METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR REDUCING IMAGE DATA, PRINTER, IMAGE DATA REDUCING PROGRAM, AND MEDIUM RECORDED WITH IMAGE DATA REDUCING PROGRAM

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that a conventional apparatus cannot sharply express an image after reduction because detailed parts existing in an image before the reduction are disappeared after the reduction. SOLUTION: The image data reducing apparatus is configured to comprise: a reduced data acquisition means for unifying image data of pixels in a target block formed of the prescribed number of adjacent pixels to acquire reduced data; an acquisition means for a degree of difference for acquiring a degree of difference of image data between the pixels on the basis of the image data of each pixel in the target block; and a reduced data correction means for correcting the reduced data on the basis of a degree of difference to produce image data after reduction. Since the apparatus can reduce the reduced data to leave detailed parts existed in the image before the reduction, the image after the reduction can more sharply be expressed. COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO