Patent ID: 7430395

Claim:
A flash fixing device comprising: a group of main flash lamps, formed by a plurality of flash lamps that emit main flash light for fixing a toner image which is transferred onto a recording medium; a light-emission control unit that causes the group of main flash lamps to emit light intermittently to the recording medium, and the recording medium moves in a predetermined direction relative to the group of main flash lamps, wherein the main flash light is illuminated two times to a region of the recording medium, such that the region of the recording medium corresponds to an edge portion of a light distribution pattern of the main flash light where an amount of light emitted is low; and an auxiliary flash lamp provided at a position between a pair of flash lamps of the group of main flash lamps, the group of main flash lamps being positioned along the predetermined direction, wherein the auxiliary flash lamp is controlled by the light-emission control unit to emit light when the region of the recording medium that repeatedly receives the flash light having the low amount of emitted light matches a position of the auxiliary flash lamp, such that the auxiliary flash lamp is provided at a position at which a distance between the recording medium and the auxiliary lamp is smaller than a distance between the recording medium and the plurality of flash lamps forming the group of main flash lamps.