Patent ID: 7756434

Claim:
An image forming apparatus, comprising: a power source switch for turning on and off a power source of a main body of the apparatus; an electric power saving key for accepting a designation to set the apparatus main body to an electric power saving mode in response to depressing the electric power saving key to suppress an electric power consumption of the apparatus main body; an image former for forming a toner image on a sheet; a fixing device for thermally fixing the toner image formed on the sheet by the image former onto the sheet; a heating section for heating the fixing device; and an electric power saving controller for shifting the apparatus main body to the electric power saving mode without starting a warm-up operation for controlling the heating section to heat the fixing device to a predetermined fixing temperature necessary for fixing the toner image onto the sheet, if the power source switch is turned on while depressing the electric power saving key, and for controlling the heating section to execute the warm-up operation and heat the fixing device to the predetermined fixing temperature without shifting the apparatus main body to the electric power saving mode, if the power source switch is turned on without depressing the electric power saving key.