Patent ID: 8760711

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: a receiving unit configured to receive image data and a first recording medium size; a determining unit configured to determine whether there is a recording medium having a size matching the first recording medium size accessible to the image forming apparatus; and an image forming unit configured to form an image of the image data, the image having been divided so that different portions of the image that are less than an entirety of the image are formed on a plurality of recording media having a second recording medium size smaller than the first recording medium size, without changing a size of the image, wherein the image forming unit forms the image in response to a determination by the determining unit that there is no recording medium having the first recording medium size accessible to the image forming apparatus, wherein the second recording medium size is 1/N the first recording medium size, where N is a natural number greater than or equal to two, and wherein the image forming unit forms the different portions of the image at predetermined positions on the N recording media having the second recording medium size so that, when the N recording media having the second recording medium size are arranged side by side, the image formed by the N recording media is the same as the image that would be formed on a single recording medium having the first recording medium size.