Abstract: A printing apparatus has at least one first recording head and at least one second recording head. These recording heads allow recording in binary mode, halftone mode, normal mode, and fine mode. A printing system has at least two recording units. One recording unit has a plurality of recording heads for recording in yellow, cyan and magenta, and the other recording unit has a recording head for recording in black. Upon a signal scanning operation, the printing system is capable of printing a plurality of copies at high speed and with good quality. A change in size of the original does not result in a problem since the apparatus is capable of feeding a recording paper sheet of corresponding size or printing only for a desired length.

Abstract: An image recording apparatus of the invention has a number of recording units for recording image data of the same or different colors on one or more recording media; a counter to set the number of copies to be produced; and a switch device which selects the recording units to be used in a current recording operation according to the number of copies to be produced and statuses of the respective recording units. A number of copies can be produced simultaneously by the recording units within a period of time shorter than a period of time required for sequentially recording the same number of copies. Dichromatic or polychromatic recording may be freely selected or combined with monochromatic recording by selecting feed paths and an auxiliary path for guiding the recording paper sheet.