Patent ID: 7864386

Claim:
An image forming apparatus having a first copy mode wherein a to-be-copied original is copied with a plurality of colors corresponding to colors of the to-be-copied original, and a second copy mode in which the to-be-copied original is copied with a single color, comprising: first light receiving element arrays comprised of a plurality of light receiving element arrays provided with optical filters that pass lights of different wavelength bands, and which are units that read the to-be-copied original and output image information thereof; a second light receiving element array comprised of a signal light receiving element array, and which is a unit that reads the to-be-copied original and outputs image information thereof; a first conversion unit configured to convert image information read in different wavelength bands into a signal for executing copy in a plurality of colors; a second conversion unit configured to convert information read by a single light receiving element array into a signal for executing copy in achromatic color; a third conversion unit configured to convert information read by a single light receiving element array into a signal for executing copy in a single chromatic color; and a control unit configured to control the first and second light receiving element arrays and the first, second and third conversion units to convert image information output by the first light receiving element arrays into a signal for executing copy using the first conversion unit when copy is executed in the first copy mode, to convert image information output by the second light receiving element array into a signal for executing copy using the second conversion unit when copying is executed in the second copy mode, and to convert image information output by the second light receiving element array into a signal for executing copy using the third conversion unit when copy is executed in the third copy mode.