Abstract: A scheme for digitally encoding continuous-tone information from an original pictorial image includes processing electrical signals via separate networks (20,30) to generate (a) high-resolution detail data of "black" and "white" pels, and (b) low-resolution gray-scale or background data approximating the grayness of two-dimensional blocks (104) of pels (102).In the gray-scale network (30), the electrical signals are first compared (31) to different position-dependent threshold values to generate a binary signal (108) of black and white pels which represents gray-scale. Then, any of the pels (102) determined "black" in the detail network (20) are subtracted (36) from the gray-scale binary signal to generate a modified gray-scale binary signal (110). The black pels in the modified gray-scale binary signal for each block (104) are counted (42), the count approximating the background gray level of each particular block (104) of pels (102).