Patent ID: 8454011

Claim:
A sheet feeder for an image forming apparatus, comprising: a sheet container to accommodate a sheet; a sheet feeding unit to feed the sheet contained in the sheet container; a sheet conveying unit disposed downstream from the sheet feeding unit in a sheet conveyance direction; and a controller to cause the sheet feeding unit to temporarily stop driving before the leading edge of the sheet that is fed by the sheet feeding unit abuts against the sheet conveying unit, and to cause the sheet feeding unit to restart and rotate continuously while the leading edge of the sheet abuts the sheet conveying unit in a non-driven state, and to cause the sheet conveying unit to start driving while the sheet feeding unit continues to be driven to convey the sheet further forward, the controller varying a temporary stop period to temporarily stop the driving of the sheet feeding unit before the leading edge of the sheet abuts against the sheet conveying unit according to a period in which the sheet passes a first point and a second point between a standby position that is determined prior to feeding of the sheet and a temporary stop position at which the sheet is stopped before the sheet abuts against the sheet conveying unit.