Patent ID: 8086123

Claim:
An image forming apparatus, comprising: an image formation control unit for forming print images on an image carrier and for fanning a reference toner pattern between the print images formed on the image carrier; a reference image density detecting unit for determining an image density of the reference toner pattern; and an image forming condition adjusting unit for adjusting an image forming condition based on the image density detected by the reference image density detecting unit, wherein the image formation control unit: includes a print image toner amount estimating unit for estimating a toner amount of at least one of the print images and causes the image forming condition adjusting unit to perform an adjustment operation based on the image density of the reference toner pattern detected by the reference image density detecting unit if the toner amount of at least one of the print images is less than a predetermined value; and prevents the image forming condition adjusting unit from further performing the adjustment operation if the toner amount of at least one of the print images is greater than the predetermined value.