Patent ID: 8627492

Claim:
An image processing apparatus comprising: an input portion that inputs image data for a plurality of pages of document; a password detector that detects a password given to each of the plurality of pages; a password judger that judges from the detecting results drawn by the password detector whether or not different passwords are detected from each of the plurality of pages; a correlation judger that judges, in response to the password judger judging that different passwords are detected from each of the plurality of pages, whether or not each of the passwords of the plurality of pages is correlated to each of the other passwords of the remaining plurality of pages; wherein the correlation judger judges the passwords to be correlated to each other when the passwords include a common group of numbers, or a common code; and an output permitting portion that: (i) permits the image data of all the plurality of pages to be outputted without requesting entry of all passwords, in response to the correlation judger judging for each of the plurality of pages that the passwords are correlated to each other; (ii) requests entry of a password for each of the pages in response to the correlation judger judging for at least one of the plurality of pages that the passwords are not correlated to each other, and then permits the image data of a certain page to be outputted, in response to entry of an appropriate password for that page.