Patent ID: 7747207

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: a toner image forming section for forming a toner image; a transferring section for transferring, to a recording medium, the toner image that has been formed by the toner image forming section; a fixing solution applying section for applying, to a surface of the recording medium, a fixing solution containing water and an organic solvent which fixing solution softens and/or swells toner, and fixes the toner onto the recording medium; and a heating section for heating another side of the recording medium different from one side to which the fixing solution is applied, before or during the fixing solution is applied to the one side of the recording medium by the fixing solution applying section, wherein the fixing solution applying section includes: a droplet supplying section for supplying the fixing solution to the recording medium while forming the fixing solution into droplets; a recording medium detecting section for detecting a type of the recording medium; and a droplet size controlling section for controlling a size of the droplets of the fixing solution formed by the droplet supplying section, based on a result detected by the recording medium detecting section, and wherein the fixing solution applying section applies the fixing solution in the form of droplets to the recording medium while the size of the droplets is controlled based on the type of the recording medium.