Patent ID: 8311464

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: a direct transfer control unit that controls a first image forming unit that forms an image in a single color or a plurality of colors and controls a direct transfer unit so as to directly transfer the image in the single color or the plurality of colors onto a transfer sheet that is conveyed by the direct transfer unit; an indirect transfer control unit that controls a second image forming unit that forms images in a plurality of colors except for the color of the image formed by the first image forming unit and controls an intermediate transfer unit so as to transfer the images in the plurality of colors onto the intermediate transfer unit; a secondary transfer control unit that controls contact and separation between the direct transfer unit and the intermediate transfer unit; a first alignment control unit that causes the secondary transfer control unit to perform a separation control and corrects an amount of misalignment among the images in the plurality of colors formed on the intermediate transfer unit, thereby performing a first alignment control process; and a second alignment control unit that causes the secondary transfer control unit to perform a contact control, transfers, onto the transfer sheet, an image in at least one color formed on the intermediate transfer unit, the first alignment control process having been performed on the image, and corrects an amount of misalignment of an image that is directly transferred onto the transfer sheet with respect to the image on which the first alignment control process has been performed, thereby performing a second alignment control process.