Patent ID: 8817323

Claim:
An image forming apparatus, comprising: a light source configured to emit a light beam; drive control circuitry configured to control the light source; a light receiving device configured to receive the light beam emitted by the light source; image processing circuitry configured to perform image processing on image data based on the light beam received by the light receiving device; and data control circuitry, comprising request signal generating circuitry, memory control circuitry, and a memory, the memory being configured to store image data, the request signal generating circuitry being configured to transmit a timing signal to the memory control circuitry, and to transmit a request signal to the image processing circuitry, the timing signal being regenerated at a first time interval, the request signal being generated for a first plurality of times as requests for a first plurality of line-by-line image data during the first time interval, the memory control circuitry being configured to sequentially save in the memory the requested first plurality of line-by-line image data transmitted by the image processing circuitry in response to the request signal, to read the first plurality of line-by-line image data saved in the memory, and to transmit the first plurality of line-by-line image data to the drive control circuitry, wherein, before an interruption in the first plurality of line-by-line image data transmitted to the drive control circuitry, the request signal is generated for a second plurality of times as requests for a second plurality of line-by-line image data, the second plurality of times being at least one time greater than the first plurality of times, and the second plurality of line-by-line image data being greater than the first plurality of line-by-line image data, wherein, when the request signal is generated for the second plurality of times, the regeneration of the timing signal is shifted, and the request signal generating circuitry regenerates the timing signal at a second time interval until the memory control circuitry sequentially saves in the memory the requested second plurality of line-by-line image data, the second time interval being greater than the first time interval, and wherein, after the memory control circuitry sequentially saves in the memory the requested second plurality of line-by-line image data, the request signal generating circuitry regenerates the timing signal at the second time interval, wherein a length of the second time interval is gradually shortened until the second time interval is equal to the first time interval.