Patent ID: 7706705

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: a plurality of image forming sections, each image forming section being capable of forming an image of a color component among plural color components under a predetermined condition, and forming a pattern of each color component for adjusting the predetermined condition; an output section that transfers the formed images onto a recording sheet as the images being superimposed; a detecting section that reads the formed patterns of the respective color components so as to perform a temporary detection and a main detection of a deviation from a reference under the predetermined condition; and a correction control section that determines whether the deviation detected as a result of the temporary detection exceeds a predetermined threshold value, and when the deviation exceeds the predetermined threshold value, executes the main detection to fully detect the deviation so as to correct the predetermined condition on the basis of the detected deviation, wherein the correction control section controls one or more of the image forming sections to form one or more patterns of one or more color components for the temporary detection, the number of the color components for the temporary detection being fewer than those of the patterns to be used for the main detection, and a greater threshold value is set for a first color component than for a second color component when the image forming section of the first color component is arranged more apart from the image forming section of a reference color than the image forming section of the second color component.