Patent ID: 8050505

Claim:
An image processing apparatus comprising: an input data obtaining section for obtaining input image data; a features extracting section for extracting features of the input image data; an information obtaining section for obtaining features of a reference image from an information storage device connected communicably to the image processing apparatus; a similarity determination section for comparing the features of the input image data with the features of the reference image to determine whether or not the input image data is similar to the reference image; and a control section for controlling operation of a processing section for performing a process on the input image data in accordance with a result determined by the similarity determination section, the information obtaining section obtaining, from the information storage device, processing rule information indicating processing content to be applied to input image data judged to be similar to the reference image, the control section controlling, in accordance with the processing rule information corresponding to the reference image, content of a process the processing section performs on the input image data judged to be similar to the reference image.