Patent ID: 7315402

Claim:
An image forming apparatus, comprising: an image forming device configured to form an output image onto a sheet by at least two or more dither patterns; an image area size acquisition device configured to recognize a size of an area of the output image to be formed on the sheet; a switching device configured to select one of the at least two or more dither patterns for the output image according to the size of the area of the output image recognized by the image area size acquisition device and to switch the image forming device so as to form the output image by the one of the at least two or more dither patterns; wherein the image size acquisition device is configured to recognize, when the output image includes a plurality of output images in a same page, respective sizes of the plurality of output images in the same page, and wherein the switching device is configured to select, when the output image includes a plurality of output images in a same page, one of the at least two or more dither patterns for the plurality of output images in the same page based on one of the respective sizes of the plurality of output images in the same page recognized by the image acquisition device, and to switch the image forming device so as to form each of the plurality of output images in the same page using the one of at least two or more dither patterns.