Patent ID: 7673954

Claim:
An image forming apparatus in which image is formed on a recording medium by ejecting droplets onto the recording medium, comprising: a plurality of ejection ports through which the droplets are ejected; a plurality of ejection heads having the plurality of ejection ports aligned along a length corresponding to an entire width of a first type of recording medium; a head recovery device configured to perform head recovery processing to recover from a defect of the ejection ports in the plurality of ejection heads; a head retracting device configured to independently move each of the plurality of ejection heads to a retracted position for performing the head recovery processing; and an auxiliary head configured to move in a lateral direction substantially perpendicular to a conveyance direction of the recording medium, wherein the auxiliary head records the image onto the recording medium in substitution for one or more of the plurality of ejection heads while the head recovery processing is performed to the one or more of the plurality of ejection heads in the retracted position.