Patent ID: 7233765

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: a forming unit configured to form a latent electrostatic image on a latent electrostatic image bearing member based on information on a digital image; a developing unit configured to develop the latent electrostatic image with a toner to thereby form a visible image; a transferring unit configured to transfer the visible image to one of an electrophotographic image receiving roll and an electrophotographic image receiving sheet; and a smoothing and fixing unit configured to smooth and fix the transferred image on the one of the electrophotographic image receiving roll and the electrophotographic image receiving sheet, to thereby form one of a series of electrophotographic prints and an electrophotographic print, wherein the one of the electrophotographic image receiving roll and the electrophotographic image receiving sheet comprises: a support and at least one toner-image receiving layer comprising a thermoplastic resin on or above the support, and the support comprises a raw paper and a thermoplastic resin layer which is arranged on at least one side of the raw paper, and wherein the smoothing and fixing unit comprises: a belt member, a pair of pressing members configured to interpose the belt member therebetween so as to form a nip and configured to contact the surface of the belt member with the one of the electrophotographic image receiving roll and the electrophotographic image receiving sheet so that the transferred image faces the belt member, a heating member configured to heat the belt and the one of the electrophotographic image receiving roll and the electrophotographic image receiving sheet passing through the nip so that the transferred image is fused and thereby fixed on the one of the electrophotographic image receiving roll and the electrophotographic image receiving sheet, and a cooling member configured to cool the one of the electrophotographic image receiving roll and the electrophotographic image receiving sheet being contacted with the surface of the belt member.