Patent ID: 7835028

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: an image holding member; a toner image forming unit that forms a toner image of toner on a surface of the image holding member; a color forming information applying unit that applies, with light, color forming information to the toner image formed on the surface of the image holding member; a transferring unit that transfers the toner image applied with the color forming information onto a surface of a recording medium; a fixing unit that fixes the toner image transferred on the surface of the recording medium; a color forming unit that forms a color of the toner image applied with the color forming information; the toner being controlled by being applied with the color forming information with light so as to hold a state that can form a color or a state that cannot form a color; the color forming information applying unit exposing, from a back surface side of the image holding member, the toner image formed on the surface of the image holding member to apply the color forming information to the toner image with light transmitted through the image holding member; and a reflecting unit disposed on a surface side of the image holding member corresponding to a position of exposure from the back surface side, the reflecting unit reflecting the light that applies color forming information to the toner image that is transmitted through the image holding member back toward the toner image.