Patent ID: 8081894

Claim:
An image forming apparatus, comprising: a fixing unit when heated fixes a toner image on a recording medium; a detecting unit that detects a plurality of user's operations on the image forming apparatus and generates a plurality of detection signals respectively corresponding to the plurality of user's operations; an engine control unit that controls operation of the fixing unit; a communication control unit that receives the plurality of detection signals from the detecting unit; a general-purpose communication line that becomes usable after being subjected to a set line-opening processing so as to connect the engine control unit with the communication control unit; and a dedicated communication line that connects the engine control unit with the communication control unit, wherein the detecting unit detects the user's operations, the communication control unit transmits the the plurality of detection signals respectively corresponding to the user's operations to the engine control unit through the dedicated communication line before the general-purpose communication line becomes usable, and the engine control unit determines based on the received detection signals whether to heat the fixing unit.