Patent ID: 8218911

Claim:
An image processing apparatus which applies processes to input image data, comprising: a first processing section which applies first processes to the input image data by a specific calculating device, the input image data being multi-level image data, the first processing section including, an image data binarizing unit for forming binary image data from the multi-level image data, and a multi-level image data processing section for applying a first calculation process to the multi-level image data; and a second processing section which applies second processes to the input image data by a general-purpose processing unit, the first processing section configured to perform the second processes, the second processes being processes that are executed by the general-purpose processing unit at a speed higher than a speed of the first processing section executing the second processes, the second processing section including, a binary image data processing section for applying a second calculation process to the binary image data formed by the image data binarizing unit; and a data transferring unit for transferring data from the first processing section to the second processing section and from the second processing section to the first processing section.