Image forming apparatus and image recording method

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• a print head including heating elements for applying a thermal energy to an imaging material having a plurality of color developing layers that are stacked on top of another, the plurality of color developing layers corresponding to a plurality of colors and configured to develop colors when heated, and the print head configured to develop the color a desired color developing layer from among the plurality of color developing layers to form an image on the imaging material;
• an operation unit configured to operate the plurality of heating elements of the print head by using pulses for preheating the color developing layer;
• and
• a generation unit configured to generate pulses to be applied to the heating elements based on image data for forming an image on the imaging material, and configured to, when pixel values at a predetermined position of the image data are the same, in a case where the image to be recorded based on the image data has a high spatial frequency, generate pulses so that a temperature to be applied to the predetermined position is higher than a temperature to be applied to the predetermined position in a case where the image to be recorded based on the image data has a low spatial frequency.

An image recording method for heating, by using a print head having heating elements, an imaging material having a plurality of color developing layers that are stacked on top of another, the plurality of color developing layers corresponding to a plurality of colors and configured to develop colors when heated, to develop the color of a desired color developing layer from among the plurality of color developing layers to form an image on the imaging material, the method comprising:

• generating a first pulse for preheating the color developing layer by using the heating elements based on image data for forming an image on the imaging material and a second pulse for developing the color of the color developing layer;
• and
• operating the plurality of heating elements of the print head by using the generated first and second pulses,
• wherein, in the generation, in a case where the image to be recorded based on the image data has a low spatial frequency, the first pulse is generated so that a temperature to be applied to the imaging material by the first pulse is lower than a temperature to be applied to the imaging material in a case where the image to be recorded based on the image data has a high spatial frequency.

An image recording method for heating, by using a print head having heating elements, an imaging material having a plurality of color developing layers that are stacked on top of another, the plurality of color developing layers corresponding to a plurality of colors and configured to develop colors when heated, to develop the color of a desired color developing layer from among the plurality of color developing layers to form an image on the imaging material, the method comprising:

• generating pulses to be applied to the heating elements based on image data for forming an image on the imaging material;
• and
• operating the plurality of heating elements of the print head by using the generated pulse,
• wherein, in the generation, when pixel values at a predetermined position of the image data are the same, in a case where the image to be recorded based on the image data has a high spatial frequency, pulses are generated so that a temperature to be applied to the predetermined position is higher than a temperature to be applied to the predetermined position in a case where the image to be recorded based on the image data has a low spatial frequency.