JPH09277663A - Image processing method and apparatus and computer readable memory - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) Abstract: An image processing method and apparatus for realizing a high total throughput with a small memory capacity are provided. When image processing is performed on image data received via a server 118 and an I / F control unit 115, a transfer rate of data transferred from the server 118 via the I / F control unit 115 is measured. In addition, the parameter of the command transferred from the server 118 at the time of the print instruction is analyzed,
According to the analysis result, the printing speed of the page printer included in the printing control unit 114, which prints based on the image data, is calculated, and the transfer speed and the printing speed are compared. Then, in accordance with the comparison result, while the image data is being received, that is, before the data for one page of the recording paper is completely stored in the image memory 104, the recording on the recording paper is started based on the received image data. Control.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing method and an apparatus therefor, and more particularly to an image processing method and an apparatus for performing image processing by inputting image data from a connectable external device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an image processing apparatus capable of recording control of image data received from an external device connected thereto, the start timing of the recording control of the image data depends on the data transfer rate from the external device. No matter what, the timing was set in advance.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, since the start timing of the recording control cannot be switched according to the data transfer rate from the external device,
In particular, in the case of recording control using a laser printer (LBP), it is necessary to start recording control after accumulating image data for one page of recording paper in order to perform image formation at a constant speed. This is because the data transfer rate from the external device to the image processing device changes depending on the processing performance and operating condition of the external device, and therefore it is necessary to guarantee the operation of the image processing device under the worst conditions.

Therefore, the image processing apparatus needs a memory for accumulating image data corresponding to at least one page of the recording paper, but this is a problem from the viewpoint of the apparatus cost.

Further, the process of once accumulating the image data corresponding to one page of the recording paper in the memory is also a factor that hinders the improvement of the total throughput.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional example, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image processing method and an apparatus thereof which realize a high total throughput with a small memory capacity.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the image processing method of the present invention comprises the following steps.

That is, an image processing method for performing image processing on image data received through an interface with an external device, comprising a receiving step of receiving image information including image data from the external device through the interface, Recording step for measuring the transfer rate of data transferred from an external device through the interface, analysis step for analyzing the image information, and recording based on the image data according to the analysis result in the analysis step A calculation step of calculating the speed, a comparison step of comparing the transfer speed and the recording speed, a recording step of recording on a recording medium based on the image data received in the receiving step, and a comparison result in the comparison step According to the control, the recording step starts recording while receiving the image data in the receiving step. And an image processing method characterized by having a that recording control step.

According to another invention, interface means for connecting to an external device, receiving means for receiving image information including image data from the external device via the interface means, and the interface means from the external device. Measuring means for measuring the transfer rate of data transferred via the recording means, recording means for recording on a recording medium based on the image data received by the receiving means, analyzing means for analyzing the image information, and the analyzing means. Calculating means for calculating the recording speed of the recording means according to the analysis result of the recording means, comparing means for comparing the transfer speed with the recording speed, and the receiving means for receiving the image data according to the comparison result by the comparing means. Recording control means for controlling recording to be started by the recording means during reception. Comprising an image processing device.

[0010]

With the above configuration, the present invention receives image information including image data from an external device via an interface when performing image processing on image data received from the external device via the interface. The transfer speed of the data transferred via the interface is measured, the image information is analyzed, the recording speed for recording is calculated based on the image data according to the analysis result, and the transfer speed and the recording speed are compared. Then, according to the comparison result, control is performed so as to start recording on the recording medium based on the received image data while receiving the image data.

Here, the received image data is stored in the storage means. At this time, the available capacity of the storage means is checked, and the received image data is controlled to be stored in the storage means according to the result of the investigation. Done. Further, the received image data may be subjected to an encoding process, or the control of storing the received image data in the storage means may be performed in units of image data corresponding to one page of the recording medium.

Further, when it is determined from the above survey results that the available capacity of the storage means is not sufficient to store the received image data, the image data of lower resolution is sent to the external device. You may make it respond so that it may transfer.

The recording speed is calculated by searching a table containing information corresponding to the recording speed according to the size of the recording medium and the recording resolution.

A page printer may be used to record the image data. The page printer can record at multiple resolutions, can use recording sheets of multiple sizes, and can perform enlargement / reduction recording. On the other hand, if the received image information includes the resolution and the image size of the image data, based on the resolution and the image size of the image data analyzed from the image information, the recording paper of the optimum size is selected from the recording papers of a plurality of sizes. May be selected, and the optimum recording resolution may be selected from a plurality of resolutions. Alternatively, it may instruct the page printer to perform enlargement or reduction of the received image data so as to perform recording on an available recording sheet based on the resolution and image size of the image data analyzed from the image information. Can also be controlled.

Now, it is assumed that the external device functions as a server, and the server can receive image data from a plurality of clients connected via a network.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the schematic arrangement of an image processing apparatus 100 having a facsimile function, a copying function, and a printing function, which is a typical embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a CPU 101 is a system control unit that controls the entire image processing apparatus 100 via a system bus 117. ROM 102 is CPU 101
Stores a control program, an operating system (OS) program, and the like that execute recording control based on the data transmitted through the LAN described below. The specific processing contents of this control program will be described later with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 4, 6, and 7. The RAM 103 is composed of an SRAM or the like, and stores program control variables and the like, and is also used as a work buffer when the CPU 101 executes various processes such as setting values registered by an operator and management data of the apparatus. Image memory 104 is DRA
It is composed of M etc. and stores image data. In this embodiment, each control program stored in the ROM 102 is subjected to software control such as scheduling and task switching under the control of the OS running on the CPU 101.

The operation unit 105 includes various keys and LEs.
D, LCD, etc. are used to perform various input operations by the operator, display of operating conditions of the image processing apparatus 100, and the like. The reading control unit 107 is composed of a CS image sensor, a document feeding mechanism (feeder), etc.
It is optically read using the S image sensor and converted into an electrical image signal. The image processing control unit 108 performs various image processing such as binarization processing and halftone processing on the image signal and outputs high-definition image data.

The reading / recording code decoding control unit 112 uses the CS
Image data read from the image sensor and used for copying / facsimile transmission is encoded according to a predetermined encoding method, and the data is stored in the image memory 104. The recording control unit 114 is composed of a page printer, a recording image processing control unit, and the like. The image data to be recorded is read out from the image memory, decoded by the read / write code decoding control unit 112, and smoothed by the recording image processing control unit. Various image processing such as recording density correction processing is performed to convert the image data into high-definition image data and output to a page printer.

This page printer has a plurality of sizes (for example, A4, B4, legal size (LG
L), letter size (LTR) and the like are provided with a paper cassette in which a recording paper of an optimum size can be selected according to the size of a recording image. Further, this page printer is capable of printing by selecting a resolution from a plurality of printing resolutions (for example, 400 dpi, 600 dpi, etc.), and further enlarging an image.
It is also possible to reduce and record.

The communication control unit 109 is composed of a MODEM (modulation / demodulation device) or the like, and controls modulation / demodulation of a transmission / reception signal of a facsimile. An NCU (network control unit) 110 sends a selection signal (dial pulse or dial pulse) to an analog communication line (PSTN) 116, detects a call signal, and performs line control such as automatic incoming call control.
The communication code decoding processing unit 111 performs a decoding process on the image data stored in the image memory 104 for facsimile communication. The resolution conversion processing unit 106 performs milli-inch resolution conversion, enlargement / reduction processing, or the like on the image data output from the communication encoding / decoding processing unit 111, and the image subjected to the resolution conversion is processed by the device of the transmission destination. The communication coding / decoding processing unit 111 further performs coding processing according to the capability, and transfers the coding processing to the communication control unit 109.

The I / F control unit 115 controls the interface with the information processing terminal (hereinafter referred to as a server) 118 to be connected. In this embodiment, it is assumed that a parallel interface such as a bidirectional Centronics interface is supported. Further, the server 118 is connected to a LAN 119 such as Ethernet, and the LA
A remote operation request such as a facsimile transmission request or a print request to the image processing apparatus 100 is received from another information processing terminal (hereinafter referred to as a client) connected to the N119.

Now, from the server 118 to the image processing apparatus 10
For remote operations such as data transmission to 0, printing, and data registration, predetermined commands / parameters / data, etc. are transmitted via the I / F control unit 115 to the image processing apparatus 100.
By sending to. The server 118 is assumed to have application software and driver software for controlling remote operations and remote operation requests installed.

The image data transferred via the server 118 and the I / F control unit 115 is coded by the I / F code decoding processing unit 113 to obtain the image data 104.
Stored in.

FIG. 2 shows the image processing apparatus 100 shown in FIG.
2 is a block diagram showing an outline of the overall configuration of an information processing system in which is used. As shown in FIG. 2, the image processing apparatus 100 is connected to another information processing terminal (client) via the server 118 and the LAN 119 to perform information communication.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 203 denotes a file server for controlling the protocol of the LAN 119 and control of files exchanged via the LAN 119, and 204 to 204.
An information processing terminal (client) 205 is connected to the LAN 119.

In the system of this embodiment,
For recording control, when the client 204 logs in to the server 118 and makes a print request to the server 118,
The image processing apparatus 1 performs scheduling by the server 118
00 is started by automatically starting the remote operation.

FIG. 3 shows the server 118 and the image processing apparatus 10.
6 is a time chart showing an outline of data transmission / reception with the I / F control unit 115 of 0. The recording control operation is executed in the image processing apparatus 100 triggered by this data transmission / reception.

Now, the server 118 and the image processing apparatus 100
In the data transmission / reception with the device, a command (Command), image data (Data), a response (Response) and the like are exchanged for each operation as shown in FIG. 3 in accordance with a predetermined interface protocol. The command is a parameter (Param) that specifies the command code for identifying each command and the setting values (recording paper size, resolution, image data type, etc.) necessary to execute each command.
eter) etc. Further, the image data is sent in response to a command requesting the image data or accompanying the command instructing the transfer of the image data.

As shown in FIG. 3, the server 118 is based on an instruction from the client 204, and the image processing apparatus 10
0, a command called host print instruction (301, 303) for starting recording control, and a page information instruction (30) for specifying the resolution and image size of image data.
2, 304) and an image data transfer instruction (305) for transferring image data.

According to the example shown in FIG. 3, the host print instruction (301) is issued from the server 118 to the image processing apparatus 100, and the image processing apparatus 100 returns a positive (OK) response to the instruction. However, a negative (NG) response is returned to the command of the page information instruction (302). This is the page information instruction (30
The main / sub-scanning resolution is 600 dpi specified by the parameter of the command 2), and the image processing apparatus 100 rejects the print request because the data transfer rate from the server 118 is slow, and the resolution is lower. This is because the request is made to drop to (for example, 400 dpi).

Therefore, when the server 118 issues the host print instruction (303) again and receives a positive (OK) response to the command, this time the main / sub scanning resolution is set to 400 dpi and the page information instruction (304) is issued.
To issue again. When a positive (OK) response to the command is received, the image data transfer instruction (30
When the command 5) is issued, the image data is transferred.

Thereafter, the image processing apparatus 100 starts recording control based on the received image data.

Next, recording control (host print control) in the image processing apparatus 100 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. In the process shown in this flowchart, the control program stored in the ROM 102 is stored in the C
This is performed by the PU 101 executing.

First, in step S401, a host print instruction, which is a recording control start request, is received. When the instruction is received, the process monitors the operating status of the recording control unit 114 in step S402,
If another print control is being executed, it is determined that the host print instruction cannot be accepted, and the process proceeds to step S4.
Proceed to step 22 and send "BUSY" as a response to server 1
Then, the host print control is terminated.
On the other hand, if it is determined that the recording control for the received host print instruction is possible, the process proceeds to step S403, "OK" is sent to the server 118 as a response, and the print request can be accepted. Notify to that effect.

Next, in step S404, the server 11
The transfer rate measurement control for measuring the transfer rate when receiving the data from 8 is started. This measurement is performed by measuring the transfer speed of a command called a page information instruction that specifies the resolution of image data, etc., and the transfer speed (Ta) is determined based on the transfer data amount per unit time. Since this transfer rate changes according to the performance and operating conditions of the image processing apparatus, the transfer rate is measured here for each print page.

After the transfer rate measurement control is started, the process receives the page information instruction in step S405, and in step S406, the data transfer rate obtained by measuring the transfer data amount of the command is set to the transfer rate (Ta). Memorize as. Next, in step S407, the parameters of the command received in step S405 are analyzed to acquire the resolution and image size of the image data. In this embodiment, the recording paper size (Ws), the recording density (Wd), and the reduction rate (Wr) necessary for performing recording control are obtained from the resolution and the image size.

After further analyzing the page information instruction, in step S408, the recording paper size (Ws) and recording density (W
d) The recording speed (Tb) is set from the reduction rate (Wr). This processing is performed by referring to the recording speed table as shown in FIG. 5 and selecting the recording speed (Tb) corresponding to the image data according to the recording paper size (Ws) and the resolution. In this embodiment, the recording speed (Tb) is represented by the number of data that can be processed per unit time based on the recording processing time of one line (sub scanning direction).

Next, the process proceeds to step S409.
The data transfer rate (Ta) is compared with the recording rate (Tb). If Ta> Tb, the process proceeds to step S4.
In step 10, quick recording control is performed in the subsequent processing. On the other hand, if Ta ≦ Tb, the process proceeds to step S41.
In step 5, the page recording control is performed in the subsequent processing. The quick recording control refers to control for starting recording control of a page of recording paper while accumulating image data for one page, the details of which will be described later.

In step S410, "OK" is returned to the server 118 as a response to the page information instruction.
In step S411, an image transfer instruction that also serves as a header of image data is received.
Then, in step S412, quick recording control is started.

Details of the quick recording control executed in step S412 will be described below with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. In the process shown in this flowchart, the control program stored in the ROM 102 is executed by the CPU.
It is done by 101 executing.

First, in step S501, reception of the image data transferred from the server 118 following the image data transfer instruction is started. Following this, step S5
In 02, the recording paper cassette (not shown) of the page printer provided in the recording control unit 114 is selected and the recording paper size (W
s), recording density (Wd), reduction ratio (Wr), and other recording modes are set in the page printer. Next, step S5
At 03, a recording start request is sent to the recording control unit 114.

The data flow relating to recording control is as follows. That is, the image data transferred from the server 118 is stored in the RAM 102, which is a buffer memory, via the I / F control unit 115. Next, the data stored in the buffer memory is decoded by the I / F code decoding processing unit 113 as needed for each predetermined block size, and is sequentially transferred to the recording buffer of the recording control unit 114. It

After transmitting the recording start request in step S503, the process controls the data block transfer from the buffer memory to the recording control unit 114 in steps S504 to S505, and the image data transfer for one page of recording paper is completed. Repeat until you do.

When the quick recording control as described above is completed, the process proceeds to step S413, in which the server 118 sets "OK" as a response to the image data transfer instruction.
To send to. Then, the process proceeds to step S414.

On the other hand, in step S415, the process confirms the usage status of the image memory 104 and checks whether the image data transferred from the server 118 can be stored in an amount corresponding to one page of recording paper. This processing is performed by analyzing the image data size calculated by analyzing the parameter designated by the page information instruction and the usable size of the image memory 104. Here, when it is determined that the image memory 104 can be stored (that is, after the image data corresponding to one page of the recording paper is stored in the image memory 104,
If page recording control for starting recording control is possible), the process proceeds to step S416, and "OK" is sent as a response to the page information instruction.

On the other hand, if it is determined that the data cannot be stored in the image memory 104 and the page recording control cannot be executed, the process proceeds to step S420, and the lower resolution ( In order to notify the server 118 to request the host print control in the recording operation at the lower resolution (called fallback mode), an error code meaning "request in fallback mode" is set. Then, step S42
In 1 the response to the image data transfer instruction is "N
G ”is sent to the server 118, and the process is terminated.

The response operation to the request "in the fallback mode" in this embodiment is performed by the server 1 in advance.
When the server 118 is notified of the request in the “fallback mode” by executing the control software installed in the server 18, the resolution is converted to a lower resolution, and then the host print control is restarted. To do. This process corresponds to the host print instruction (3
03) and the page information instruction (304).

Now, in step S417, an image transfer instruction that serves as a header of image data is received, and in step S418, page recording control is started.

Details of the page recording control executed in step S418 will be described below with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. The process shown in this flowchart is also
The control program stored in the ROM 102 is stored in the CPU 10
It is done by executing 1.

In the page recording control, unlike the quick recording control, the image data transferred from the server 118 via the I / F control unit 115 is decoded by the I / F code decoding processing unit 113. The recording process is started after image data for one page of recording paper is stored in the image memory 104. It is assumed that the image memory 104 stores image data converted according to a predetermined encoding method.

First, in step S601, reception of the image data transferred from the server 118 is started following the image data transfer instruction. After that, in step S602, the image data transferred from the server 118 is sequentially subjected to the decoding and encoding processing, and in step S603, it is checked whether or not the reception of the image data is completed. Here, if it is determined that the reception is not completed, the process returns to step S601 to repeat the data reception and the decoding / encoding process. If it is determined that the reception is completed, the process proceeds to step S604.

That is, in step S604, when one page of image data is stored in the image memory 104,
Recording paper size (Ws) and recording density (W
d), the reduction mode (Wr), and other recording modes are set in the recording control unit 1.
Set to 14. After setting the recording mode, step S6
In 05, a recording start request is sent to the recording control unit 114, and the page recording control ends.

Thereafter, in step S419, "OK" is sent to the server 118 as a response to the image data transfer instruction.

Finally, in step S414, it is checked whether or not there is a print request for the next page. If there is such a request, the process returns to step S404, and if there is no such request, the process ends.

Therefore, according to the embodiment described above, the image processing apparatus estimates the data transfer rate and the image data recording rate in response to the print request from the server, and executes the recording control according to the estimation result. To do. That is, when the transfer speed is faster than the recording speed, the recording control of the page is started while the image data for one page is being accumulated in the image memory, and when the transfer speed is slower than the recording speed, the image memory has a margin. After the image data of one page is stored in the image memory, the recording control of the page can be performed.

As a result, the optimum recording control can be performed according to the transfer state of the image data at any given time, and as a result, the total throughput related to the print processing can be improved to the maximum extent, or only a fixed capacity is required. No image memory can be used effectively.

Although the data transfer rate is measured at the time of receiving the page information instruction in the above embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this. For example,
It is also possible to perform it while receiving the image data transferred following the image data transfer instruction. In this case, after the image data transfer instruction is accepted, the transfer time is measured for a predetermined data amount, for example, the first 1 KByte, and the quick recording control start determination is performed at that time. It is also possible to measure the data transfer rate in advance by the information processing terminal and specify it to the image processing apparatus as a part of the parameter of the page information instruction in which the parameter such as the attribute of the image data is stored.

In the above embodiment, the quick recording control is determined by comparing the transfer speed and the recording speed, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, quick recording control may be performed when the transfer rate is higher than a predetermined threshold.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the recording mode is selected on a page basis, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, it is possible to select the quick recording control and the page recording control and perform the recording control at the time of receiving the host print command which is the recording control start request. Further, when the quick recording control cannot be executed without using the page recording control, it is possible to configure the image processing apparatus with the minimum image memory by shifting to the fallback control mode. Further, when the recording control is started and the recording paper of the optimum size is not set, it is also possible to automatically perform the reduction control and perform the recording control.

Furthermore, the quick recording control in the above embodiment is performed by storing the transferred image data in the buffer of the recording controller, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, like the page recording control, the image data transferred from the server is sequentially stored in the image memory while performing the decoding and encoding processing, and at the same time, the recording control unit sequentially reads the image data from the image memory and records the image data. It is also possible to perform asynchronous recording, in which control is performed.

Still another object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium having a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or apparatus, and to supply the computer (or CPU or MPU of the system or apparatus). It goes without saying that) is achieved by reading and executing the program code stored in the storage medium.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD
-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.

Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also the OS (operating system) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. It is needless to say that this also includes a case where the above) performs a part or all of the actual processing and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instructions of the program code, It goes without saying that the CPU included in the function expansion board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

When the present invention is applied to the above-mentioned storage medium, the storage medium stores the program code corresponding to the above-mentioned flow chart. Briefly, the memory map of FIG. Each module shown in the example will be stored in the storage medium. That is, at least "a reception processing module that executes a process of receiving image information including image data from an external device via an interface", and "a measurement process of measuring a transfer rate of data transferred from an external device via the interface". "Measurement processing module to execute", "Analysis processing module to perform analysis processing to analyze image information", "Calculation to calculate recording speed for recording based on image data according to analysis result in analysis processing""Processingmodule","Comparison processing module for performing comparison processing for comparing transfer speed and recording speed", "Recording processing module for performing recording processing for recording on recording medium based on image data received in reception processing" , And “According to the comparison result in the comparison process, the image data is received in the reception process. The recording process during reception may be stored a program code of each module of the recording control processing module "that performs recording control process for controlling so as to start recording in a storage medium.

Now, the processing of the reception processing module is S401, S405, S411, S417 in FIG. 4 and S5 in FIG.
01, S504, and the processing steps shown in S601 of FIG. 7 correspond to the processing of the measurement processing module in S40 of FIG.
4, the processing steps shown in S406 correspond, the processing of the analysis processing module corresponds to the processing step shown in S407 of FIG. 4, and the processing of the calculation processing module corresponds to the processing step of FIG.
408 corresponds to the processing step, the processing of the comparison processing module corresponds to the processing step of S409 in FIG. 4, and the processing of the recording processing module and the recording control processing module corresponds to S402, S412, S418 in FIG. 6 corresponds to the processing steps shown in FIG. 7.

[0070]

As described above, according to the present invention, when image processing is performed on the image data received through the interface with the external device, the image information including the image data is received through the interface from the external device, The transfer speed of the data transferred via the interface is measured, the image information is analyzed, the recording speed for recording based on the image data is calculated according to the analysis result, and the transfer speed and the recording speed are compared. Then, according to the comparison result, for example, when the transfer speed is faster than the recording speed, the recording processing is controlled to start recording on the recording medium based on the received image data while receiving the image data. There is an effect that it can be improved.

As a result, for example, recording is started before the received data is completely stored in the memory, for example, for one page of the recording medium, so that image processing using a memory with a small capacity becomes possible and the cost of the apparatus is reduced. Also contribute to.

[0072]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an image processing apparatus 1 having a facsimile function, a copying function, and a printing function, which is a typical embodiment of the present invention.
It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of 00.

2 is a block diagram showing an outline of an overall configuration of an information processing system in which the image processing apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 1 is used.

3 is a time chart showing an outline of data transmission / reception between the server 118 and the I / F control unit 115 of the image processing apparatus 100. FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing host print control processing.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of a recording speed table.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a quick recording control process.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a page recording control process.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a memory map.

[Explanation of symbols]

 100 image processing device 101 CPU 102 ROM 103 RAM 104 image memory 105 operation unit 106 resolution conversion processing unit 107 reading control unit 108 image processing control unit 109 communication control unit 110 NCU (network control unit) 111 communication code decoding processing unit 112 Read / write code decoding control unit 114 Recording control unit 115 I / F control unit 116 Analog communication line (PSTN) 117 System bus 118 Server 119 LAN 203 File server 204, 205 Client

Claims (15)

[Claims] 1. An interface unit for connecting to an external device, a receiving unit for receiving image information including image data from the external device through the interface unit, and a transfer unit for transferring from the external device through the interface unit. Measuring means for measuring the data transfer rate, recording means for recording on a recording medium based on the image data received by the receiving means, analyzing means for analyzing the image information, according to the analysis result by the analyzing means, Calculation means for calculating the recording speed by the recording means, comparison means for comparing the transfer speed and the recording speed, and the recording means while the receiving means is receiving the image data according to the comparison result by the comparing means. An image processing apparatus, comprising: a recording control unit that controls to start recording according to. 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a storage unit that stores the image data received by the receiving unit. 3. The recording control means includes a surveying means for checking the available capacity of the storage means, and a storage control for controlling the image data received by the receiving means to be stored in the storage means according to the survey result. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising: 4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the storage control unit includes an encoding unit that performs an encoding process on the image data received by the receiving unit. 5. The storage control means controls the storage of the image data received by the receiving means in the storage means in units of image data corresponding to one page of the recording medium. Item 3. The image processing device according to item 3. 6. The resolution lower than that of the external device when it is determined that the available capacity of the storage unit is not sufficient to store the image data received by the receiving unit according to the examination result. 4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a response unit that responds to transfer the image data of 1. 7. The calculating means has a table containing information corresponding to the recording speed according to the size of the recording medium and the recording resolution of the recording means, and the recording speed is obtained by searching the table. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image processing apparatus calculates. 8. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording unit includes a page printer. 9. The page printer according to claim 8, wherein the page printer can record at a plurality of resolutions, can use recording sheets of a plurality of sizes, and can perform enlargement / reduction recording. Image processing device. 10. The image information includes a resolution and an image size of the image data. Based on the resolution and the image size of the image data analyzed from the image information, the optimum size is selected from the recording papers of the plurality of sizes. 10. The image processing apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising a selection unit that selects the recording sheet. 11. The image processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the selection unit further selects an optimum recording resolution from the plurality of resolutions. 12. The image data received by the receiving means is enlarged or expanded so as to record on the usable recording paper based on the resolution and image size of the image data analyzed from the image information. The image processing apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising instruction means for instructing the page printer to perform reduction. 13. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the external device functions as a server, and the server can receive image data from a plurality of clients connected via a network. 14. An image processing method for performing image processing on image data received through an interface with an external device, comprising: a receiving step of receiving image information including image data from the external device through the interface. A measurement step of measuring a transfer rate of data transferred from an external device through the interface, an analysis step of analyzing the image information, and a recording step of recording based on the image data according to an analysis result in the analysis step. A calculation step for calculating the speed, a comparison step for comparing the transfer speed and the recording speed, a recording step for recording on a recording medium based on the image data received in the receiving step, and a comparison result in the comparison step According to the above, the recording process is controlled so as to start recording while receiving the image data in the receiving process. An image processing method characterized by having a recording control step for. 15. A computer-readable memory storing a program code for performing image processing of image data received via an interface with an external device, wherein image information including image data is received from the external device via the interface. A code for executing a receiving step, a code for executing a measuring step for measuring a transfer rate of data transferred from the external device through the interface, and a code for executing an analyzing step for analyzing the image information, A code for executing a calculation step for calculating a recording speed for recording based on the image data according to an analysis result in the analysis step; and a code for executing a comparison step for comparing the transfer speed and the recording speed, Perform the recording process that records on the recording medium based on the image data received in the receiving process. And a code for executing a recording control step for controlling the recording step to start recording while receiving the image data in the receiving step according to the comparison result in the comparing step. Computer readable memory.