Patent ID: 8090303

Claim:
An image forming apparatus configured to form a color image by successively superposing images of respective colors, formed on image carriers of corresponding image forming parts arranged side by side along a rotational direction of a single endless moving member, onto one of the endless moving member and a recording medium conveyed thereby, the image forming apparatus comprising: a pattern image creating part configured to cause a color registration pattern to be created on the one of the endless moving member and the recording medium; a color registration pattern detecting part configured to obtain a color registration pattern signal by detecting the created color registration pattern; an image formation timing varying part configured to change image formation timing in the image forming parts based on the obtained color registration pattern signal; and a control part configured to cause the endless moving member to rotate in a forward direction and a reverse direction after the creation of the color registration pattern, wherein the color registration pattern detecting part is configured to obtain the color registration pattern signal by detecting the color registration pattern during each of the forward rotation and the reverse rotation of the endless moving member.