Image processing apparatus

[0015]FIG. 1 illustrates one example of an image processing block diagram of a digital copying machine to which the present invention is applied.

[0016] A document is optically read at a scanner unit 100, and the obtained image signal is analog-to-digital converted to generate digital image data. Processings are appropriately carried out on the generated image data at an image processing unit 101, and an image is formed onto a paper sheet by a toner or in ink at the printer unit 102, whereby the copying is completed.

[0017] In the image processing unit 101, first, input image data is housed in a page memory 103 under the control of a processor 105. The page memory 103 is composed of, for example, an SDRAM or the like, and an ASIC for controlling the SDRAM, and an image compressing / expanding ASIC etc., and has a capacity such that the image data on the entire document can be stored. The housed image data is transmitted to a storage (hard disk or the like) 104 as needed, and variable s