Document ID: 8018618
Application ID: 11550308
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. An information processing apparatus comprising a processor, the apparatus comprising; a layout area acquisition unit which obtains, in order to output a plurality of images each having a same size quadrilateral shape for a single page of a recording sheet, a size of a layout area on the recording sheet on which the images are to be arranged, the layout area having a rectangular shape; an image size acquisition unit which obtains the size of the images; an arrangement setting unit configured to designate an arrangement priority direction from a vertical direction and a horizontal direction; an image arranging unit which creates layout data including the images arranged without margins being generated between the images in the layout area; and a data output unit which outputs an instruction to a printing unit to print layout data for the images, wherein, when the vertical direction is set as the arrangement priority direction, the image arranging unit arranges a first image of the plurality of images, such that the short side of the first image aligns with the short side of the layout area, and the long side of the first image aligns with the long side of the layout area; at a first level in a first direction along the long side of the layout area, the image arranging unit sequentially arranges a second image of the plurality of images, such that the long side of the second image aligns with the long side of an adjacent image, at a second level in the first direction, the image arranging unit sequentially arranges a third image of the plurality of images, such that the short side of the third image at the second level aligns with the short side of an image at the first level in the first direction, and when a remaining portion of the layout area is less than the long side of an image of the plurality of images in the first direction, the image arranging unit arranges a fourth image of the plurality of images, such that the short side of the fourth image aligns the long side of the layout area at a third level in the first direction, wherein, when the horizontal direction is set as the arrangement priority direction, the image arranging unit arranges a first image of the plurality of images, such that the short side of the first image aligns with the long side of the layout area, and the long side of the first image aligns with the short side of the layout area, at a first level in a second direction along the short side of the layout area, the image arranging unit sequentially arranges a second image of the plurality of images, such that the long side of the second image aligns with the long side of an adjacent image, at a second level in the second direction, the image arranging unit sequentially arranges a third image of the plurality of images, such that the short side of the third image at the second level aligns with the short side of an image at the first level in the second direction, and when a remaining portion of the layout area is less than the long side of an image of the plurality of images in the second direction, the image arranging unit arranges a fourth image of the plurality of images, such that the short side of the image aligns with the short side of the layout area at a third level in the second direction, and wherein the image arranging unit is configured to calculate an available number of images to be arranged on the layout image area, the apparatus further comprising: an arranged image number setting unit which sets an arbitrary number of images to be arranged on a single page of a recording sheet; and an image size reduction unit, which, when a number of arranged images set for the arranged image number setting unit is greater than an available number of images, reduces the sizes of the images, such that all of the number of arranged images are arranged on a single page of a recording sheet.