Patent ID: 8165483

Claim:
An image forming apparatus, comprising: a latent image bearing member including a surface which is rotated to bear an electrostatic latent image; a charging device to evenly charge the surface of the latent image bearing member; an irradiating device to irradiate a charged surface of the latent image bearing member with a light beam according to image data to form an electrostatic latent image thereon; a developing device to develop the electrostatic latent image with a developer to form a toner image on the charged surface of the latent image bearing member; a transfer device to transfer the toner image onto a recording medium to form an image on the recording medium; and a control unit to control the image forming apparatus to perform subsequent image formation in accordance with a subsequent image forming request when it is determined that the subsequent image forming request is present at a predetermined determination time after completion of previous image formation, and to control the image forming apparatus to shut down certain predetermined operations, including at least rotation of the surface of the latent image bearing member and application of a charging bias from the charging device and a developing bias from the developing device in accordance with a predetermined shutdown sequence, when it is determined that the subsequent image forming request is not present at the predetermined determination time, wherein the control unit controls the image forming apparatus to start the subsequent image formation in accordance with the subsequent image forming request without stopping rotation of the surface of the latent image bearing member when the subsequent image forming request is received during a time between when the control unit determines that the subsequent image forming request is not present at the predetermined determination time and when a process to stop rotation of the surface of the latent image bearing member is completed, and when it is determined that the subsequent image forming request is not present at the predetermined determination time, the control unit sequentially stops application of the developing bias and the charging bias and rotation of the surface of the latent image bearing member in that order, and sequentially starts up rotation of the surface of the latent image bearing member and application of the charging bias and the developing bias in that order.