Patent ID: 8280177

Claim:
An encoding device comprising: a first memory that stores image data; a plurality of second memories that are associated with a plurality of target pixels in the image data, each second memory storing pixel data of one or more reference pixels near the associated target pixel thereof; a controller that causes each second memory to store pixel data of the one or more reference pixels near the associated target pixel thereof specified from the image data stored in the first memory; and a plurality of encoders that perform encoding on each of the plurality of target pixels by estimating pixel data of each target pixel using pixel data of the one or more reference pixels near each respective target pixel stored in the plurality of second memories; wherein the plurality of target pixels have different positions in a subscanning direction such that one target pixel does not overlap with another target pixel in a main scanning direction, and storage capacity sufficient for pixel data of all of the reference pixels used by the plurality of encoders is equal to or less than storage capacity sufficient for one line of image data stored in the first memory.