Image forming apparatus and method of handling a sheet conveyance error therein

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• an apparatus body;
• a fixing unit disposed in the apparatus body and having rotary bodies disposed facing each other with a nip area formed there between, the fixing unit fixing an image to a recording medium at the nip area while the rotary bodies are rotating;
• a sheet conveying path through which the recording medium is conveyed in a sheet conveying direction;
• a sheet output roller unit disposed downstream from the fixing unit in the sheet conveying direction, the sheet output roller unit outputting the recording medium to an outside of the apparatus body;
• a sheet output detector disposed in a vicinity of the sheet output roller unit in the sheet conveying path, the sheet output detector detecting presence of the recording medium;
• a post-fixing nip detector disposed downstream from the nip area of the fixing unit in the sheet conveying path, the post-fixing nip detector detecting presence of the recording medium;
• an error detector to detect a sheet conveyance error occurred during a sheet conveying operation;
• a notifying unit to notify a user of an error recovery process when the sheet conveyance error is detected by the error detector;
• an openable/closable part provided separate from which the recording medium is output to the outside of the apparatus body by the sheet output roller unit;
• and
• a controller,
• wherein a distance from the post-fixing nip detector to the sheet output detector in the sheet conveying path is smaller than a given size of the recording medium in the sheet conveying path,
• wherein, under conditions that the sheet conveyance error is detected by the error and that the recording medium is detected by the sheet output detector, the controller causes the notifying unit to display the error recovery process according to whether the recording medium is detected by the post-fixing nip detector, and
• wherein, under conditions that the sheet conveyance error is detected by the error detector and that the recording medium is detected by the sheet output detector and the post-fixing nip detector, the controller causes the notifying unit to display, as the error recovery process, a second error recovery process of removing the recording medium that is held and stopped in the nip area of the fixing unit to the outside of the apparatus body via the openable/closable part by opening the openable/closable part.