Patent ID: 8712310

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: a dual purpose tray configured to accommodate a document and a transfer sheet; a document transport mechanism configured to transport the document placed on the dual purpose tray to an image reading position of the image forming apparatus; an image reading mechanism configured to read an image on the document transported to the image reading position by the document transport mechanism, the image reading mechanism being disposed beneath the document transport mechanism; an image forming mechanism configured to form the image read by the image reading mechanism on the transfer sheet, the image forming mechanism being disposed beneath the image reading mechanism; a transfer sheet transport mechanism configured to transport the transfer sheet from a bifurcation point through the image reading mechanism to an image forming position; a sheet feeding path configured to transport both the document and the transfer sheet to the bifurcation point from the dual purpose tray; a first transport path configured to transport the document to the image reading position from the bifurcation point; a second transport path configured to transport the transfer sheet through the image reading mechanism to an image forming position from the bifurcation point; a determination mechanism configured to determine a type of medium set on the dual purpose tray by determining whether the medium set on the dual purpose tray is the document or the transfer sheet, the determination mechanism including an integrated circuit (IC) reader configured to read recording medium identification information embedded in the medium; a switching member configured to switch the sheet feeding path between the first transport path and the second transport path at the bifurcation point; and a controller configured to, determine if a disparity exists between an operating mode of the image forming apparatus, the operating mode being associated with a type of medium, and the type of the medium identified by the reading the recording medium identification information, and if the disparity exists, prevent a malfunction of the image forming apparatus by, overriding the operation mode of the image forming apparatus to the operation mode associated with the type of medium identified by the reading the recording medium identification information, and instructing the switching member to switch the sheet feeding path based on the reading of the recording medium identification information associated with the medium set on the dual purpose tray.