Patent ID: 8260159

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: a toner container unit; a developing device including an agitating unit for agitating toner; an image forming unit for forming a toner image on printing medium based on image data using said developing device; a supply unit for supplying toner from said toner container unit to said developing device; a memory for storing a shortage amount of toner in said developing device; and a controller for performing i) supply control for allowing said supply unit to execute a supply operation based on an amount of toner in said developing device to supply toner from said toner container unit to said developing device, and ii) image forming control for allowing said image forming unit to execute an image forming operation to form a toner image on said printing medium, wherein said controller performs first control of allowing execution of an agitating operation to agitate toner in said developing device by said agitating unit before the start of said image forming operation, and allowing execution of said agitating operation by said agitating unit and starting said supply control upon the start of said image forming operation, when said shortage amount of toner at a time of power-on is greater than a first threshold value and equal to or less than a second threshold value greater than said first threshold value, and second control of allowing execution of said agitating operation by said agitating unit upon the start of said image forming operation without allowing execution of said agitating operation by said agitating unit before the start of said image forming operation, and starting said supply control after a time for a predetermined developing agitating operation after the start of said image forming operation, when said shortage amount of toner at a time of power-on is smaller than said first threshold value, and third control of allowing execution of said agitating operation by said agitating unit before the start of said image forming operation and allowing execution of said supply operation by said supply unit after said agitating operation and before the start of said image forming operation, when said shortage amount of toner obtained at a time of power-on is greater than said second threshold value.