JPH10117284A - Image-processing unit - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce a required memory capacity when reading an image of a plurality of originals and outputting the image. SOLUTION: During sort copy, a control section 9 generates multi-value image data from a plurality of images read by a scanner 1, a density conversion section 2 converts the multi-value image data into low density multi-value image data, a binarization section 3 converts the multi-value image data of low density into binary image data, which are stored in a memory 4 and sorted and printed out by a printer section 8.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus such as a multifunction peripheral (MFP) apparatus, a facsimile apparatus, and a copying apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when images of a plurality of originals are sorted and copied, read image data is stored in an image memory when a first copy is printed out, and is stored in an image memory when a second copy or later is printed out. There has been an image processing apparatus (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-273959) that performs sorted copying by reading and sequentially outputting the output image data.

[0003]

However, in the above-described image processing apparatus, when performing sort printing (sort copying), a large amount of image memory is required to store the image data to be sorted. There was a problem that the cost of the apparatus was increased. The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and has as its object to reduce the amount of memory required when reading and outputting images of a plurality of originals.

[0004]

According to the present invention, there is provided an image reading means for reading an image of an original,
Multi-valued image data generating means for generating multi-valued image data from the image read by the means, density converting means for performing density conversion processing on the multi-valued image data generated by the means, Recording data conversion means for converting value image data into recording data,
A temporary storage unit for temporarily holding the recording data converted by the unit, a printing unit for printing out the recording data, and, when directly printing, the multi-valued image from the image read by the image reading unit. The multi-valued image data is generated by the data generating means, the multi-valued image data is converted into high-density multi-valued image data by the density converting means, and the high-density multi-valued image data is converted by the recording data converting means. The multi-valued image data is converted from the plurality of images read by the image reading unit to the multi-valued image data by the multi-valued image data generating unit. Generated, and converts each of the multi-valued image data into low-density multi-valued image data by the density conversion means. The data is converted into recording data by the recording data converting means, to provide an image processing apparatus having a means for printing by the printing means after the respective recording data sorted and stored in the temporary storage means.

Further, image reading means for reading an image of a document at a low density, multi-valued image data generating means for generating low-density multi-valued image data from the image read by the means, and low-density image data generated by the means Density conversion means for performing high-density processing on the multi-valued image data, recording data conversion means for converting the multi-valued image data into recording data, and temporarily holding the recording data converted by the means. A temporary storage unit, a printing unit that prints out the recording data, and a low-density multi-valued image data generated by the multi-valued image data generation unit from the low-density image read by the image reading unit during direct printing. The low-density multi-valued image data is converted to high-density multi-valued image data by the density conversion means, and the high-density multi-valued image data is recorded as described above. The data is converted into recording data by the data conversion means, and the recording data is directly printed by the printing means. At the time of sort printing, the multi-value image data generation means converts the plurality of low-density images read by the image reading means. Each of the low-density multi-valued image data is generated, and each of the low-density multi-valued image data is converted into recording data by the recording data conversion means.
It is preferable that the image processing apparatus includes means for storing the respective recording data in the temporary storage means, sorting the data, and then printing the data by the printing means.

Further, image reading means for reading an image of a document at high density, multi-valued image data generating means for generating high-density multi-valued image data from the image read by the means, and high-density image data generated by the means Density conversion means for performing low-density processing on the multi-valued image data, recording data conversion means for converting the multi-valued image data into recording data, and temporarily holding the recording data converted by the means. A temporary storage unit, a printing unit that prints out the recording data, and a high-density multi-valued image data generated by the multi-valued image data generation unit from the high-density image read by the image reading unit during direct printing. The high-density multi-valued image data is converted into recording data by the recording data conversion means, and the recording data is converted by the printing means. At the time of direct printing and sorting printing, high-density multi-value image data is generated by the multi-value image data generating means from the plurality of high-density images read by the image reading means, and each high-density multi-value image is generated. The data is converted into low-density multi-valued image data by the density conversion means, and the low-density multi-valued image data is converted into recording data by the recording data conversion means. It is preferable that the image processing apparatus is provided with a unit that stores the data in the temporary storage unit, sorts the data, and prints the data by the printing unit.

Further, it is preferable to provide a means for determining a density at which the multi-valued image data is converted by the density conversion means in accordance with the available memory of the temporary storage means.

Further, it is preferable to provide a smoothing means for performing smoothing processing on each recording image data stored in the temporary storage means and a means for outputting each recording image data smoothed by the means to the printing means. .

It is preferable that communication means for transmitting and receiving the recording image data in a facsimile communication procedure and a free space of a communication memory used by the communication means be used for the temporary storage means.

Further, it is preferable that the amount of memory of the temporary storage means can be arbitrarily added.

Further, it is preferable to provide a compression means for compressing the recording image data converted by the recording data conversion means when the image data is stored in the temporary storage means.

Further, the recording data converting means may be means for converting the multi-valued image data into binary image data.

Further, communication means for transmitting and receiving the image data for recording in a facsimile communication procedure, and when transmitting directly, generating multi-valued image data from the image read by the image reading means by the multi-valued image data generating means. The multi-level image data is converted into high-density multi-level image data by the density conversion means, and the high-density multi-level image data is converted into recording data by the recording data conversion means. The data is directly transmitted by the communication means, and at the time of memory transmission, multi-value image data is generated by the multi-value image data generation means from a plurality of images read by the image reading means, and each of the multi-value image data is The low-density multi-valued image data is converted into low-density multi-valued image data by the density conversion means, and each low-density multi-valued image data is converted into the recording data. It converted into recording data by the conversion means, may the respective recording data providing means for the memory transmitted by the communication means after storing in the temporary storage means.

According to the image processing apparatus of the present invention, since the density of the image data to be sorted and printed is reduced to reduce the amount of data, the amount of memory for storing the image data can be reduced.

According to the image processing apparatus of the second aspect of the present invention, a low-cost sensor is provided in the image reading means and the image data is read at a low density at the time of sort printing, so that the cost of the apparatus can be suppressed. .

Further, according to the image processing apparatus of the third aspect of the present invention, a high-density sensor is provided in the image reading means, and high-resolution image printing can be performed at the time of normal printing with the density at the time of reading.

According to the image processing apparatus of the present invention, the highest density is determined according to the available memory capacity of the memory for storing the image data at the time of the sort printing, so that the available memory capacity is determined. , A high-quality sorted print image can be obtained.

Further, according to the image processing apparatus of the present invention, since the low-density sorted image data is smoothed and printed by the smoothing process at the time of the sort printing, the amount of memory for storing the image data at the time of the sort printing is reduced. Even when saving, the image quality at the time of printing can be improved.

According to the image processing apparatus of the present invention, the memory area for storing the image data at the time of the sort printing uses the free area of the memory area used by the communication function. It is possible to effectively utilize the apparatus and suppress an increase in the cost of the apparatus.

Further, according to the image processing apparatus of the present invention, the user can optionally add a memory for storing image data at the time of sort printing as needed, so that the basic apparatus is The cost can be reduced by providing the minimum necessary memory amount.

According to the image processing apparatus of the present invention, since the image data is compressed and stored in the memory at the time of the sort printing, the amount of memory used when storing the image data can be reduced. it can. Further, since the compression process is performed by the compression unit used by the communication function, it is not necessary to newly provide a compression unit, and it is not necessary to increase the cost of the apparatus.

Further, according to the image processing apparatus of the ninth aspect of the present invention, since standard binary image data is used as recording data, it is not necessary to largely change an existing apparatus, and the cost of the apparatus is reduced. Up can be suppressed.

Further, according to the image processing apparatus of the present invention, when memory transmission is performed by communication such as facsimile communication, the image data to be transmitted to the memory is reduced in density to reduce the data amount. The amount of memory for storing data can be reduced.

[0024]

Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a facsimile apparatus which is an embodiment of the image processing apparatus of the present invention. This facsimile machine has a CP
A scanner unit 1, a density conversion unit 2, 2 implemented by a microcomputer including a U, a ROM, a RAM, etc.
It comprises functional units such as a value conversion unit 3, a memory 4, an encoding / decoding unit 5, a communication unit 6, a network control unit (NCU) 7, a printer unit 8, and a control unit 9.

The scanner unit 1 is an image reading device that has a photoelectric conversion device and an A / D conversion device and reads multi-valued image data by reading an image of a document. Density converter 2
Performs a density conversion process for converting the multi-valued image data into a high density and a low density. The binarizing unit 3 converts multi-value image data into binary image data by a conversion process such as a threshold process, a dither process, and an error diffusion process.

The memory 4 is a storage unit for temporarily storing binary image data during sorting. The encoding / decoding unit 5 includes:
The binary image data is encoded, and the encoded binary image data is decoded. The communication unit 6 transmits and receives the coded binary image data in a facsimile communication procedure.

The NCU 7 controls connection such as outgoing / incoming calls and disconnection with a partner for facsimile communication via a communication line. The printer unit 8 is a printing device such as a laser printer or an inkjet printer that prints binary image data on recording paper. The control unit 9 controls the entire facsimile machine and performs various processes related to the present invention.

That is, the control section 9 or the like includes image reading means for reading an image of a document, multivalued image data generating means for generating multivalued image data from the image read by the means, and multivalued image data generated by the means. Density conversion means for performing density conversion processing on the value image data, recording data conversion means for converting the multivalued image data density-converted by the means into recording data, and temporarily storing the recording data converted by the means. Temporarily storing means for temporarily storing, printing means for printing out the recording data, and, at the time of direct printing, generating multi-valued image data from the image read by the image reading means by the multi-valued image data generating means. Converting the multi-valued image data into high-density multi-valued image data by the density conversion means, and The data is converted into recording data by the data conversion means, and the recording data is directly printed by the printing means. At the time of sort printing, the multi-valued image data generating means converts the plurality of images read by the image reading means into multi-valued images. Value image data, each of the multi-valued image data is converted to low-density multi-valued image data by the density conversion means, and each of the low-density multi-valued image data is recorded by the recording data conversion means. And stores the recording data in the temporary storage unit, sorts the data, and then performs printing by the printing unit.

Image reading means for reading an image of a document at a low density; multi-valued image data generating means for generating low-density multi-valued image data from the image read by the means; Density conversion means for performing high-density processing on the multi-valued image data, recording data conversion means for converting the multi-valued image data into recording data, and temporarily holding the recording data converted by the means. A temporary storage unit, a printing unit that prints out the recording data, and a low-density multi-valued image data generated by the multi-valued image data generation unit from the low-density image read by the image reading unit during direct printing. The low-density multi-valued image data is converted to high-density multi-valued image data by the density conversion means, and the high-density multi-valued image data is recorded as described above. The data is converted into recording data by the data conversion means, and the recording data is directly printed by the printing means. At the time of sort printing, the multi-value image data generation means converts the plurality of low-density images read by the image reading means. Each of the low-density multi-valued image data is generated, and each of the low-density multi-valued image data is converted into recording data by the recording data conversion means.
The storage unit also stores the data for recording in the temporary storage unit, sorts the data, and then prints the data by the printing unit.

Further, image reading means for reading the image of the document at high density, multi-valued image data generating means for generating high-density multi-valued image data from the image read by the means, and high-density image data generated by the means Density conversion means for performing low-density processing on the multi-valued image data, recording data conversion means for converting the multi-valued image data into recording data, and temporarily holding the recording data converted by the means. A temporary storage unit, a printing unit that prints out the recording data, and a high-density multi-valued image data generated by the multi-valued image data generation unit from the high-density image read by the image reading unit during direct printing. The high-density multi-valued image data is converted into recording data by the recording data conversion means, and the recording data is converted by the printing means. At the time of direct printing and sorting printing, high-density multi-value image data is generated by the multi-value image data generating means from the plurality of high-density images read by the image reading means, and each high-density multi-value image is generated. The data is respectively converted to low-density multi-valued image data by the density conversion means, the low-density multi-valued image data is converted to recording data by the recording data conversion means, and the respective recording data is converted. It also functions as a unit for storing the data in the temporary storage unit, sorting the data, and then printing by the printing unit.

The density conversion means functions as means for determining the density at which multi-valued image data is converted according to the available memory capacity of the temporary storage means.

Further, the function of a smoothing means for performing smoothing processing on each recording image data stored in the temporary storage means and a means for outputting each recording image data smoothed by the means to the printing means is achieved. .

The communication means for transmitting and receiving the image data for recording in the facsimile communication procedure, and the function of using the free space of the communication memory used by the means for the temporary storage means.

Further, it has a function of enabling the amount of memory of the temporary storage means to be arbitrarily added.

Also, it functions as a compression means for compressing the recording image data converted by the recording data conversion means when storing the image data in the temporary storage means.

Further, it also functions as recording data conversion means for converting the multi-valued image data into binary image data.

Further, a communication means for transmitting and receiving the image data for recording in a facsimile communication procedure, and for direct transmission, generating the multi-valued image data from the image read by the image reading means. The multi-level image data is converted into high-density multi-level image data by the density conversion means, and the high-density multi-level image data is converted into recording data by the recording data conversion means. The data is directly transmitted by the communication means, and at the time of memory transmission, multi-value image data is generated by the multi-value image data generation means from a plurality of images read by the image reading means, and each of the multi-value image data is The low-density multi-valued image data is converted into low-density multi-valued image data by the density conversion means, and each low-density multi-valued image data is converted into the recording data. Converted into recording data by the conversion means, it performs the function of means for memory transmitted by the communication means after the respective recording data stored in the temporary storage means.

Next, the processing of the facsimile machine will be described. (1) At the time of direct copying, multi-valued image data is generated from an image read by the scanner unit 1, and the multi-valued image data is converted into high-density multi-valued image data by the density conversion unit 2. The multi-valued image data is converted into binary image data of recording data by the binarizing unit 3, and the binary image data is directly copied by the printer unit 8.

At the time of sort copying, each multi-valued image data is generated from a plurality of images read by the scanner unit 1, and each of the multi-valued image data is converted into low-density multi-valued image data by the density conversion unit 2. The low-density multi-valued image data is converted by the binarizing unit 3 into binary image data of recording data, and the binary image data is stored in the memory 4 and sorted, and then the printer unit 8 Print by.

That is, in the case of a direct copy in which the binary image data converted by the binarization unit 3 is directly output to the printer unit 8 without passing through the memory 4, the density conversion unit 2 uses
Output value image data. When a plurality of documents are read and output to the printer unit 8 after the sorting process in the memory 4, the density conversion unit 2 outputs low-density binary image data. For example, 600 dpi is used for high-density binary image data, and 300 dpi is used for low-density binary image data.
Use pi.

As described above, since the density of the image data is reduced at the time of the sort copy, the data amount is reduced, and the required memory amount can be reduced.

(2) 30 photoelectric conversion devices in the scanner unit 1
A 0 dpi low density sensor is provided. At the time of direct copying, low-density multi-value image data is generated from the low-density image read by the scanner unit 1, and the low-density multi-value image data is converted into high-density multi-value image data by the density conversion unit 2. Then, the high-density multi-valued image data is converted into binarized image data by the binarizing unit 3, and the binarized image data is directly printed by the printer unit 8.

At the time of sort copying, low-density multi-valued image data is generated from a plurality of low-density images read by the scanner unit 1, and the low-density multi-valued image data is converted to a binarizing unit 3. Are converted into binary image data, and the binary image data is stored in the memory 4 and sorted, and then printed by the printer unit 8.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the image processing. This processing is performed in step (indicated by “S” in the figure) 1
To read the image of the original at a low density of 300 dpi, and confirm in step 2 whether or not the sort copy has been designated.
The binarization process is performed on the multi-valued image data of pi, and the process proceeds to step 4 to generate low-density binary image data.

If it is determined in step 2 that the data is not a sort copy, the flow advances to step 5 to convert from 300 dpi to 600 dpi by the high-density processing by the density conversion unit 2, and the flow advances to step 6 to binarize the 600 dpi multivalued image data. Processing is performed, and the process proceeds to step 7 to generate high-density binary image data.

As described above, by using a low-density sensor corresponding to the sort copy for the scanner section 1, the cost of the scanner section 1 can be suppressed, and the cost of the entire apparatus can be reduced.

(3) 60 photoelectric conversion devices in the scanner unit 1
A 0 dpi high density sensor is provided. At the time of direct copying, high-density multi-valued image data is generated from a high-density image read by the scanner unit 1, and the high-density multi-valued image data is converted into binary image data by the binarization unit 3. The binarized image data is directly printed by the printer unit 8.

At the time of sort copying, high-density multi-value image data is generated from a plurality of high-density images read by the scanner unit 1, and the high-density multi-value image data is converted by the density conversion unit 2. Each is converted to low-density multi-valued image data, and each low-density multi-valued image data is
The binarizing unit 3 converts the binary image data into binary image data, stores the binary image data in the memory 4 and sorts the binary image data.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the image processing. This processing is performed in step (indicated by “S” in the figure) 1
In step 1, the image of the original is read at a high density of 600 dpi. In step 12, it is confirmed whether or not the sort copy is designated. To 300 dpi, and proceed to step 14 to
The multi-value image data of pi is binarized, and the process proceeds to step 15 to generate low-density binary image data.

If it is determined in step 12 that the data is not a sort copy, the flow advances to step 16 to perform a binarization process on the multi-valued image data of 600 dpi, and the flow advances to step 17 to generate high-density binary image data.

As described above, by using a high-density sensor corresponding to normal copying in the scanner section 1, a high-resolution copy image can be obtained at the time of normal copying output.

(4) The density of the binary image data is determined according to the usable amount of the memory 4. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a reference table for determining the density of the binary image data according to the usable amount of the memory 4. The reference table is provided in the control unit 9. The density converting unit 2 determines the density at which the multivalued image data is converted according to the available memory.

For example, assuming that the amount of binary image data of 300 dpi of A4 is 1 Mbyte and the amount of binary image data of 200 dpi of A4 is about 480 Kbytes, 5 M documents are required to be stored in the memory 4 at 300 dpi. Requires more than bytes of memory. Therefore, in the case of the reference table as shown in FIG. 4, when the remaining memory capacity is 5 Mbytes or more, 300 dpi, and when the remaining memory capacity is less than 5 Mbytes, 200 dpi.
The density is automatically determined for each pi.

In this manner, the highest density is selected according to the amount of memory available as an image memory, so that a high-quality copy image according to the amount of available memory can be obtained.

(5) At the time of sort copying, the image data after sorting is subjected to a smoothing process to improve the image quality. FIG.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the facsimile apparatus in that case. In this facsimile apparatus, a smoothing unit 10 is provided in the facsimile apparatus shown in FIG. The smoothing unit 10 performs smoothing processing on each of a plurality of low-density binary image data stored in the memory 4 to increase the density. Further, the control section 9 causes the printer section 8 to output the smoothed binarized image data.

When the smoothing section 10 performs the smoothing process on the sorted low-density binary image data in the memory 4, the control section 9 uses the printer section 8 to convert the high-density binary image data by the smoothing process. Output. For example, the oblique line image shown in FIG.
dpi, and 600d as shown in FIG.
It is output after conversion into a pi oblique line image.

As described above, when a low-density sorted copy image is output, the step of the oblique line image is smoothed by smoothing processing and output, so that the image quality at the time of output of the sorted copy image can be improved.

(6) The memory 4 is used both for holding binary image data at the time of copying and for holding facsimile image data at the time of memory communication of facsimile communication. In this case, the communication section 6 transmits and receives the binary image data by the facsimile communication procedure using the communication memory area provided in the memory 4 and stores the free area in the memory 4 for the binary image data at the time of the sort copy. Use as an area. In this way, since the image memory for the facsimile communication function and the sort copy function is shared, it is possible to suppress an increase in cost as an apparatus.

(7) The memory capacity of the memory 4 can be increased. In this case, if the memory 4 is composed of a SIMM, a DIMM, and a memory card, the memory amount can be arbitrarily added. Therefore, the memory capacity can be arbitrarily increased by adding a memory option according to the sort copy image quality desired by the user. Therefore, cost can be reduced by setting the minimum necessary memory amount in the basic device and adding it as necessary.

(8) The binarized image data is stored in the memory 4 after being compressed. In this case, 2
When holding the value image data, the coding and decoding unit 5 converts the value image data into compressed data using a standard coding method of facsimile communication such as MMR, MH, and MR, and then holds the data.

As described above, image data can be compressed and stored in the memory 4 during sort copy, and the compression function of the facsimile communication function is used. Therefore, it is not necessary to provide a dedicated compression device for sort copy. Cost increase.

(9) Direct Transmission and Memory Transmission The control unit 9 can perform facsimile transmission by direct transmission and memory transmission by the communication unit 6.

At the time of direct transmission, multi-valued image data is generated from an image read by the scanner unit 1, and the multi-valued image data is converted into high-density multi-valued image data by the density conversion unit 2. The multivalued image data is converted into binary image data by the binarizing unit 3, and the binary image data is directly transmitted by the communication unit 6.

At the time of transmission to the memory, multi-valued image data is generated from a plurality of images read by the scanner unit 1, and each of the multi-valued image data is converted into low-density multi-valued image data by the density conversion unit 2. Each of the low-density multi-valued image data is converted into binary image data by the binarizing unit 3,
After storing each of the binary image data in the memory 4, the communication unit 6 transmits the binary image data to the destination specified in advance.

In this way, it is possible to save not only the sort copy but also the memory usage at the time of processing such as memory transmission, multi-copy, and data processing. In the facsimile apparatus, multi-valued image data may be converted into other recording data and used.

[0066]

As described above, according to the image processing apparatus of the present invention, the amount of memory required when reading and outputting images of a plurality of originals can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a facsimile apparatus that is an embodiment of an image processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing image processing of the facsimile apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing another image processing of the facsimile apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a memory 2 according to a usable amount of a memory 4 shown in FIG.
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a reference table for determining the density of value image data.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a facsimile apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of image data before a smoothing process.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing image data after performing a smoothing process on the image data shown in FIG. 6;

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: scanner section 2: density conversion section 3: binarization section 4: memory 5: encoding / decoding section 6: communication section 7: network control section (NCU) 8: printer section 9: control section 10: smoothing section

Claims (10)

[Claims] An image reading means for reading an image of a document;
Multi-valued image data generating means for generating multi-valued image data from the image read by the means, density converting means for performing density conversion processing on the multi-valued image data generated by the means, Recording data conversion means for converting value image data into recording data, temporary storage means for temporarily holding the recording data converted by the means, printing means for printing out the recording data, At the time of printing, multi-valued image data is generated by the multi-valued image data generating unit from the image read by the image reading unit, and the multi-valued image data is converted into high-density multi-valued image data by the density converting unit. The high-density multi-valued image data is converted into recording data by the recording data conversion means, and the recording data is directly printed by the printing means. At the time of sort printing, multi-valued image data is respectively generated by the multi-valued image data generating unit from the plurality of images read by the image reading unit, and each of the multi-valued image data is converted to low density by the density converting unit. After converting the low-density multi-valued image data into recording data by the recording data conversion means, storing the recording data in the temporary storage means and sorting Means for printing by the printing means. 2. An image reading means for reading an image of a document at a low density, a multi-value image data generating means for generating low-density multi-value image data from an image read by the means, and a low-density image data generated by the means Density conversion means for performing high-density processing on the multi-valued image data, recording data conversion means for converting the multi-valued image data into recording data, and temporarily holding the recording data converted by the means. Temporary storage means for performing printing, and printing means for printing out the recording data; and, during direct printing, low-density multi-valued image data from the low-density image read by the image reading means by the multi-valued image data generating means. And converts the low-density multi-valued image data into high-density multi-valued image data by the density conversion means, and converts the high-density multi-valued image data into the recording data conversion means. The printing data is directly printed by the printing means. At the time of sort printing, the low-density images are read from the plurality of low-density images read by the image reading means. The low-density multi-valued image data was converted into the recording data by the recording data conversion unit, and the recording data was stored in the temporary storage unit and sorted. Means for printing by the printing means later. 3. An image reading means for reading a document image at high density, a multi-valued image data generating means for generating high-density multi-valued image data from an image read by said means, and a high-density image data generated by said means. Density conversion means for performing low-density processing on the multi-valued image data, recording data conversion means for converting the multi-valued image data into recording data, and temporarily holding the recording data converted by the means. A temporary storage unit for printing, and a printing unit for printing out the recording data; and, during direct printing, a high-density multi-valued image data generated by the multi-valued image data generation unit from a high-density image read by the image reading unit. Is generated, the high-density multi-valued image data is converted into recording data by the recording data conversion means, and the recording data is directly printed by the printing means, At the time of printing, high-density multi-value image data is generated by the multi-value image data generating unit from the plurality of high-density images read by the image reading unit. Each of the low-density multi-valued image data is converted into low-density multi-valued image data by density conversion means, and each of the low-density multi-valued image data is converted into recording data by the recording data conversion means, and each of the recording data is temporarily stored. Means for printing by the printing means after storing and sorting in the means. 4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a density at which multi-level image data is converted by said density conversion unit is determined according to a memory available amount of said temporary storage unit. An image processing apparatus, comprising: 5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image data for recording stored in the temporary storage unit is subjected to a smoothing process, and the image data is smoothed by the unit. Means for outputting each of the recording image data to the printing means. 6. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communication unit transmits and receives the recording image data in a facsimile communication procedure, and a free area of a communication memory used by the communication unit. Is used for the temporary storage means. 7. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a memory amount of said temporary storage unit can be arbitrarily added. 8. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording image data converted by the recording data conversion unit is compressed when the recording image data is stored in the temporary storage unit. An image processing apparatus comprising means. 9. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording data conversion unit converts the multi-valued image data into two.
An image processing apparatus, which is means for converting into value image data. 10. An image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said communication means for transmitting and receiving said image data for recording in a facsimile communication procedure, and said multi-valued image data from the image read by said image reading means at the time of direct transmission. Generating multi-valued image data by generating means, converting the multi-valued image data into high-density multi-valued image data by the density converting means, and recording the high-density multi-valued image data by the recording data converting means; And the recording data is directly transmitted by the communication means. At the time of memory transmission, the multi-value image data generation means generates multi-value image data from the plurality of images read by the image reading means. Then, the multi-valued image data is converted into low-density multi-valued image data by the density conversion means, and the low-density multi-valued image data is converted. Means for converting data to recording data by the recording data conversion means, storing the respective recording data in the temporary storage means, and then transmitting the data to the memory by the communication means. .