1. A method for processing an image to detect halftone, said method comprising the steps of: arranging said image into a plurality of bands each comprising a predetermined number of consecutive lines of pixels; arranging each of said plurality of bands into a plurality of tiles of pixels; selecting one of said plurality of tiles as a selected portion; processing data relating to said selected portion, said processing comprising the sub-steps of: quantizing data relating to said pixels in said selected portion; assigning pixels that have the same value and that are adjacent to one another in said selected portion to a connected component; determining the number of unique connected components in said selected portion; and comparing said number of unique connected components to a threshold value; and detecting halftone present in said selected portion based on a result of said processing step and on a result of processing at least one other portion of said image.