Patent ID: 7602999

Claim:
A image searching device, comprising: a characteristic generating section receiving scan-image-information produced by scanning an original image, and extracting a characteristic of the scan-image-information, which is used for specifying the scan-image-information; an acquisition section acquiring candidates for original image information corresponding to the scan-image-information, according to the characteristic, from a storage device which stores a plurality of image information items; a comparison section comparing each of the candidates for the original image information with the scan-image-information on a pixel basis; and a determination section determining the original image information corresponding to the scan-image-information, according to a result of comparison by the comparison section, wherein: the characteristic generating section divides the scan-image-information into a plurality of areas and determines a type of each area, the characteristic generating section extracting at least one ratio of type of area with respect to an entire area of the scan-image-information and/or positions of area of a specific type so as to use the ratio and/or the positions as the characteristic.