Patent ID: 7274489

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: a photoelectric converter which outputs an image signal corresponding to an image of red light, an image signal corresponding to an image of green light, and an image signal corresponding to an image of blue light; a converting section which converts the image signals output by the photoelectric converter into image data Y representing a yellow image, image data M representing a magenta image, and image data C representing a cyan image, respectively; one processing section which executes a process of generating image data K representing a black image on the basis of the image data Y, M, and C and which sequentially executes a process of removing elements of the black image contained in the image data Y, from the image data Y, a process of removing the elements of the black image contained in the image data M, from the image data M, and a process of removing the elements of the black image contained in the image data C, from the image data C; a print section which has an image carrier, sequentially forms, on the image carrier, a plurality of color images corresponding to the image data Y, M, C and K obtained through respective processes executed by the processing section, and transfers the color images formed on the image carrier to one sheet of paper; one data holding section which holds first processing data contained in each of a plurality of processing data required for respective processes executed by the processing section; a plurality of data holding sections which hold a plurality of second processing data, respectively, the second processing data being a remainder when the first processing data is subtracted from each of the plurality of processing data required for the respective processes executed by the processing section; and a selecting section which sequentially selects, for each of the processes executed by the processing section, one of the first processing data held in the first data holding section and the second processing data held in the second data holding sections, concurrently with formation of each color image carried out by the print section.