Patent ID: 8384958

Claim:
An image forming apparatus that divides pixels expressing one line of image in a main-scanning direction, outputs divided pixels by shifting the pixels in a sub-scanning direction opposite to a skew to thereby correct the skew, and performs a density correction process on a target pixel adjacent to a shift position or a nearby pixel of the target pixel to correct a density variation due to a shift of the pixel upon correction of the skew, the image forming apparatus comprising: a density detector that detects a first density of a first pattern formed by repeating a specific pixel array and a second density of a second pattern in which a repetition of the specific pixel array is shifted by one pixel with a boundary from a density-correction determination patch that is composed of the first pattern and the second pattern and transferred to a transfer belt; a density-correction-value calculator that calculates a density correction value from the first density and the second density; a noise-occurrence determination unit that determines whether the target pixel is a noise generating pixel that causes a change of a local density due to a change in an adjacency relationship between the target pixel and the nearby pixel; and a density correction processor that performs the density correction process on the target pixel, when the target pixel is determined as the noise generating pixel, by adding or subtracting the density correction value to or from the target pixel or the nearby pixel.