In an apparatus performing object-by-object coding by using coordinate position information (FMJpos) which indicates the positional relationship between a composite image coordinate system and an object coordinate system, and area position information (OBJpos) which indicates the position of a rectangle area in the object coordinate system, position disturbance information (pos offset) the value of which varies from frame to frame is generated, and the position disturbance information (pos offset) is superposed on the coordinate position information (FMpos) and the area position information (OBJpos) so that the position of the rectangle area corresponding to each object, which position is decided on the composite image coordinate system in accordance with these position information, does not change. Therefore, it is possible to make illegal reuse of an image signal corresponding to each object difficult, without degrading the image quality.
Image processing method, image processing apparatus, and data storage media