Patent ID: 8120825

Claim:
An apparatus for controlling an optical scanning device, the apparatus comprising: a light source configured to irradiate a plurality of light beams; a rotatable polyhedron deflector configured to deflect the plurality of light beams to form a plurality of color images on a plurality of image forming sections at a first image forming speed; a plurality of synchronous detectors configured to detect the plurality of light beams deflected by the rotatable polyhedron deflector and to output a plurality of first synchronous signals; and an arbitration unit configured to receive an instruction for forming the plurality of color images at a second image forming speed without changing the rotational speed of the rotatably polyhedron deflector; to determine a timing for applying thinning processing to the plurality of first synchronous signals to generate a plurality of second synchronous signals; and to cause the light source to irradiate at least one of the plurality of light beams according to the plurality of second synchronous signals.