IMAGING PROCESSOR

In an image processor, a scramble device performs scramble processing to deform a document image by using scramble conditions by rearranging pixel data in the document image read by a reader. The scramble conditions are embedded in a hard copy of the document image subjected to the scramble processing in such a way that the scramble conditions cannot be easily seen by the naked eye. Thus, the scramble conditions are included in the hard copy. The hard copy is reproduced by using the scramble conditions restored from the hard copy. If a user desires, the scramble processing is performed not on a front page, but on the following pages. The scramble processing can be performed at different levels, and the scramble conditions include a level of scramble processing. Preferably, special marks can be registered, and a level of scramble processing is also registered for each of the marks. If one of the special marks are extracted from a document image, the repetition time is determined automatically according to the registered data.