Patent ID: 8864274

Claim:
An image forming apparatus for transporting sheets of paper at a predetermined interval and forming an image on said sheets of paper, comprising: a first decision unit for deciding whether a predefined first condition for starting control of said predetermined interval is satisfied; a determination unit for determining a mode of the control of said predetermined interval; a control unit for performing the control of said predetermined interval in the mode determined by said determination unit, in response to a decision made by said first decision unit that said first condition is satisfied; said mode of the control including: a first mode of prolonging said predetermined interval by suspending a next paper feeding operation, for a predetermined time and for every predetermined number of sheets of paper; and a second mode of prolonging said predetermined interval by expanding the interval of transportation between said paper feeding operations while continuing the transportation; and a first calculation unit for calculating power consumption in each mode from the decision that said first condition is satisfied to completion of uncompleted printing, said determination unit is configured to select a mode in which the power consumption calculated by said first calculation unit is relatively lower.