Patent ID: 8730522

Claim:
An image forming apparatus that forms an image on a recording sheet based on image data, the image forming apparatus comprising: an image data receiving unit that receives the image data, and print-type specification information that specifies whether to print the image data in color or monochrome; a first light source that, when the image data receiving unit receives a print-type specification information specifying that print target image data is to be printed in color, emits light based on the print target image data; a first deflection unit that deflects the light from the first light source; a first driving unit that drives the first deflection unit; a second light source that, when the image data receiving unit receives a print-type specification information specifying that print target image data is to be printed in monochrome, emits light based on the print target image data; a second deflection unit that deflects the light from the second light source; a second driving unit that drives the second deflection unit; an image forming unit that forms a monochrome image corresponding to the print target image data on a recording sheet based on the light deflected by the second deflection unit, and forms a color image corresponding to the print target image data on a recording sheet based on both of the light deflected by the first deflection unit and the light deflected by the second deflection unit; a drive control unit that, when the image data receiving unit receives first image data and first print-type specification information specifying that the first image data is to be printed in monochrome and receives second image data to be subsequently processed after the first image data and second print-type specification information specifying that the second image data is to be printed in color, causes the first driving unit to operate while a monochrome image corresponding to the first image data is being formed by the image forming unit; a temperature detection unit that detects a temperature of the first deflection unit and a temperature of the second deflection unit; a correction image formation instruction unit that instructs the image forming unit to form positional shift correction images used to correct positions of images of respective colors formed on a recording sheet when a difference in temperature between the first deflection unit and the second deflection unit is equal to or greater than a predetermined temperature threshold; and a color shift correction unit that corrects the positions of the images of the respective colors, based on the positional shift correction images.