Patent ID: 8217976

Claim:
A method of manufacturing an image forming apparatus that includes a plurality of exposing devices having a plurality of light emitting elements arranged therein, said method comprising: an extracting process for extracting a plurality of after-extraction exposing devices having a similar distribution tendency of said plurality of light emitting elements from a plurality of before-extraction exposing devices, and an assembling process for assembling said plurality of after-extraction exposing devices into a body of said image forming apparatus, wherein a grouping process for grouping said plurality of said before-extraction exposing devices by having a similar distribution tendency to each other is executed in said extracting process, so that said plurality of after-extraction exposing devices, that belong to one group in a plurality of groups divided in said grouping process, are extracted, and wherein said grouping process defines a plurality of reference lines having different shapes, and judges similarity of said distribution tendency of said light emitting elements and each of said plurality of reference lines in each said exposing device, so as to group said plurality of before-extraction exposing devices based on these similarities.