Patent ID: 8886070

Claim:
A fixing apparatus comprising: a fixing member to fix a toner image onto a recording medium; a pressing member to press the recording medium against the fixing member at a nip portion; a first heater to locally heat the fixing member by providing heat upstream of the nip portion to a portion of the fixing member corresponding to a position of the toner image on the recording medium; a second heater to heat the pressing member; a temperature detector to detect a temperature of the pressing member; and a temperature control device including a memory with a table stored in the memory relating target control temperatures with thicknesses of toner layers, wherein the temperature control device obtains information including a thickness of a toner layer carried on the recording medium, wherein the temperature control device controls the temperature of the pressing member to a target control level by controlling the second heater based on the temperature detected by the temperature detector and a target control temperature in the table corresponding to the thickness of the toner layer carried on the recording medium, wherein the second heater includes a plurality of heater elements arranged in a widthwise direction of the fixing member, and wherein the second heater locally heats the pressing member by providing heat in the widthwise direction with heater elements corresponding only to a portion of the pressing member corresponding to the toner image.