Patent ID: 8634458

Claim:
An image processing apparatus comprising: a first input unit that inputs first moving image data; a second input unit that inputs second moving image data; a selection unit that selects one of the first moving image data and the second moving image data; a coding unit that encodes one of the first moving image data and the second moving image data which is selected by said selection unit by a variable bit rate coding method of changing assignment of a code amount in accordance with a state of the moving image data to be encoded; a recording unit that records encoded moving image data output from said coding unit on a recording medium; a setting unit that changes a target time after start of recording the moving image data until a data rate of the encoded moving image data is converged to a predetermined target data rate in accordance with a selection result of one of the first moving image data and the second moving image data by the selection unit such that a first predetermined time is set as the target time if the first moving image data is selected by the selection unit and a second predetermined time longer than the first predetermined time is set as the target time if the second moving image data is selected by the selection unit; and a code amount control unit that controls a code amount of the encoded moving image data output from said coding unit in accordance with the target time set by the setting unit such that the data rate of the encoded moving image data is converged to the predetermined target data rate in the first predetermined time from the start of recording the moving image data if the first predetermined time is set as the target time by the setting unit and the data rate of the encoded moving image data is converged to the predetermined target data rate in the second predetermined time from the start of recording the moving image data if the second predetermined time is set as the target time by the setting unit.