Patent ID: 8374518

Claim:
An image forming apparatus, comprising: a receiver to receive image information from an external device; a movable intermediate transfer member; a plurality of latent image bearing members disposed substantially in proximity to the intermediate transfer member and arranged along a direction of movement of the intermediate transfer member, a latent image formed on each of the latent image bearing members based on the image information; a plurality of developing devices, disposed in proximity to the latent image bearing member, to develop the latent image on the latent image bearing member with toner to form a toner image thereon; a transfer bias application mechanism to apply a transfer bias to the intermediate transfer member and transfer the toner images onto the intermediate transfer member on one another; and a secondary transfer member to transfer the superimposed toner image onto a recording medium, the transfer bias application mechanism halting temporarily and periodically application of the transfer bias in a continuous output mode in which a plurality of images are continuously formed on different recording media sheets based on the image information of the plurality of images received continuously by the receiver, wherein when only one of the plurality of the latent image bearing members is used to form an image in the continuous output mode, application of the transfer bias is not halted.