Patent ID: 7620337

Claim:
An image heating apparatus comprising: a rotatable image heating member for heating an image on a recording material; a pressing member for forming a nip with said image heating member in which the recording material is nipped and conveyed; heating means for heating a part of said image heating member; drive means for rotating said image heating member; contacting and separating means for contacting and separating said image heating member and said pressing member relative to each other; an executing portion for executing a heating operation for heating said image heating member while rotating said image heating member separated from said pressing member during a stand-by state awaiting input of an image forming signal; a stop control portion for stopping energization to said heating means and rotation of said image heating member when an image forming signal is input during the execution of the heating operation by said executing portion; a contact operation control portion for carrying out a contact operation between said image heating member and said pressing member by said contacting and separating means during a period in which energization to said heating means and rotation of said image heating member are stopped; and a start control portion for resuming energization to said heating means and rotation of said image heating member after contact of said image heating member and said pressing member is complete.