Image processing apparatus and image processing method

An image processing apparatus comprising:

• a capturing unit that captures images of a plurality of documents;
• a storage unit that stores the images of the documents captured by the capturing unit;
• a first determination section that determines whether there are a plurality of images whose outer shapes are not rectangular in the images of the documents stored in the storage unit;
• a first control section that, if the first determination section determines that there are images whose outer shapes are not rectangular, performs control operations to connect edges of the non-rectangular images to combine the non-rectangular images;
• a second determination section that determines whether the outer shape of the combined image, which is made up of the non-rectangular images combined by the first control section, is rectangular or whether the combined image is bilaterally symmetric with respect to a predetermined line passing through the center of the combined image;
• and
• a second control section that, if the second determination section determines that the outer shape of the combined image is rectangular or that the combined image is bilaterally symmetric, performs control operations to produce a composite image of the non-rectangular images with the edges connected to each other.