Patent ID: 8363717

Claim:
An image processing apparatus comprising at least one processor operable to function as: an encoding unit configured to encode an input motion image signal to generate encoded motion image data; a recording unit having a memory to store the encoded motion image data temporarily, said recording unit configured to record the encoded motion image data read from the memory on a recording medium; a block-division unit configured to divide a frame of the input motion image signal into a plurality of blocks; a complexity detection unit configured to detect complexity of an image corresponding to a block divided by said block-division unit; a remaining amount detection unit configured to detect a remaining recording capacity of the recording medium; and a control unit configured to control said encoding unit such that said encoding unit selectively performs a first quantization process for adjusting a code amount generated from the block divided by said block-division unit on the basis of information of the complexity detected by said complexity detection unit, and a second quantization process for adjusting the code amount generated from the block divided by said block-division unit without using the information of the complexity detected by said complexity detection unit, wherein said control unit controls said encoding unit according to an output of said remaining amount detection unit, where the first quantization process is used for a first block in a frame, the second quantization process is used for a second block in said frame, and the first quantization process and the second quantization process are not used for the same block in the frame, and wherein said control unit selects the first quantization process but not the second quantization process when the remaining recording capacity is larger than a predetermined threshold value, and selects the second quantization process but not the first quantization process when the remaining recording capacity is equal to or less than the predetermined threshold value.