Patent US 8,929,684

When an area in a first image is specified, an amounts of characteristics of image data included in the area and a neighboring area are detected and it is determined based on the amount of the characteristics whether or not a notification display indicating that the area is likely not to be a target area needs to be presented. If it is determined that the notification display needs to be displayed, a notification image that enables the area to be identified is generated for the first image and is combined with a second image to generate a composite image and the composite image is displayed on a display unit. On the other hand, if it is determined that the specified area is likely to be a target area, the second image based on the image data included in the area is displayed over the full screen of the display unit.