Patent ID: 7088930

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: developing means for being replenished by a toner from a toner container by rotating the toner container containing toner in a first direction; first detecting means provided on the developing means for detecting whether a toner density is lower than a standard value in the developing means; second detecting means provided around the toner container for detecting whether a toner amount in the toner container is less than a predetermined amount when the first detecting means detects that the toner density in the developing means is lower than the standard value; and rotation control means for controlling a rotation of the toner container to rotate the toner container in a second direction reverse to the first direction by less than one turn and then, rotate in the first direction by less than one turn and repeat the rotations in both directions by one or plural times when the second detecting means detects that the toner amount in the toner container becomes less than the predetermined amount.