Patent ID: 7604180

Claim:
An image processing apparatus, comprising: a reader that reads an image in which a background image and image data are combined, the background image having a plurality of blocks adjacent to each other that have a plurality of dots selectively arranged therein, the plurality of blocks including a synchronous block that has a dot arrangement of a synchronous code that is a reference for identifying the synchronous block, page blocks that have dot arrangements representing page numbers, and coordinate blocks that have dot arrangements representing coordinate values on a page, each block being an information unit that expresses a piece of information by a dot arrangement formed based on a number of dots and positions of those dots therein; a detector that overlays a block frame composed of the plurality of blocks on the read image, moves the block frame in relation to the image so that the number of dots detected in each block of the block frame becomes a given number, and detects block break points; and a decoder that decodes the dot arrangement in each block to regenerate information included therein.