Image forming apparatus and image forming method

An image forming apparatus, comprising:

• an image forming portion that forms a toner image on a recording medium;
• a fixer that heats the recording medium on which the toner image is formed;
• a display which displays a state of the image forming apparatus;
• a setting portion that sets as an operation mode one of a monochrome mode for keeping a temperature of the fixer at a first temperature at which a monochrome image can be fixed and a color mode for keeping the temperature of the fixer at a second temperature higher than the first temperature, at which a color image can be fixed;
• and
• a controller,
• wherein,
• when the temperature of the fixer reaches the first temperature during rise, the controller causes the display to display a ready display,
• when the color mode is set by the setting portion, the controller performs control to keep the temperature of the fixer at the second temperature regardless of absence of a color image forming request after displaying the ready display.

An image forming method, comprising:

• forming a toner image on a recording medium of an image forming apparatus;
• heating the recording medium on which the toner image is formed;
• displaying a state of the image forming apparatus;
• setting as an operation mode one of a monochrome mode for keeping a temperature of a fixer at a first temperature at which a monochrome image can be fixed and a color mode for keeping the temperature of the fixer at a second temperature higher than the first temperature, at which a color image can be fixed;
• displaying a ready display when the temperature of the fixer reaches the first temperature during rise;
• and
• when the color mode is set, keeping the temperature of the fixer at the second temperature regardless of absence of a color image forming request after displaying the ready display.