Patent ID: 8228564

Claim:
An information identification apparatus, comprising: an image-data obtaining unit configured to obtain image data to which a plurality of pattern data converted from supplemental information has been added; a reference-information obtaining unit configured to obtain reference information, wherein the reference information is used to identify the supplemental information corresponding to the plurality of pattern data and determine whether the reference information and the plurality of pattern data are identical; a pattern obtaining unit configured to obtain a plurality of target pattern data that is not all of the plurality of pattern data; a similarity calculation unit configured to calculate a similarity between the reference information and the target pattern data based on a degree of match between the reference information and each of the target pattern data; a determining unit configured to determine whether the reference information and the plurality of pattern data added to the image-data are identical based on the similarity; and an identification unit configured to identify the supplemental information corresponding to the plurality of pattern data added to the image-data based on a determination result obtained from the determining unit as to whether the reference information and the plurality of pattern data added to the image data are identical.