Patent ID: 8630553

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: at least one image forming unit that is disposed in an apparatus main body and forms a toner image; at least one toner supply device that is loadable and unloadable with respect to an installation space in the apparatus main body and supplies a toner to the image forming unit, in which the toner supply device includes a toner supply opening that is communicatively connected to the image forming unit and an open/close member that opens and closes the toner supply opening; a detection unit that detects, regarding the toner supply device loaded into the installation space, a type of the toner supply device or detects improper loading of the toner supply device; and a notification unit that notifies loading of the toner supply device of a wrong type or improper loading of the toner supply device based on a result of detection by the detection unit, wherein the toner supply device comprises an open/close joint that operates the open/close member to open and close; the open/close joint has different shapes according to the type of the toner supply device; the apparatus main body comprises a driving joint that has a shape that can or cannot be connected to the open/close joint according to a shape of the open/close joint after loading the toner supply device to the installation space, the driving joint switching the open/close member of the toner supply device to an opened state by driving the open/close joint when connected; and the detection unit detects the type of the toner supply device based on an opened or closed state of the toner supply opening of the toner supply device.