Patent ID: 7187385

Claim:
An image forming apparatus for processing image data, comprising: an image data processing unit including a graphics port and a peripheral device interconnection port, the peripheral device interconnection port configured to be connected to a print engine; a first image data memory configured to store compressed image data; a second image data memory configured to communicate with the first image data memory; and a unit connected to the graphics port of the image data processing unit and having a function to interface between the image data processing unit and the first image data memory, wherein the first image data memory is connected to the image data processing unit via the unit, and the second memory is connected to the image data processing unit, not via the unit, wherein the compressed image data is controlled to be transferred from the first image data memory to the second image data memory, and then from the second image data memory to the image data processing unit, and wherein the image data processing unit decompresses the transferred compressed image data and outputs the decompressed image data to the print engine.