Patent ID: 7950758

Claim:
An image forming apparatus configured to form an image on a recording medium, the image forming apparatus comprising: a liquid discharge apparatus that includes: a liquid discharge head configured to discharge a plurality of types of liquid droplets; a drive waveform generating unit configured to generate and output a drive waveform including a first drive signal group made up of one or more drive signals and a second drive signal group made up of one or more drive signals within one drive period; a control signal output unit that outputs one of a plurality of first control signals for controlling selection of one or more drive signals of the first drive signal group and one of a plurality of second control signals for controlling selection of one or more drive signals of the second drive signal group, or one of a plurality of third control signals for controlling selection of one or more drive signals of the first drive signal group and the second drive signal group; and a drive unit that inputs the drive waveform, the one of the plurality of first control signals, and the one of the plurality of second control signals, or the one of the plurality of third control signal, selects one or more drive signals from the drive signals of the first drive signal group and the second drive signal group using the one of the plurality of first control signals and the one of the plurality of second control signals or the one of the plurality of third control signals, and supplies the selected drive signals to the liquid discharge head, wherein the selection of one or more drive signals of the first drive signal group and the second drive signal group using the one of the plurality of first control signals and the one of the plurality of second control signals or the one of the plurality of third control signals is performed depending on a printing mode, and the selection of one or more drive signals of the first drive signal group and the second drive signal group using the one of the plurality of first control signals and the one of the plurality of second control signals is performed when the printing mode corresponds to a high image quality mode that prioritizes image quality, the selection of one or more drive signals of the first drive signal group and the second drive signal group using the one of the plurality of third control signals is performed when the printing mode corresponds to a high speed mode that prioritizes printing speed.