Patent ID: 8131204

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: a sheet tray configured to contain a sheet; an image forming unit configured to form a first image and a second image on a first side and a second side of the sheet, respectively; a first conveying unit that conveys the sheet from the sheet tray to the image forming unit; a discharging unit that includes a first pair of rollers, the discharging unit being configured to discharge the sheet from the image forming apparatus by rotating the first pair of rollers in a forward direction when a gate is in a first position and to reverse the sheet from the first side to the second side or from the second side to the first side by rotating the rollers in a reverse direction before the sheet is fully discharged from the image forming apparatus; a second conveying unit that conveys the reversed sheet from the discharging unit to the image forming unit; a reversal unit that includes a second pair of rollers and the gate, the reversal unit being configured to reverse the sheet from the second side to the first side or from the first side to the second side by rotating the second pair of rollers in a forward direction and moving the gate from the first position to a second position before rotating the second pair of rollers in a reverse direction and moving the gate from the second position to a third position; and a processor that controls the image forming apparatus to carry out each of the following modes: a single-sided image forming mode that conveys the sheet from the sheet tray to the image forming unit through the first conveying unit, forms an image on the first side of the sheet, and conveys the sheet to the discharging unit in a predetermined discharge state; a first double-sided image forming mode that conveys the sheet from the sheet tray to the image forming unit through the first conveying unit, forms the first image on the first side of the sheet, reverses the sheet from the first side to the second side, conveys the reversed sheet to the image forming unit through the second conveying unit, forms the second image on the second side of the sheet, and discharges the sheet to the discharging unit in a predetermined discharge state; and a second double-sided image forming mode that forms the first image on the second side of the sheet and the second image on the first side of the sheet and conveys the sheet to the discharging unit in a predetermined discharge state.