CHARACTER PROCESSING APPARATUS, CHARACTER PROCESSING METHOD AND MEDIUM RECORDING CHARACTER PROCESSING PROGRAM

To enable the speedup of processing for generating a document image and the reduction of an area for storing a character pattern without using processing requiring time if a character is output, a pattern format selecting section 106 for selecting a pattern format based upon the character data of a character to be output, a pattern generating section 107 which can generate a character pattern in plural pattern formats for generating a character pattern in the pattern format selected by the pattern format selecting section 106 based upon the character data of the character to be output, a pattern storing section 112 for storing the generated character pattern together with format information showing pattern format thereof and a pattern converting section 115 for converting the stored character pattern corresponding to the format information to a character pattern in a format required in the generation of a document image if the stored format information shows that the format is a format requiring conversion in the generation of the document image are provided.