Patent ID: 7817934

Claim:
An image forming apparatus that can be operated in a plurality of power modes different in power consumption, comprising: an image forming portion for forming a visual image in accordance with image data contained in an input command; a controller for controlling the image forming portion, characterized in that the controller includes: a mode switch for switching the image forming portion from a standby mode in which image forming is instantly enabled into a power-saving mode in which power supply to the image forming portion is partially stopped when no subsequent command has been received after a first predetermined time period has elapsed from when image forming portion was operated last; a mode restoring portion for restoring the image forming portion from the power-saving mode to the standby mode when a subsequent command is received; and an image quality controller for performing image quality control of the visual image each time that a second predetermined time period elapses while the image forming portion is in the power-saving mode; and a fusing unit for fixing a visual image that was formed by the image forming portion and transferred to a recording medium, wherein a boosting operation for increasing a surface temperature of the fusing unit is performed in the fusing unit when the surface temperature of the fusing unit becomes equal to or lower than a predetermined temperature during the power-saving mode.