COPY HISTORY MANAGEMENT METHOD

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a copy history management method which, even if an identical or different user repetitively re-copy a copy as an original to cause divergence of a copy history, retraces the copy history.SOLUTION: With an image to be copied, the device ID of a copy device having executed the copying and a time stamp representing a date and time when copying is performed are printed on a copy. If the copy becomes the original of the next copying processing, a copy history of the previous time is called from the read device ID and time stamp, and the copy history is managed with the copying processing of this time as copying processing associated with the copying history of the previous time.