Patent ID: 8339678

Claim:
An image processing apparatus, comprising: a mark obtaining circuit configured to obtain a mark from image data, the mark being previously embedded in the image data, the mark including, a first pattern, and a second pattern having a portion that has the characteristics common to the characteristics of the first pattern, the mark obtaining circuit being configured to obtain, as the mark, the first pattern and the portion of the second pattern having the characteristics common to the characteristics of the first pattern; an additional information detector circuit configured to detect additional information in the mark; and a controller configured to determine whether the additional information is detected in the mark to generate a determination result and to control processing performed by the image processing apparatus with respect to the image data based on the determination result; and a storage device configured to store processing information corresponding to the first pattern and processing information corresponding to the additional information, wherein: when the determination result indicates that the additional information is detected, the controller is configured to control the image processing apparatus to perform processing in accordance with the stored processing information that corresponds to the additional information, and when the determination result indicates that the additional information is not detected, the controller is configured to control the image processing apparatus to perform processing in accordance with the stored processing information that corresponds to the first pattern.