Patent ID: 8786901

Claim:
An image processing apparatus that draws an image in units of band having an area, the image processing apparatus comprising: a first storage unit that stores therein a halftone pattern indicative of an image after a halftone process is performed; a drawing processor configured to read a halftone pattern from the first storage unit to draw a part of the image using the halftone pattern, if the drawing processor receives an instruction to read the halftone pattern; and an analyzer configured to, determine, based on drawing commands, whether to transmit the instruction to the drawing processor to read the halftone pattern and execute drawing by, first determining if the image belongs to the drawing band; and second determining if a flag indicates that the drawing processor has not read the halftone pattern for the drawing band, instruct the drawing processor to read the halftone pattern only if the first determining determines that the image belongs to the drawing band and the second determining determines that the flag indicates that the drawing processor has not read the halftone pattern for the drawing band, and instruct the drawing processor to execute the drawing if the first determining determines that the image belongs to the drawing band such that the drawing processor executes the drawing of the band without reading the halftone pattern associated with the band if the flag indicates that the drawing processor has read the halftone pattern for the drawing band.