Image processing apparatus, image forming apparatus, and image processing method for effectively utilizing storage capacity of ring buffer

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• a storage unit configured to be set with a ring buffer;
• a page area setting unit configured to allocate a maximum-sized page area for each page of a job in the ring buffer set in the storage unit;
• a band storing unit configured to store band data while compressing in the page area allocated by the page area setting unit;
• an image processing unit configured to perform image processing of the band data stored by the band storing unit;
• and
• an image forming unit configured to form an image of the band data performed image processing by the image processing unit;
• wherein
• the page area setting unit determines whether or not the page has high possibility to be reused, and when having the high possibility to be reused, allocates the page area at a head of the ring buffer.

An image processing method being executed by an image processing apparatus, comprising the steps of:

• setting a ring buffer;
• allocating a maximum-sized page area for each page of a job in the ring buffer that is set;
• determining whether or not the page has high possibility to be reused, and when having the high possibility to be reused, allocating the page area at the head of the ring buffer;
• storing band data while compressing in the page area that is allocated;
• and
• performing image processing of the band data that is stored.