Image processing apparatus and image processing method

An image processing apparatus comprising:

• an object tag producing for producing an object tag indicative of a sort of an object and a region of the object contained in an input image represented by an input image data;
• a plurality of image converting units for converting the input image data to produce a plurality of converted image data;
• and
• a control signal producing unit for inputting thereinto the object tag produced by said object tag producing unit, for selecting any one of the input image data and the plurality of converted image data produced by said plurality of image converting units based upon the input object tag, and for producing a control signal used to perform an image forming process operation based on the selected image data,
• wherein the control signal producing unit produces the control signal based upon the input image data when the sort of object expressed by the input object tag is equal to the multi-valued character and a predetermined condition is satisfied.

An image processing method comprising:

• an object tag producing step for producing an object tag indicative of a sort of an object and a region of the object contained in an input image expressed by an input image data;
• an image converting step for converting the input image data to produce at least one converted image data;
• and
• a control signal producing step for selecting any one of the input image data and the at least one converted image data produced at said image converting step, and for producing a control signal used to perform an image forming process operation based upon the selected image data, wherein in said control signal producing step, when the sort of object expressed by the object tag produced in said object tag producing step is equal to a multi-valued character, the control signal is produced based upon the input image data.