Patent ID: 7340193

Claim:
An image forming apparatus, comprising: a heating means which fixes a toner image formed on a recording medium; a heating temperature sensor which detects the temperature of the heating means; a fixation control means which switches between (a) a fixation operation control state in which the heating means is controlled such that the temperature detected by the heating temperature sensor is maintained at a temperature needed to fix the toner image to the recording medium, and (b) a non-fixation operation control state different from the fixation operation control state, in accordance with results detected by one or more fixation control sensors; and a sensor power control means which controls power supplied to sensors, other than the one or more fixation control sensors and the heating temperature sensor, that are used during image formation, such that the power supply is interrupted when the heating means is switched to the non-fixation operation control state by the fixation control means, and the power is supplied when the heating means is switched to the fixation operation control state by the fixation control means and the temperature detected by the heating temperature sensor is equal to or greater than a predetermined temperature near the fixation temperature.