Patent ID: 8205883

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: a paper transport path in which a recording paper is transported from a paper feed portion through the paper transport path to registration rollers and the recording paper is further transported to a print processing portion via the registration rollers such that printing is carried out on the recording paper by the print processing portion, wherein the paper transport path comprises a main transport path and an extended transport path which is longer than the main transport path, and a switching unit that switches between utilizing the main transport path or the extended transport path; wherein the main transport path and the extended transport path are on an upstream side from the registration rollers in a transport direction of the recording paper, and based on the spacing between two successive sheets of recording paper the switching unit is controlled to switch between either the main transport path or the extended transport path such that the recording paper is guided to the registration rollers through either of the main transport path or the extended transport path, the main transport path is located on an upstream side of the print processing portion in the transport direction, while the recording paper is transported from the paper feed portion to the print processing portion, the recording paper passes through either of the main transport path or the extended transport path, as switched between each other by the switching unit, and the main transport path and extended transport path form an integrated component that is rotatable to switch between the main transport path and the extended transport path.