Patent ID: 8570555

Claim:
An image forming apparatus, comprising: an image forming control unit for controlling the operations of the apparatus as a whole; a plurality of detection units for detecting various states within the apparatus; a plurality of drive units for driving a plurality of actuators; and an identification control unit connected with the image forming control unit by: a single data line for transmitting/receiving detection signals from the plurality of detection units through the identification control unit to the image forming control unit and drive signals from the image forming control unit through the identification control unit to the plurality of drive units; a single identification signal line for transmitting identification signals that specify the input/output of the data line, the identification signals capable of specifying a detection unit and a drive unit from among the plurality of detection units and the plurality of drive units, wherein the identification signal line is a separate line from the data line; and a single period signal line for transmitting period signals that define a data valid period of the data line and a signal valid period of the identification signal line for specifying the input/output of data and the detection or drive unit associated with a particular period signal, wherein the period signal line is a separate line from the data line and identification signal line; the identification control unit identifying appropriate detection or drive units from the identification signals, and making data on the data line valid as data of the appropriate detection or drive units, wherein the identification control unit uses the data line in a period other than when conducting identification control of the detection or drive units to acquire the data of the specified detection units as valid data.