Patent ID: 8041246

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: an image holding body that is rotatable, and holds a first toner image and a second toner image; an image forming unit that forms the first toner image and the second toner image on the image holding body; a transfer unit that transfers the first toner image on the image holding body onto a transfer medium; a cleaning unit that has a cleaning member for freely coming into contact with and separating from the image holding body, and that brings the cleaning member into contact with the image holding body so as to clean a residual toner remaining on a surface of the image holding body; and a cleaning control unit that controls forming the second toner image on the image holding body, wherein the second toner image cleans the cleaning member, wherein the second toner image opposes the cleaning member in a separating state in which the cleaning member is separated from the image holding body and the second toner image, and wherein the cleaning control unit controls cleaning of the second toner image by the cleaning member when the cleaning member is in a contact state with the image holding body.