Patent ID: 8295720

Claim:
An image forming apparatus, comprising: an image bearer configured to carry a latent image; a developer carrier configured to rotate in opposed first and second directions, said developer carrier carrying developer developing the latent image and obtaining a toner image only when said developer carrier rotates in the first direction; a transfer device configured to transfer the toner image onto a recording medium; a fixing device configured to fix the toner image onto the recording medium; a sheet number threshold designating device configured to designate a prescribed number of sheets as a threshold; a counter configured to count a number of printed sheets; a controller configured to start a forced drive stop sequence for stopping image formation at least by stopping the rotation of the developer carrier in the first direction when said number of printed sheets reaches the threshold, wherein, in said forced drive stop sequence, the controller causes the developer carrier to rotate in the second direction for a prescribed time period when the image formation is stopped, and to stop the rotation of the developer carrier in the second direction and resume the image formation after the prescribed time has elapsed; and a setting device configured to invalidate the forced drive stop sequence.