Patent ID: 8736852

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: a rasterizing unit that rasterizes character information representing a character in a vector form into a first raster image in which pixels are arranged at a first predetermined density; a generator unit that generates a second raster image in accordance with the first raster image rasterized by the rasterizing unit, and a mask image in which a plurality of pixels are arranged at a second predetermined density higher than the first predetermined density, the plurality of pixels including a first pixel that indicates that a beam is emitted in accordance with the first raster image, and at least one second pixel that indicates that no beam is emitted; an exposure unit that irradiates an image carrier with the beam in response to the second raster image generated by the generator unit; a supply unit that supplies a developer to the image carrier which the exposure unit has irradiated with the beam, and develops on a surface of the image carrier an image responsive to the second raster image; and a transfer unit that transfers to a medium the image developed on the surface of the image carrier, wherein a spacing between a central position of a first pixel and a central position of another first pixel closest to the first pixel with the at least one second pixel interposed therebetween in the mask image is shorter than a diameter of a circle representing a spot of the beam.