Patent US 6,574,765

A compressed data amount calculation section calculates the data amount of compression-coded data corresponding to input multimedia information in advance before a code image is recorded. A precode image data generation section generates precode image data determined on the basis of the calculated data amount and displays the precode image data on a display section. The user changes various coding parameters through a user setting section while observing the displayed precode image data to regenerate the precode image data, thereby obtaining the desired size. A code image data generation section generates actual code image data in accordance with the changed coding parameters.