Patent ID: 8274704

Claim:
An image processing apparatus for processing multivalued image data corresponding to an image for a pixel area of a recording medium, so as to form the image on the pixel area with a plurality of relative movements of a recording head and the recording medium, the image processing apparatus comprising: a first processing unit for dividing the multivalued image data into a plurality of pieces of divided multivalued data corresponding to the plurality of relative movements, and then quantizing each of the plurality of pieces of divided multivalued data so as to produce divided quantized data corresponding to the plurality of relative movements; a second processing unit for quantizing the multivalued image data into quantization data, and then dividing the quantization data into a plurality of pieces of divided quantized data corresponding to the plurality of relative movements; and a selecting unit configured to select from the first processing unit to process the multivalued image data and the second processing unit to process the multivalued image data, based on a content of the image.