Patent attributes
An image obtained on imaging is correlated with the information pertinent to a privacy mask, designed to shield an image obtained on imaging, for convenience in image recording processing by an external device, including a downstream side image recording device, first and foremost. An image shielding area for shielding the image of an object on an output image surface is generated, based on a control signal transmitted from an image recording system 2. This image shielding area is synthesized to the image of the object so that the image shielding area is prioritized over the image of the object. The synthesized image is correlated with the information pertinent to the image shielding area and sent to the image recording system 2.