Patent ID: 8542931

Claim:
An image processing apparatus comprising at least one processor; and at least one memory, the memory storing instructions which when executed by the at least one processor cause the at least one processor to function as: a ruled line extracting unit that counts the number of pixels within an image, compares the counted number of pixels with a threshold value, and extracts a ruled line based on a result of the comparison; and an identifying unit that identifies a noise component in the ruled line extracted by the ruled line extracting unit based on thickness of the ruled line extracted by the ruled line extracting unit and the threshold value the identifying unit generating one of: (1) a filter having a horizontal width equal to the threshold value multiplied by α, and has a vertical length equal to the ruled line width multiplied by β; and (2) a filter having a horizontal width equal to the ruled line width multiplied by β, and has a vertical length equal to the threshold value multiplied by α, wherein α<1, and β≧1.