Method and apparatus for printing on a printing substrate which is a web which is elongate in a longitudinal direction, wherein frames of a maximum printing format can be printed in a sequence on the web. The printing includes arranging a number of pages on sheets of a given sheet format, wherein the maximum printing format is larger in the longitudinal direction of the web than the sheet format, wherein pages which are adjacent in the longitudinal direction of the web are separate from each in the longitudinal direction of the web, imposing pages of more than one sheet into printing frames which are larger in the longitudinal direction of the web than the sheet format but not larger than the maximum printing format, printing the frames, and grouping the pages from the printed frames to sheets on which the pages are arranged as originally.

Provided is an image processing apparatus that improves performance of reading data of a RIP process. A multi-channel DMA (Direct Memory Access) controller performs reading or writing of stored data related to a RIP (Raster Image Processor). A FIFO (First In, First Out) is able to change a number of entries for each of the channels of the multi-channel DMA controller. An image processing control unit interprets the RIP order, and according to that order, changes the configuration of the number of entries for each of the channels, and controls processing of the data.

In an image forming apparatus, a scanning optical system forms on a photosensitive member N beam spots. Each beam spot scans along a scan line on the photosensitive member for one cycle. A center-to-center distance of any neighboring two beam spots is separated by M scan lines. M is a natural number larger than or equal to two. For each cycle, the memory controller reads adjacent sets of line data for N scan lines from the page memory, writes the adjacent sets of line data for N scan lines to the storage areas identified by a plurality of successive addresses of the line memory, selects addresses identifying storage areas storing unadjacent sets of line data having non-successive two scan lines separated by M scan lines; and outputs the unadjacent sets of line data stored in the storage areas identified by the selected addresses to the N laser emitting members.

An image conversion device that performs conversion processing on image data before compression processing is performed includes: a pixel designation unit that sequentially designate, as a second pixel, pixels in a raster line that forms the image data in a direction away from a first pixel, which is a pixel included in the raster line, starting from a pixel adjacent to the first pixel in the raster line as a start point of the designation; an evaluation value calculation unit that calculates, as an evaluation value, an absolute value of a difference between pixel values of the first pixel and the second pixel or a square value of the difference; a determination unit that determines whether or not the evaluation value exceeds a predetermined threshold value; and a conversion unit that calculates a representative value of pixel values from the first pixel to a third pixel that is a pixel adjacent to the second pixel at a side of the first pixel and converts the pixel values from the first pixel to the third pixel into the representative value, at a timing at which the evaluation value is determined to exceed the threshold value.

An image conversion device that performs conversion processing on image data before compression processing is performed includes: a pixel designation unit that sequentially designate, as a second pixel, pixels in a raster line that forms the image data in a direction away from a first pixel, which is a pixel included in the raster line, starting from a pixel adjacent to the first pixel in the raster line as a start point of the designation; an evaluation value calculation unit that calculates, as an evaluation value, an absolute value of a difference between pixel values of the first pixel and the second pixel or a square value of the difference; a determination unit that determines whether or not the evaluation value exceeds a predetermined threshold value; and a conversion unit that calculates a representative value of pixel values from the first pixel to a third pixel that is a pixel adjacent to the second pixel at a side of the first pixel and converts the pixel values from the first pixel to the third pixel into the representative value, at a timing at which the evaluation value is determined to exceed the threshold value.

According to an aspect of the present invention, a light-emitting chip includes: a plurality of light-emitting portions and a drive circuit. The drive circuit includes: first to fourth transferring unit, a first switch configured to switch between a first state in which start signals output by the fourth and third transferring units are output to the second and first transferring unit, respectively, and a second state in which the start signal output by the fourth and the third transferring units are output to the third and second transferring unit, respectively, and a second switch configured to switch between a third state in which the first and third transferring units and the first signal line are connected, and a fourth state in which the first and third transferring units and a second signal line are connected.

An image forming apparatus includes a hardware processor. The hardware processor: receives page setting information in print data of a next page; stores the page setting information in a second memory at the time of receiving the print data of the next page from the external apparatus when a first memory has no area to store image information of the next page; and controls a conveyer to feed out the sheets from a paper feed tray specified by the page setting information to a conveyance path of the conveyer and to convey the sheets when the page setting information is in the second memory at the timing of feeding out the next sheet to the conveyance path of the conveyer regardless of whether the image information corresponding to the page setting information is in the first memory.

Method and apparatus for printing on a printing substrate which is a web which is elongate in a longitudinal direction, wherein frames of a maximum printing format can be printed in a sequence on the web. The printing includes arranging a number of pages on sheets of a given sheet format, wherein the maximum printing format is larger in the longitudinal direction of the web than the sheet format, wherein pages which are adjacent in the longitudinal direction of the web are separate from each in the longitudinal direction of the web, imposing pages of more than one sheet into printing frames which are larger in the longitudinal direction of the web than the sheet format but not larger than the maximum printing format, printing the frames, and grouping the pages from the printed frames to sheets on which the pages are arranged as originally.

An image forming apparatus includes a hardware processor. The hardware processor: receives page setting information in print data of a next page; stores the page setting information in a second memory at the time of receiving the print data of the next page from the external apparatus when a first memory has no area to store image information of the next page; and controls a conveyer to feed out the sheets from a paper feed tray specified by the page setting information to a conveyance path of the conveyer and to convey the sheets when the page setting information is in the second memory at the timing of feeding out the next sheet to the conveyance path of the conveyer regardless of whether the image information corresponding to the page setting information is in the first memory.

A data processing method processes data using a processor including N (N is an integer equal to or more than 2) cores and a memory. The data processing method includes: searching a new character as a character whose raster data is not stored in the memory among a plurality of characters specified by character data included in print data to count a count of the searched new characters; generating M (M is an integer equal to or less than the N) threads, wherein the M is a count determined based on the count of the counted new characters among the N; dividing and allocating the plurality of characters to the M threads to generate raster data for the new characters using any one of the N cores for each of the M threads; and rendering the plurality of characters using raster data corresponding to the character data.