Patent ID: 7548344

Claim:
An image processing apparatus comprising: first determination means for determining whether a chromatic pixel group exists on a main scanning line by determining whether chromatic pixels exist consecutively on the main scanning line; second determination means for determining whether the number of the chromatic pixel groups existing on the main scanning line is equal to or larger than a predetermined number; third determination means for determining, separately from the determination by the first determination means as to whether the chromatic pixels exist consecutively on the main scanning line, whether the chromatic pixels exist consecutively on the main scanning line, and further determining whether the main scanning lines on which the chromatic pixels exist consecutively, exist consecutively in a sub-scanning direction; and means for determining a target image to be a color image if either one of a determination result obtained by the second determination means and a determination result obtained by the third determination means is affirmative, wherein a parameter used for determining whether the chromatic pixels exist consecutively by the first determination means and a parameter used for determining whether the chromatic pixels exist consecutively by the third determination means are set separately.