Patent ID: 7672630

Claim:
An image forming apparatus, comprising: an image forming mechanism to form a toner image on a recording medium according to image data; and a fixing mechanism to fix the toner image on the recording medium and including, a fixing member to apply heat to the toner image on the recording medium, and a cleaning mechanism to clean a surface of the fixing member and including, a cleaning member to remove contaminants from the surface of the fixing member, and a controller to control the cleaning member at a linear velocity different from a linear velocity of the rotating fixing member for a time period after a job starts and before the job finishes to cause friction with the fixing member and remove the contaminants from the surface of the fixing member, and after the time period elapses, the controller being configured to rotate the cleaning member in accordance with rotation of the fixing member so as not to cause friction between the cleaning member and the fixing member.