According to one embodiment, a fixing device includes determination means for determining the size of a medium, heating means for including plural heat-generating members which are two-dimensionally arranged such that the heat-generating members are lined up along two parallel lines or more which are vertical to a transport direction of the medium and divided at locations on the parallel lines, and are disposed so as to come into contact with an inner side of the rotating body, and a switching unit which switches individual conduction, and heats the medium, pressing means for forming a nip by performing pressing and contact at a position of the plural heat-generating members, and heating control means for selecting a group of the heat-generating members which are lined up in the two-dimensional arrangement, conducting the selected group of the heat-generating members, and controlling the heating means.

An image forming apparatus includes an image forming portion configured to form a developer image on a recording material, a fixing portion configured to heat-fix the developer image to the recording material, a first motor configured to drive the image forming portion, a second motor configured to drive the fixing portion, and a control portion configured to control the first motor and the second motor. The second motor is a stepping motor. The control portion allows the second motor to start rotation at a speed in a self-start region, temporarily stops the second motor at a timing at which the first motor is activated, then allows the second motor to restart rotation at a speed in the self-start region, and changes the speed of the second motor to a speed outside of the self-start region before the recording material arrives at the fixing portion.

According to one embodiment, a fixing device includes determination means for determining the size of an image forming area of a medium, heating means for including an endless rotating body, plural heat-generating members which are formed in a perpendicular direction to a transporting direction, inclined by a predetermined angle, and divided by a predetermined length, and are disposed so as to come into contact with an inner side of the rotating body, and a switching unit which switches individual conduction, and heats the medium, pressing means for forming a nip by performing pressing and contact at a position of the plural heat-generating members, and nipping and carrying the medium in the transporting direction along with the heating means, and heating control means for controlling the switching unit to select and conduct heat-generating members and controlling the heating means to heat the medium.

A fixing device includes a first unit and a second unit. The first unit includes: a first belt being movable in a first direction; a first pressing member pressing the first belt; and a first pressing member support supporting the first pressing member. The second unit includes a moving member and faces the first unit in a second direction. The moving member is able to come into contact with the first belt and movable in the first direction. The first pressing member is supported, by the first pressing member support, variably in attitude of the first pressing member relative to the first pressing member support.

An image heating apparatus for use with an image forming apparatus includes a pair of rotatable members configured to form a nip for heating an image on a recording material; a guide member configured to guide the recording material toward the nip; a supporting mechanism configured to rotatably support the guide member about an axis so that the guide member is movable between a first position where the guide member guides the recording material and a second position where the guide member blocks at least a part of a feeding path of the recording material; and a locking mechanism configured to lock the guide member being in the first position. The locking mechanism releases locking with sliding movement of the guiding member in a direction of the axis.

According to one embodiment, a fixing device includes determination means for determining the size of an image forming area of a medium, heating means for including an endless rotating body, plural heat-generating members which are formed in a perpendicular direction to a transporting direction, inclined by a predetermined angle, and divided by a predetermined length, and are disposed so as to come into contact with an inner side of the rotating body, and a switching unit which switches individual conduction, and heats the medium, pressing means for forming a nip by performing pressing and contact at a position of the plural heat-generating members, and nipping and carrying the medium in the transporting direction along with the heating means, and heating control means for controlling the switching unit to select and conduct heat-generating members and controlling the heating means to heat the medium.

An image heating apparatus includes a pair of rotatable members at least one of which is an endless belt, the rotatable members forming a nip for hitting a toner image on a sheet; a first pad member and a second pad member provided along a feeding direction of the sheet and configured to urge the at least one of the endless belts toward the other one of the rotatable members from a inside of the at least one of the endless belts; a moving mechanism configured to move the second pad member to selectively contact both of the first pad member and the second pad member to the endless belt or contact only the first pad member to the endless belt; and a single sheet-like member slidable relative to an inner surface of the endless belt.

The heating apparatus including a plurality of heat generation members including first, second and third generation members, the second heat generation member and the third heat generation member having lengths in a longitudinal direction shorter than a length of the first heat generation member, the heating apparatus including first, second, third, and fourth contacts, and a first switching unit configured to bring an electric path between the second contact and the fourth contact into one of a connecting state and an open state.

A fixing device includes: a conveyor that conveys a recording medium in which a toner image is fixed onto a first face by heating and pressurizing and a toner image unfixed is held on a second face; a heating member that heats the toner image held on the second face of the recording medium conveyed by the conveyor in a contact state; a pressing member that pressurizes the recording medium against the heating member to fix the toner image held on the second face of the recording medium and contacts the toner image fixed onto the first face of the recording medium; and an irregular portion that is provided on a surface of the pressing member, has a plurality of protrusions and recesses, and has a difference in height between the recesses and the protrusions equal to or greater than a height of a toner layer in a solid toner image fixed onto the first face of the recording medium.

A fixing device includes an endless fixing belt, a heating roller that heats the fixing belt, a steering roller, and a pressurization rotating member. The steering roller is controlled to swing to move the fixing belt to a prescribed position. The pressurization rotating member pressurizes and forms a fixing nip portion with the fixing belt. When a recording material bearing unfixed toner is nipped and conveyed to the fixing nip portion, an unfixed toner image is fixed to the recording material. A single inclination operation that inclines the steering roller results in an inclination angle that is smaller when a recording material having a length greater than a predetermined length in a recording material conveying direction is conveyed to the fixing nip portion than when a recording material having a length less than or equal to the predetermined length in the conveying direction is conveyed to the fixing nip portion.