Patent ID: 7167263

Claim:
A controller which can be connected to a scanner, a printer, and a network, comprising: a first compressing circuit for compressing a first bit map image which is inputted from said scanner; a converting unit for converting PDL codes received from said network into a second bit map image; a second compressing circuit for compressing the second bit map image which is outputted from said converting unit; first access means for writing the first bit map image compressed by said first compressing circuit into a storage device and reading out the compressed first bit map image from said storage device; second access means for writing the second bit map image compressed by said second compressing circuit into said storage device and reading out the compressed second bit map image from said storage device so as to supply said second bit map image to a decompressing circuit; and control means for interruption-executing the writing process to said storage device by said second access means during the access to said storage device by said first access means.