Patent ID: 7961336

Claim:
An image forming apparatus, comprising: an image forming portion that selectively performs a first kind of image forming process or a second kind of image forming process, the first kind of image forming process involving a manual operation of the image forming apparatus by an operator, the second kind of image forming process not involving the manual operation; a control circuit for controlling power supply to the image forming portion, the control circuit switching the image forming portion to a power-saving state when a predetermined switching time period has elapsed during which either one of the first and second kinds of image forming processes is not performed; and a recording circuit for recording time information and function information of an operation performed by the image forming portion, the time information specifying when the image forming portion completes the operation, the function information specifying what kind of operation it is, wherein a first switching time period is determined in advance for the first kind of image forming process, and a second switching time period is determined in advance for the second kind of image forming process, wherein the control circuit selectively uses either one of the first and second switching time periods, based on function information of either one of the first and second kinds of image forming processes in which the time information recorded in the recording circuit is within a predetermined period of time, wherein the control circuit uses either one of the first and second switching time periods which corresponds to the most frequently used one of the first and second kinds of image forming processes, and wherein when either one of the first and second kinds of image forming processes is completed during a corresponding one of the determined first and second switching time periods, the control circuit calculates switching times so that switching is to be made to the power-saving state, based on a switching time period corresponding to the function information for each image forming process and on the time information recorded in the recording circuit, and switching is made to the power-saving state when the later of the calculated switching times has been reached.