Patent ID: 8714689

Claim:
An image forming apparatus that forms an image on a recording sheet conveyed by a conveying unit by discharging ink droplets from nozzles provided in a print head on the recording sheet, the image forming apparatus comprising: a light emitting unit that generates detection light intersecting a discharge path of the ink droplets; a discharge signal output unit that outputs a discharge signal used to make the ink droplets discharge from a detection target nozzle that is a target for detecting a defective nozzle from among the nozzles; a first light receiving unit that receives scattered light generated by the ink droplets being irradiated with the detection light and outputs a first detection signal in proportion to an amount of the received light; a second light receiving unit that receives the detection light passing through the discharge path of the ink droplets without irradiating the ink droplets and outputs a second detection signal in proportion to an amount of the received light; a determination unit that determines whether or not the detection target nozzle is a defective nozzle incapable of discharging ink droplets based on the first detection signal output from the first light receiving unit when the discharge signal is output from the discharge signal output unit; and a correction unit that corrects a determination result of the determination unit based on the second detection signal output from the second light receiving unit.