At S709, the decompressed data stored in the RAM 104 is transferred to the printer 130 via the printer I/F 107. Then, at S710, the memory area corresponding to the page whose data transfer is completed is released and the counter value of the page counter described above is decremented (1 is subtracted).

The above is the contents of the image data transfer processing.

(Parallel Processing of a Plurality of Pages)

Following the above, how image analysis and image transfer advance in a case where printing processing of a plurality of pages is performed continuously is explained by taking processing for the Nth page, (N+1)th page, and (N+2)th page as an example. Before explanation of the present embodiment is given, first, the conventional technique is reviewed.

FIG. 8 is a timing chart showing progress of image analysis and image transfer in a conventional image forming apparatus. For example, in a case of the conventional technique as in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2017-194629, as described in paragraphs 5 and 6, the memory area for storing raster image data is prepared separately for image analysis and for printing (for data transfer). This is to make it possible to perform the image analysis of a plurality of pages prior to data transfer and in the following, explanation is given premised on the apparatus configuration such as this.