Patent ID: 8515300

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: an image forming unit configured to form a reference toner image having a first color, and a superimposed toner image in which a toner image of the first color is superimposed on the top of a toner image having a second color with a lower reflectance than the first color, the toner image of the first color being formed under a predetermined condition under which a toner height with respect to that of the reference toner image is specified; an image bearing member configured to bear the reference toner image and the superimposed toner image that are formed by the image forming unit; an output unit configured to output a first signal corresponding to the toner height of the reference toner image formed by the image forming unit and a second signal corresponding to the toner height of the superimposed toner image formed by the image forming unit; and a toner density detecting unit configured to detect the density of the toner image having the second color included in the superimposed toner image in accordance with a difference between the first signal and the second signal output from the output unit.