Image Processing Apparatus and Image Processing Method

An image processing apparatus comprising:

• an image acquiring portion configured to acquire an image;
• a first determination portion configured to determine whether or not a drawing is present within a band-like region with a predetermined width including a center in a direction of a long side or in a direction of a short side of the image acquired by the image acquiring portion;
• a second determination portion configured to determine whether or not there is drawing continuity between images in respective image regions located at both sides of the band-like region;
• a third determination portion configured to determine whether or not the acquired image is an aggregate image formed by aggregating images of a plurality of pages, on the basis of a determination result of the first determination portion and a determination result of the second determination portion;
• and
• an image dividing portion configured to divide the acquired image, when the acquired image is determined to be an aggregate image by the third determination portion, wherein
• the third determination portion determines that the acquired image is an aggregate image, when it is not determined by the first determination portion that a drawing is present and it is determined by the second determination portion that there is no drawing continuity.