Patent ID: 7315400

Claim:
An image processing apparatus for processing pixels of an image, comprising: input means for generating a first luminance signal for each pixel; factor multiplication means for multiplying the first luminance signal of each pixel by a factor to obtain a second luminance signal for each pixel; color-attribute determination means for determining a color attribute for each pixel based on the second luminance signal of said pixel; color-attribute storage means for storing the color attributes determined by the color-attribute determination means for pixels in a predetermined area including a noticed pixel; first counting means for counting an array attribute determined in accordance with the color attributes stored in the color-attribute storage means for a predetermined number of lines of second blocks in a first block obtained by dividing a first line group of the image in a main scanning direction; second counting means for counting the color attributes determined by the color-attribute determination means for the second block; parameter calculation means for calculating parameters indicating an image characteristic for the first block based on the counting by the first counting means and the counting by the second counting means; block-attribute determination means for determining an image attribute of the first block based on the counting by the first counting means, the counting by the second counting means, and the parameters calculated by the parameter calculation means; and line-group image attribute determination means for determining an image attribute of the first line group based on the image attribute determined by the block-attribute determination means.