IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS

To improve the accuracy in erasing handwritten memos by quickly acquiring, from an image of a document including handwritten memos, an image from which the handwritten memos are removed.SOLUTION: An image forming apparatus 10 comprises: a specification unit 23 that specifies, for an image of a document read by an image reading unit 17, areas outside target areas where characters other than handwritten characters are located in peripheral portions as margin areas; a determination unit 25 that assigns points to the characters included in the target areas based on a plurality of predetermined evaluation items, when the characters assigned with the points are less than a predetermined reference point, determines that the characters are handwritten characters, and when the characters assigned with the points are equal to or more than the predetermined reference point, determines that the characters are characters other than the handwritten characters; and a creation unit 26 that creates a post-erasure image obtained by erasing, from the image of the document, images of the margin areas specified by the specification unit 23 and images of the handwritten characters in the target areas determined by the determination unit 25.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2 【課題】手書きメモのある原稿の画像から手書きメモをなくした画像を迅速に取得し、手書きメモの消去精度を向上させる。【解決手段】画像形成装置１０は、画像読取部１７が読み取った原稿の画像について、手書き文字以外の文字が周縁部分に位置する対象領域よりも外側の領域を余白領域として特定する特定部２３と、対象領域に含まれる文字を予め定められた複数の評価項目に基づいて点数化し、当該点数化された文字が予め定められた基準点数未満である場合に手書き文字であると判定し、予め定められた基準点数以上である場合に手書き文字以外の文字であると判定する判定部２５と、特定部２３が特定した余白領域の画像と、対象領域において判定部２５が判定した手書き文字の画像とを、原稿の画像から消去した消去後画像を生成する生成部２６と、を備える。【選択図】図２