Provided are a printing control unit that performs control so that printing is performed in a state in which character shape deformation is made in association with meta information that is meta information acquired on the basis of print data and indicates meaning of characters, and a digitalization unit that generates meta information corresponding to character shape deformation of characters when generating digital data including character data by inputting a read image of a printed matter to generate digital data including meta information in addition to the character data. The meta information is embedded in the printed matter in an aspect of character shape deformation of characters, and when generating digital data by reading the printed matter, the character shape deformation is recognized to generate meta information corresponding to the deformation. According to this, it is possible to perform retrieval of information using the meta information and the character data.