Image processing apparatus

An image processing apparatus comprising:

• generating means for generating first image information representing a natural image, second image information representing a line drawing, and area information for performing editing by using the first image information and the second image information;
• and
• encoding means for synthesizing the second image information and the area information generated by said generating means and encoding the synthesized information.

An image processing method of decoding image information described by a page descriptor language, developing the decoded image information, and transmitting the developed image information to a printer, comprising the steps of:

• developing, by the page descriptor language, the image information described by the page descriptor language into a form not pasted with to-be-pasted image information, without reading out, for image development, the to-be-pasted image information from means for storing the to-be-pasted image information;
• and
• separately transmitting to said printer the image information in the form not pasted with the to-be-pasted image information and the to-be-pasted image information.

An image output system, wherein first bit map information indicating an area of an image to be pasted and second bit map information indicating a start position of the image to be pasted are generated by a host computer during PDL development, text/graphic information obtained by the PDL development and the first and second bit map information are encoded by a common encoding circuit and transferred from said host computer to a printer, and said printer performs decoding to generate information of the arrangement of a plurality of images from the first and second bit map information, thereby controlling the layout of said plurality of images.