Patent ID: 7519306

Claim:
A fixing apparatus which causes a recording material to pass through a space between a rotatable fixing member and a pressure member that press-contacts the fixing member, so as to fix a toner image formed on the recording material, the fixing apparatus comprising: a heating section, provided inside the fixing member, which includes a plurality of heat sources having mutually different heating regions; a temperature detecting section which detects surface temperatures of areas on the fixing member corresponding to the heating regions of the respective heat sources; and a fixing control section which controls (i) rotation of the fixing member and (ii) power supply to each of the heat sources so that the surface temperatures of the fixing member become a preset fixing temperature, in accordance with temperatures detected by the temperature detecting section, wherein: the fixing control section (i) controls power supply to a center section heat source which heats as the heating region a center section of the fixing member, in accordance with (a) a detected surface temperature of an area on the fixing member corresponding to the heating region of the center section heat source and (b) a detected surface temperature of an area on the fixing member corresponding to the heating region of an end section heat source which heats as the heating region end sections of the fixing member, the heating region of the end section heat source being provided on an end section side of the fixing member with respect to the center section heat source, and (ii) includes an end section priority temperature control mode in which a high priority in the control of power supply to the center section heat source is put on the detected surface temperature of the area corresponding to the heating region of the end section heat source; and the fixing control section temporarily stops or suppresses the power supply to the center section heat source in the end section priority temperature control mode when the fixing control section judges that the surface temperature of the area corresponding to the heating region of the end section heat source has reached a preset upper-limit fixing temperature, even when the surface temperature of the area corresponding to the heating region of the center section heat source is lower than the preset fixing temperature.