Imaging forming apparatus to merge print data with a rendering image, method of image forming, and computer-readable recording medium

1. An image forming apparatus comprising:

a storage unit configured to store a rendering image having a plurality of tones;

a communication interface unit configured to receive print data;

a rendering unit configured to render the received print data to a bitmap image;

a mergence unit configured to merge the bitmap image and the rendering image into a single mergence image prior to generating binary data corresponding to either of the bitmap image and the rendering image;

a binary coding unit configured to perform halftoning on the generated mergence image and to generate binary data corresponding to the mergence image, the binary data corresponding to the mergence image having fewer tones than either of the rendering image and the bitmap image; and

a print engine unit configured to form an image on a paper by using the generated binary data.

2. The image forming apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the storage unit stores a plurality of rendering images, and the communication interface unit receives information on one of the plurality of rendering images to be merged with the print data.

3. The image forming apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:

a control unit configured to store the rendered bitmap image as an additional rendering image in the storage unit.

4. The image forming apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the control unit compresses the rendered bitmap image to store the rendered bitmap image in the storage unit.

5. The image forming apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the rendering image has an RGB format with 8 bit tones.

6. The image forming apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the mergence unit Raster Operation Processing (ROP)-operates the bitmap image and the rendered image to merge the images.

7. The image forming apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:

the communication interface unit receives a mergence condition of the print data and the rendering image; and

the mergence unit merges the bitmap image and the rendering image based on the received mergence condition.

8. The image forming apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:

a user interface unit configured to receive a selection of a mergence condition of the print data and the rendering image,

wherein the mergence unit merges the bitmap image and the rendering image based on the received mergence condition.

9. The image forming apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the mergence condition is a transparency of the rendering image for the print data.

10. The image forming apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the binary coding unit converts the color of the generated mergence image into a CMYK image, and performs halftoning on the CMYK image to generate binary data.

11. A method of forming an image with an image forming apparatus, the method comprising:

receiving print data;

rendering the received print data to a bitmap image;

merging the bitmap image and a rendering image having a plurality of tones prestored in the image forming apparatus to generate a single mergence image prior to generating binary data corresponding to either of the bitmap image and the rendering image;

performing halftoning on the generated mergence image and generating binary data corresponding to the mergence image, the binary data corresponding to the mergence image having fewer tones than either of the rendering image and the bitmap image; and

forming an image on a print paper by using the generated binary data.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

storing a plurality of rendering images; and

receiving information of one of the plurality of rendering images to be merged with the print data among the plurality of rendering images.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

storing the rendered bitmap image as an additional rendering image in the image forming apparatus.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the storing comprises compressing the rendered bitmap image to store the rendered bitmap image in the image forming apparatus.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the rendering image has an RGB format with 8 bit tones.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein the merging comprises ROP-operating the bitmap image and the rendered image to merge the images.

17. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

receiving a mergence condition of the print data and the rendering image,

wherein the merging comprises merging the bitmap image and the rendering image based on the received mergence condition.

18. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

receiving a selection of a mergence condition of the print data and the rendering image,

wherein the merging comprises merging the bitmap image and the rendering image based on the received mergence condition.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the mergence condition is a transparency of the rendering image for the print data.

20. The method of claim 11 , wherein the generating binary data comprises:

converting the color of the generated mergence image into a CMYK image; and

performing halftoning on the CMYK image to generate binary data.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium including computer-readable codes as a program to execute the method of claim 11 .

22. An image forming apparatus comprising:

a mergence unit configured to merge a currently rendered image and a previously rendered image into a single mergence image prior to generating binary data corresponding to either of the currently rendered image and the previously rendered image;

a binary coding unit configured to generate binary data corresponding to the mergence image by performing halftoning on the mergence image, the binary data corresponding to the mergence image having fewer tones than either of the currently rendered image and the previously rendered image; and

a print engine unit configured to form an image using the generated binary data.

23. A method of forming an image, the method comprising:

merging a currently rendered image and a previously rendered image to generate a single mergence image prior to generating binary data corresponding to either of the currently rendered image and the previously rendered image;

generating binary data by performing halftoning on the mergence image, the binary data corresponding to the mergence image having fewer tones than either of the currently rendered image and the previously rendered image; and

forming an image using the generated binary data.