Patent ID: 8308161

Claim:
A motor control apparatus comprising: a stepping motor which includes a rotor and a stator; a setting unit configured to set an excitation mode, the excitation mode including a first excitation mode in which a first excitation pattern is used and a second excitation mode in which a second excitation pattern is used; and a control unit configured to control the stepping motor based on the excitation mode set by the setting unit, wherein, in a case where the setting unit changes the excitation mode from the second excitation mode to the first excitation mode, the control unit performs phase adjustment corresponding to the first excitation mode by exciting the stator in the first excitation pattern by at least one cycle of the first excitation pattern with a drive pulse of a frequency within a self-start range of the stepping motor, and starts rotation drive of the stepping motor by exciting the stator in the first excitation pattern with a drive pulse of a target frequency which exceeds the self-start frequency of the stepping motor.