Patent ID: 8199364

Claim:
An image processing apparatus comprising: a data acquiring section for acquiring data to be printed; a character data detector for detecting whether the data acquired by the data acquiring section is character data; a halftone detector for detecting whether a character to be formed by the character data detected by the character data detector has a halftone; a font size determining section for detecting whether a font size of the character detected to have a halftone is in a specified range between a first threshold value and a second threshold value, where the second threshold value is smaller than the first threshold value; a particular component data determining section for determining whether the character data of the character determined to be in the specified dimensional range is a particular component data including a predetermined particular portion that corresponds to an isolation portion of the character; and an image processing section for executing a gradation processing to the character data that is determined to include the particular component data by the particular component data determining section in such a way that only the particular component data is processed at a gradation that is higher than a gradation for processing a character data for a character having a font size greater than the first threshold value, and a portion other than the particular component data is processed at a gradation initially set for character data, wherein said particular component data is processed at said gradation by increasing the number of halftone-dots.