Patent ID: 8886065

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: a set of photoconductors; a set of charging members each of which is configured to charge a corresponding photoconductor by a corona discharge; a voltage application unit to which the set of charging members are connected in parallel and which is configured to apply a voltage to the charging members; and a controller configured to exercise control over the voltage application unit, to maintain an amount of an electric current found to be smallest among those of electric currents passing through the charging members at a predetermined value, the controller comprising: a reference value recording unit configured to determine and record a reference value for each charging member in a memory unit at a predetermined time in a printing control process, the reference value being an amount of an electric current flowing through each charging member at the predetermined time; a measurement unit configured to cause the voltage application unit to start applying a voltage to the charging members upon startup of the image forming apparatus, to determine a measurement value for each charging member, the measurement value being an amount of an electric current flowing through each charging member; a determination unit configured to mark a charging member of which the measurement value is such that an absolute value of a difference between the reference value recorded for the charging member in the memory unit and the measurement value determined by the measurement unit for the charging member is not smaller than a predetermined value, as a charging member which has been subjected to cleaning; and a messaging unit configured to produce a notification if there are one or more charging members marked by the determination unit and one or more charging members not marked by the determination unit in the set of charging members, the notification being given through a notification unit to advise a user that there is at least one charging member in need of cleaning.