Entries |
Document | Title | Date |
20080205920 | Device and Method for Printing on Both Faces of a Recording Medium, Comprising a Charge Shifting and Recharging Device - In a method or device for simultaneous double-sided printing of a recording medium, the first toner image comprising toner charged with a first polarity is generated on a first transfer belt and a second toner image comprising toner also charged with the first polarity is generated on a second transfer belt. A charge shifting device is provided along with a recharging device. At least one of the charge shifting device and the recharging device comprise a corotron. With the charge shifting device, the charge of the first toner image is shifted to a second polarity opposite to the first polarity and with the recharging device the second toner image with the first polarity is recharged. The recording medium is passed between the first and the second transfer belts. An electrical field is generated at a transfer printing region via which the first toner image shifted to the second polarity and the recharged second toner image are separated from the respective first or second transfer belt and are transferred to a side of the recording medium facing the respective transfer belt. | 08-28-2008 |
20080212988 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - The level of toner color mixture in a developing device is maintained within the range not affecting the color shade of a final color image. In an image forming apparatus including four imaging units and placed along a moving intermediate transfer body, the imaging units having developing devices for developing an electrostatic latent image formed on a photoconductor to create a toner image and for collecting toner remaining on the photoconductor after transfer of the toner image, the developing device in the imaging unit performs forcible toner discharge operation when a toner mixture amount in the developing device of the imaging unit, which was computed from toner consumption of the imaging unit located on an upstream side, exceeds a predetermined value. | 09-04-2008 |
20080219686 | Image Forming Apparatus - A product of a predetermined time interval and the number of periods is set to be an integer multiple of a time (or agitation period) required for one rotation of an agitation member and also a light receiving state is detected when an interval signal is Hi. Therefore, the number of times that light cannot be received due to the agitation member (or the number of agitation influences) is constant within one period. Since the number of agitation influences is set to the constant number of times in one period and the influence of the agitation member is constant at the remaining developer amount ratio of 1/Light Receiving Ratio, the light receiving ratio appropriately indicating the remaining developer amount can be obtained and the remaining developer amount can be correctly detected. | 09-11-2008 |
20080226318 | METHOD OF ROTATING REVOLVER UNIT USING A PLURALITY OF MOTORS - According to an embodiment of the invention, a revolver unit is rotationally driven by using three stepping motors. The weight of developing cartridges loaded on the revolver unit is identified on the basis of the quantity of remaining toner in toner cartridges. At the time of rotationally driving the revolver unit, output timing of the stepping motor closer to the developing cartridge which has a large quantity of remaining toner and has a heavy weight is made earlier, and output timing of the stepping motor far from this developing cartridge is delayed. | 09-18-2008 |
20080226319 | Image Forming Apparatus - An image forming apparatus including a plurality of developing devices each having a plurality of guide parts on both lateral sides, a frame body having a plurality of guide members configured to receive the guide parts of the developing devices, a front door for receiving and removing the developing devices from the frame body, and a position regulating member having a plurality of regulating parts and a connecting part configured to connect each regulating part, the position regulating member having an L-shape to regulate movement of the plurality of developing devices, each end of the regulating part configured to be placed between the guide part and the guide member, and the connecting part configured to be placed between the developing devices and the front door. | 09-18-2008 |
20080240757 | IMAGING FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a development container, a developer bearing member, first and second carrying members that carry developer, a supply device that supplies developer for replenishment, a discharge opening that discharges the developer contained in the development container, a controller that selectively performs one of a first mode and a second mode, a drive device that changes speeds for driving the first and second carrying members, and a counter that measures the number of sheets in the second mode. The controller sets the speed of the drive device in the second mode to be slower than in the first mode, and suspends the second mode and executes a mode for changing the speed of the drive device to a speed faster than in the second mode and driving the first and second carrying members for a predetermined time if a measurement result reaches a reference value. | 10-02-2008 |
20080247771 | Image Forming Apparatus, Image Forming System, and Image Forming Method - An image forming apparatus includes a turnable image bearing body for bearing a latent image; a turnable developer bearing body for bearing liquid developer, the developer bearing body and the image bearing body being pressed in contact with each other at a predetermined press-contact position, the developer bearing body being capable of carrying the liquid developer toward the press-contact position by turning, the image forming apparatus performing development of the latent image, which is bore by the image bearing body, with the liquid developer that has been carried toward the press-contact position; and a controller for causing the development of the latent image to start after a predetermined period of time has passed from when the turning speed of the developer bearing body and the image bearing body reached a predetermined turning speed for development at which the development is performed. | 10-09-2008 |
20080260400 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a photosensitive drum to which an electrostatic image is formed and a developing sleeve carrying a developer including toner carrier. An alternating voltage is applied to the sleeve to form an alternating electric field between the sleeve and the drum to develop the electrostatic image with the developer. A relation |K | 10-23-2008 |
20090016754 | INTELLIGENT TONER CHARGING SYSTEM AND METHOD - A method and apparatus for charging toner for an imaging device includes an inactivity determining section that determines one or more periods of inactivity of the printing machine, a measuring section that measures a charge of the toner, and a charging section that charges the toner to a predetermined level based on at least one of the determined one or more periods of inactivity and the measured charge of the toner. The toner is charged to a predetermined level after recovery from the inactivity period so that the tribo-electric charge of the toner is enhanced for normal printing without causing unwanted effects when the imagining device recovers from inactivity. | 01-15-2009 |
20090035002 | SHEET PROCESSING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - There are provided a sheet processing apparatus and an image forming apparatus which can adjust adhesive strength by a simple configuration. | 02-05-2009 |
20090041490 | Image forming apparatus and method of performing density correction - An image forming apparatus includes an image supporting member; an exposure device for forming a static latent image on the image supporting member; a developing device for developing the static latent image formed on the image supporting member; an image control unit for controlling a condition for forming an image; and a density sensor for detecting a developer density. In the image forming apparatus, a first pattern for detecting the developer density is formed to determine whether the developer density is proper. When the developer density thus detected is greater than a threshold value, a second pattern for discarding developer is formed to discard the developer. A third pattern for density correction is formed to perform the density correction. | 02-12-2009 |
20090129802 | PRINTING SYSTEM, METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE PRINTING SYSTEM, AND STORAGE MEDIUM - A method for controlling a printing system adapted to perform an adjustment operation with an adjusting unit includes storing information indicating a timing for performing the adjustment operation in a storage unit, causing the adjusting unit to perform the adjustment operation based on the information indicating the timing for performing the adjustment operation stored in the storage unit, causing the adjusting unit to perform the adjustment operation at a timing different from the timing indicated by the information in response to a print interruption occurring in the printing system if a previous adjustment operation has not been performed within a predetermined period of time, and updating the information indicating the timing for performing the adjustment operation stored in the storage unit in response to the adjusting unit performing the adjustment operation to delay a timing for performing a next adjustment operation with the adjusting unit. | 05-21-2009 |
20090154947 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS INCLUDING CONTROLLER DRIVING IMAGE CARRIERS - An image forming apparatus of the present invention includes image carriers arranged side by side in a preselected direction, developing means each for forming a toner image on one of the image carriers, a drive mechanism for driving in the preselected direction a member to which toner images are to be sequentially transferred from the image carriers one above the other, and image transferring devices each for transferring a toner image from one of the image carriers to the above member. At east during an image forming process, a slip condition is substantially the same throughout all image transfer positions where the image carriers face the members. | 06-18-2009 |
20090232531 | DEVELOPING APPARATUS OF IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND SUPPLYING METHOD OF TONER - A developing unit that includes a stirring roller stirring a developer and a developing roller and develops an electrostatic latent image formed on an image carrier to form a toner image; a drive source that rotationally drives the developing roller and the stirring roller; and a control unit that switches a rotational speed of the developing roller in modes of an image formation mode and an adjustment mode, and rotationally controls the stirring roller at a first speed in the modes are provided. | 09-17-2009 |
20090232532 | DEVELOPING DEVICE, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, AND PROCESS CARTRIDGE - Provided is a developing device containing a two-component developer including a magnetic carrier and a toner; a developer bearing member containing a nonmagnetic developing sleeve configured to bear the two-component developer on a surface thereof while rotating; a magnetic field generating unit fixed inside of the nonmagnetic developing sleeve; and a developer amount control member configured to control an amount of the two-component developer borne on the developer bearing member. The magnetic carrier contains a core material and a coating layer coated on the core material, and the coating layer containing a binder resin and conductive particles. The magnetic carrier satisfy a ratio D/h of 1.00<[D/h]≦1.95, where D denotes an average primary particle diameter of the conductive fine particles, and h denotes a thickness of the coating layer, and a ratio Ra/D of 1.0<[Ra/D]≦10.0, where Ra denotes a surface roughness of the developing sleeve. | 09-17-2009 |
20090245832 | DEVELOPMENT CARTRIDGE, DEVELOPMENT UNIT, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A development cartridge includes: a developer carrier which carries toner; a toner supply member which supplies the toner to the developer carrier; a regulation member which regulates an amount of toner on the developer carrier; a development chamber which has the developer carrier and the toner supply member; a transport section which is connected to an upper portion and a lower portion of the development chamber to transport the toner from the lower portion of the development chamber to the upper portion of the development chamber; a transport member which is disposed inside the transport section and transports the toner while agitating the toner; an input member which inputs a print image; and a control member which controls a toner transport speed of the transport member in accordance with the print image. | 10-01-2009 |
20090257763 | DEVELOPMENT DEVICE - A development device is provided with: a development roller that rotates while carrying a two-component developer in a development tank accommodating the two-component developer; a tubular developer conveyance path having therein a conveyance mechanism that conveys the two-component developer in an axial direction of the development roller; a developer supply mouth for supplying the two-component developer to the developer conveyance path; a developer discharge mouth for discharging the two-component developer from the developer conveyance path; a supply mouth adjustment member that adjusts the area of the opening of the developer supply mouth; and a control unit that causes the supply mouth adjustment member to operate based on the fluidity of the two-component developer in the development tank. | 10-15-2009 |
20090269093 | ELECTROGRAPHIC PRINTING DEVICE COMPRISED OF AT LEAST ONE PRINTER WITH A PLURALITY OF DEVELOPER STATIONS - In an electrographic printing device a plurality of printing groups each have a respective plurality of developer stations. A plurality of toner reservoirs are each connected via a respective toner transport channel with one or more of the developer stations. Each of the toner reservoirs outside of the printing groups is stored in a respective toner transport unit. Each of the toner reservoirs is provided with a first circuit having a memory in which is stored at least a color filled into the respective toner reservoir. A respective second circuit with a memory is associated with each of the toner transport units. These memories have stored therein at least the respective toner color filled into the respective stored toner reservoir. A respective third circuit with a memory is provided for each developer station, the respective third circuit memory having stored therein at least a toner color filled into the respective developer station. | 10-29-2009 |
20090269094 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus include an image bearing member, a developing container receiving a developer, a developer carrying member for carrying and conveying the developer, a developer feed member for supplying the developer to the developer carrying member, a detection device for detecting an amount of developer in the developing container by detecting an electrostatic capacitance between the developer carrying member and the developer feed member, and a control device for changing a rotational speed of the developer feed member into a plurality of speeds corresponding to the plurality of image forming speeds. The control unit controls the rotational speed of the developer feed member prior to the execution of a detection operation of the detection device so as to be faster than the slowest speed of said plurality of speeds. | 10-29-2009 |
20090317105 | DEVELOPING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A developer is appropriately replenished at the desired toner concentration even with bare minimum stirring. A developer container ( | 12-24-2009 |
20090317106 | DEVELOPING DEVICE USING TWO-COMPONENT DEVELOPING AGENT AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS PROVIDED WITH SAME - A developing device capable of mixing and agitating toner and a developing agent efficiently and without applying unnecessary stress, efficiently adjusting the amount of charge on the developing agent without being affected by external disturbing conditions, and continuously supplying a developing agent having the appropriate toner concentration and amount of charge in just the necessary quantity. The amount of charge on the developing agent discharged from the developing unit is adjusted (reduced) by an ionized air flow, so that it is possible to improve the dispersability of the replenished toner, and quickly adjust the appropriate amount of charge without applying unnecessary stress. The developing agent that is raised from below upwards by a screw is moved downward by an agitation member, and again gathered in around the screw in a circulating flow. In this way, the developing agent within the whole developing agent agitation unit is uniformly mixed. This circulating flow of the developing agent increases the probability of contact, and decreases the amount of damage to the developing agent. When the amount of charge is reduced before agitation using the ionized air flow, the toner can be uniformly charged up to the appropriate value. | 12-24-2009 |
20090317107 | MULTIPLE-CHANNELED LAYER PRINTING BY ELECTROGRAPHY - Electrographic printing of one or more multi-channeled layers having a particular pattern by electrographic techniques. Such electrographic printing includes the steps of forming a desired print image, electrographically, on a receiver member utilizing predetermined sized marking particles; and, where desired, forming one or more final multi-channeled layers utilizing marking particles of a predetermined size or size distribution. | 12-24-2009 |
20100040391 | DEVELOPMENT DEVICE, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS INCLUDING THE SAME, AND METHOD OF REMOVING DEVELOPER THEREFROM - A development device includes a developer carrier facing an image carrier, a first developer transport path and a second developer transport path disposed vertically, a closably openable developer discharge port provided in the second developer transport path, a detector to detect whether the developer carrier carries the developer, a driving unit to drive the first and the second transporters, and a controller. The first developer transport path and the second developer transport path include a first transporter and a second transporter, respectively, to transport the developer in a longitudinal direction. The controller starts rotating the developer carrier and the first transporter and the second transporter in normal directions and opens the developer discharge port simultaneously. When a predetermined time period has elapsed after determining that no developer is carried on the developer carrier, the controller starts rotating the first transporter and the second transporter in reverse. | 02-18-2010 |
20100040392 | Method for Controlling the Distance Between the Photosensitive Member and the Developing Member in a Toner Cartridge, and the Device Thereof - The present invention discloses a method for controlling the distance between the photosensitive member and the developing member in a toner cartridge. In the present invention, the toner cartridge is provided with an elastic member for providing an elastic force to the developing member or to the photosensitive member, so as to force the developing member to move towards the photosensitive member, or to force the photosensitive member to move towards the developing member; the production accuracy requirement of the toner cartridge is reduced by the elasticity of the elastic member. The present invention further discloses a device for controlling the distance between the photosensitive member and the developing member in a toner cartridge. By using the method and the device thereof, the requirement of the manufacturing accuracy of a toner cartridge can be reduced, and the negative impact of the accuracy bias caused by the abrasion can be reduced, so, the product cost is saved, and the service life of the product is increased. | 02-18-2010 |
20100046971 | METHOD FOR CONTROLLING A DEVELOPMENT PROCESS IN DIFFERENT OPERATING PHASES - In a method to control a development process and an electrographic process, at least one developer station inks a latent image on a carrier with a toner. The toner is extracted from a mixture of toner and toner particles and wherein first toner is supplied to the mixture. A characteristic value is determined for a status of the mixture from a model calculation in which a toner exchange rate and an operating aging rate are linked. The development process is at least one of monitored, controlled, or regulated depending on the characteristic value. Also in a related method for controlling a development process, a characteristic value is determined for a status of the mixture from a model calculation in which a change of a toner consumption rate for the toner within a time interval during operation of the developer station and a time constant are taken into account. At least one of monitoring, controlling, or regulating the development process depends on the characteristic value. | 02-25-2010 |
20100054777 | ELECTROSTATOGRAPHIC PRINTING MACHINE - An electrostatographic printing machine has a liquid toner supply chain incorporating at least a toner supply device ( | 03-04-2010 |
20100054778 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - In a rotary-type image forming apparatus, rotation of a rotary is temporarily stopped at a position where a coupling member and a drive transmission member are engageable with each other, and a developing roller is set in a rotating state. Subsequently, the rotary is rotated so as to bring the developing roller into contact with a surface of a photosensitive drum. | 03-04-2010 |
20100054779 | DEVELOPING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A developing device for supplying a developer to an image bearing member is provided with a housing configured to define a passage for movement of the developer and a replenishment path configured to communicate with the passage and supply the developer to the passage; a conveyor configured to move the developer in the passage and the replenishment path; and a switching device configured to switch one moving direction to another moving direction of the developer by the conveyor to selectively move the developer toward the replenishment path. | 03-04-2010 |
20100067931 | DEVELOPING DEVICE - A developing device includes a developer tank configured to contain a developer including a toner and a carrier, the developer tank having a discharge port which is provided in a lateral side surface of the developer tank and configured to discharge the developer, a developing agent supplier configured to develop a latent image by using the toner contained in the developer tank, and a plate-shaped member configured to be formed in a direction of height from a lower end of the discharge port and partially cover the discharge port to regulate the discharge of the developer. | 03-18-2010 |
20100086322 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A supply control unit is configured to, in a successive image-forming operation, perform a process of successively generating a driving control pattern for a toner supply device based on image information of each page, and synthesizing an unused portion of the driving control pattern which is obtained by eliminating a portion of the driving control pattern already reflected on a driving control of the toner supply device from the driving control pattern generated based on image information of a previous page with a driving control pattern generated based on a subsequent page. | 04-08-2010 |
20100092194 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF - An image forming apparatus and a control method of the image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus includes a photosensitive medium, a charger to charge the photosensitive medium, an exposing unit to expose light to the photosensitive medium to form a latent image on the photosensitive medium, a developing unit which is disposed opposite to the photosensitive medium to develop the latent image into a visible image, a density sensing unit to sense a density of an area of the photosensitive medium, and a controller to determine whether a preset developing condition corresponds to a background image generating condition based on the density sensed by the density sensing unit and to adjust the developing condition based on the determination. | 04-15-2010 |
20100092195 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier, a rotary-type developing device and a development control device. The developing device includes a rotation holding member and plural developing units mounted on the rotation holding member. The rotation holding member is configured to stop rotating so that any of the developing units stops in a developing position. The development control device includes a receiving unit, a first determination unit, a first drive control unit and a second drive control unit. The receiving unit receives an image formation instruction relating to a series of image formation processes. The first determination unit determines as to whether or not the series of image formation processes are completed. When the first determination unit makes the determination, the second derive control unit returns the developing unit, which is finally located in the developing position in the image formation processes, to an initial waiting position. | 04-15-2010 |
20100098447 | DEVELOPING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - The image forming apparatus includes a developing chamber an agitating chamber, a first conveying screw which is arranged in the developing chamber and coveys developer from one end to the other end of the first chamber, a second conveying screw which is arranged in the agitating chamber and conveys developer from one end to the other end of the second chamber, a developing sleeve which bears developer supplied from the developing chamber and conveys the developer to the agitating chamber via a developing area opposed to a photosensitive drum, motors, which drive the developing sleeve, the first conveying screw and the second conveying screw, and a controller which controls drive of the developing sleeve and the second conveying screw so that trigger timing of drive stopping of at least the second conveying screw is to be later than trigger timing of drive stopping of the developing sleeve. | 04-22-2010 |
20100124427 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus is provided that reduces the occurrence of downtime in the case in which the interval between sheets needs to be expanded, and also suppresses the degradation of a photosensitive drum and a developing roller, when continuously forming images. The image forming apparatus of the present invention predicts the start timing of image formation onto the next printing material, and performs control of the positional relationship between the photosensitive drum and the developing roller without decreasing productivity, based on a result of the prediction. Further, the image forming apparatus performs control of the rotating operation of the photosensitive drum, based on the above prediction result. | 05-20-2010 |
20100129099 | Image Forming Apparatus, Toner Cartridge, and Computer-Readable Medium - An image forming apparatus includes: a cartridge attachment portion; an image forming unit; a reading unit; and a control unit. A toner cartridge configured to accommodate toner is removably attached to the cartridge attachment portion. The toner cartridge includes a cartridge mechanism unit mechanically driven and a storage medium for storing torque information including information indicating torque used for a mechanical drive of the cartridge mechanism unit. The image forming unit is configured to print an image on a surface of a printing medium using toner accommodated in the toner cartridge. The reading unit is configured to read the torque information from the toner cartridge attached to the cartridge attachment portion. The control unit is configured to determine a number of printing media to be printed by the image forming unit per unit time, according to the torque information read by the reading unit. | 05-27-2010 |
20100129100 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus controls a sheet to be conveyed to a fixing unit with a first conveyance speed in case a charged amount of a recording agent in a developing unit is larger than a predetermined charged amount, and controls the sheet to be conveyed to the fixing unit with a second conveyance speed, which is slower than the first conveyance speed, when the charged amount of the recording agent in the developing unit is smaller than the predetermined charged amount. | 05-27-2010 |
20100129101 | PROCESS CARTRIDGE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A process cartridge is detachably mountable to a main assembly of an image forming apparatus and includes an image bearing member, a developing device having a developer carrier, a transmitter transmitting a driving force received from the main assembly to the developer carrier, a charger movable toward and away from the image bearing member, for charging the image bearing member while contacting the image bearing member, a spacer, detachably mountable relative to the cartridge, for holding the charger at a position away from the image bearing member when the spacer is mounted and for permitting the charger to charge the image bearing member when the spacer is dismounted, and a drive controller for disengaging the driving connection between the transmitter and the developer carrier when the spacer is mounted, and for establishing the driving connection between the transmitter and the developer carrying member when the spacer is dismounted. | 05-27-2010 |
20100150592 | METHOD OF IMPROVING DEVELOPED FLAT FIELD UNIFORMITY - Flat field uniformity can be improved in images produced by an image development system having a development roller interposed between a supply of developer and an imaging element. A raw feed of developer is supplied from the developer supply to the development roller to produce both a metered feed of developer and an overfeed of developer, which is returned to the supply, from the raw feed. A plurality of mass densities of developer used in the system and a plurality of developer velocities through the system are determined, and respective product values of those developer mass densities and those developer velocities are thereafter calculated or otherwise determined. A maximum value of the respective product values is identified, and the image development system is then operated so that the maximum product value is produced. | 06-17-2010 |
20100166445 | TONER ADHESION AMOUNT MEASURING APPARATUS, AND TONER ADHESION AMOUNT MEASURING METHOD - An apparatus includes an irradiation unit configured to irradiate a light onto a toner image, a detection unit configured to detect reflected light from the toner image, and a deriving unit configured to derive a toner adhesion amount of the toner image, based on detection result by the detection unit in measurement range of integer multiple of screen pitch of the toner image. | 07-01-2010 |
20100189454 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes first and second image forming portions. The first and second image forming portions forms a toner image. The second image forming portion forms a toner image so that the toner image is superimposed on the toner image formed by the first image forming portion. The second image forming portion includes an image bearing member, a cleaning member that removes transfer residual toner existing on the image bearing member at an abutting position, and a supply unit that supplies abrasive particles or toner to the abutting position. The image forming apparatus includes a controller that controls the amount of toners or abrasive particles, which are supplied by the supply unit, in accordance with the amount of toner used in the first and second image forming portions. | 07-29-2010 |
20100189455 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF - An image forming apparatus and a control method thereof provides that when circulation of developer in a housing of a developing unit is deteriorated due to concentration of the developer, thus applying increased load to an agitator, the agitator is appropriately rotated forwardly and backwardly under the control of a controller. This may prevent overloading of the agitator and release the concentrated developer. | 07-29-2010 |
20100196030 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes first and second developer carrying members and a control device. The apparatus is operable in a first mode where an image of a single color is formed using the first developer carrying member and is operable in a second mode, wherein an image of a plurality of colors is formed using the first and second developer carrying members. The control device controls a first discharging operation for discharging developer from the first developer carrying member and a second discharging operation for discharging developer from each of the first and second developer carrying members. When the apparatus executes only the first mode, the control device performs more image formations, in a period between completion of the second discharging operation and start of the first discharging operation, compared to a period between completion of the first discharging operation and start of a subsequent first discharging operation. | 08-05-2010 |
20100209127 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND CONTROLLING METHOD - The disclosed image forming apparatus includes a rotatable image holding body configured to hold an electrostatic latent image on a surface of the image holding body, a developing device including a forward rotation developing roller rotatable in a same rotational direction as that of the rotatable image holding body and a reverse rotation developing roller rotatable in a reverse rotational direction to that of the rotatable image holding body, which supply a two-component developer to the surface of the image holding body to form a toner image corresponding to the electrostatic latent image, and a control unit configured to control rotation of the image holding body, the forward rotation developing roller, and the reverse rotation developing roller to supply the two-component developer. The control unit controls the rotation of the image holding body to start after a predetermined time period from starting the rotation of the forward rotation developing roller and the reverse rotation developing roller. | 08-19-2010 |
20100221028 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a cartridge detachably mountable to a main assembly thereof. The cartridge includes a developer carrying member for carrying a developer to develop with the developer a latent image formed on an image bearing member, an conductive member contactable to the carrying member, a developing chamber for holding the carrying member and the conductive member, a developer accommodating chamber for accommodating the developer, and a seal member for sealing an opening for permitting communication between the developing chamber and the developer accommodating chamber. The apparatus further includes a seal member removing device for removing the seal member, and a control device. The control device executes control for concurrently performing seal member removal and drive of the carrying member in a state in which the cartridge is mounted to the main assembly of the apparatus and then sends a detection signal relating to failure in removal of the seal member when a potential difference is provided between the carrying member and said conductive member during the execution of the control and then a value of current passing between the carrying member and the conductive member is not a threshold or less in a time from start of the control. | 09-02-2010 |
20100226673 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member for bearing an electrostatic latent image; a charger for electrically charging the image bearing member by contact of electroconductive magnetic particles carried on a magnetic particle carrying member with the image bearing member; a developing device for developing the electrostatic latent image into a toner image by supplying toner to the electrostatic latent image; a layer thickness detecting device for detecting a thickness of a surface layer of the image bearing member; a supplying device for supplying the magnetic particles to the magnetic particle carrying member with predetermined timing; and a control device for controlling a supply amount of the magnetic particles so that the supply amount of the magnetic particles supplied by the supplying device increases with an increase of an amount of change in thickness, in terms of an absolute value, of the surface layer obtained from a detection result of the layer thickness detecting device. | 09-09-2010 |
20100239289 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - In an image forming apparatus of a rotary type, when a pause is made during continuous image formation, the time taken to restart image formation after the pause is shortened so as to reduce stress on the user. In the image forming apparatus, it is determined beforehand whether the next image formation mode is a color mode or a mono mode, and a developing device to be first used in the next image formation mode is moved to a developing standby position. | 09-23-2010 |
20100239290 | TONER AGITATING STEPPING MOTOR CONTROL UNIT, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND STEPPING MOTOR CONTROL METHOD - A control unit is provided with an excitation current output section for outputting an excitation current to a stepping motor, a first level judging section for judging a drive stop time level indicating the duration of a time during which the stepping motor is not driven, a storage storing a plurality of starting torque values required to start driving the stepping motor and a plurality of drive stop time levels while relating them to each other, and a controller for obtaining the starting torque value corresponding to the drive stop time level judged by the first level judging section by referring to the storage, calculating an excitation current value which gives the obtained starting torque value and outputting an excitation current having the calculated excitation current value. | 09-23-2010 |
20100247127 | Developer Supply Device - A developer supply device, comprising a casing having: a developer reservoir at a bottom part of the casing; a developer amount adjustment chamber provided close to a side of the developer reservoir to communicate with a top portion of the developer reservoir; and a communication part through which the top portion of the developer reservoir and the developer amount adjustment chamber communicate with each other, and further comprising: a carrying substrate having electrodes arranged along a developer transport path to carry a developer through a traveling electric field, each of the electrodes having a longer side extending in a width direction of the developer reservoir, and a developer providing unit to provide the developer into the developer reservoir, and wherein the carrying substrate comprises an upper carrying substrate on an inner wall of the casing on an opposite side of the communication part to carry the developer upward. | 09-30-2010 |
20100247128 | POWER SOURCE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A power source includes a charging voltage generation unit configured to generate a charging voltage to charge an image bearing member, a developing voltage generation unit configured to generate a developing voltage to develop an electrostatic latent image formed on the image bearing member, a control unit configured to control an output from the developing voltage generation unit, and a correction unit configured to correct an operation of the control unit based on an output from the charging voltage generation unit. | 09-30-2010 |
20100254724 | DEVELOPING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A developing device includes a developer container that contains a two-component developer including a carrier and a toner attached to the carrier through a frictional electrification. The developing device also includes a developing roller that supplies the two-component developer from the developer container to an image carrier. Further, the developing device includes a first developer supplying unit, and a second developer supplying unit that is aligned with the first developer supplying unit and located more distant from the developing roller than the first developer supplying unit is from the developing roller. The first developer supplying unit and the second developer supplying unit circularly convey the two-component developer while stirring the two-component developer to supply the two-component developer to the developing roller. An absolute rotation speed of the second developer supplying unit is changeable without a change in a rotation speed of the developing roller. | 10-07-2010 |
20100303491 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, IMAGE FORMING SYSTEM, AND PROGRAM - An image forming apparatus determines whether an amount of colorant remaining in a container is equal to or greater than a threshold value and controls a print unit to perform a reduced printing operation with a reduced amount of colorant if the amount of the remaining colorant is less than the threshold value is made and to perform the reduced printing operation on one side of a new non-printed sheet instead of performing the reduced printing operation on the opposite side of a one-side printed sheet existing if the amount of the remaining colorant is less than the threshold value. | 12-02-2010 |
20110020022 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus has an image bearing member that moves at a specified speed; a toner pattern forming section for forming toner patterns of a specified type on the image bearing member under specified image forming conditions; a toner pattern detection member for detecting the toner patterns formed on the image bearing member; a toner amount varying section for varying a target amount of toner to adhere to the toner patterns; and a control section that calculates a toner adherence amount and a toner adherence position from detection results outputted from the toner pattern detection member and that performs image stabilization control to adjust the image forming conditions based on the calculation results. In the image stabilization control, the control section uses detection results of the same toner patterns both to calculate the toner adherence amount and to calculate the toner adherence position. | 01-27-2011 |
20110026958 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS CAPABLE OF SUPPRESSING TONER AGGREGATION - An image forming apparatus includes a controller that starts a forced drive stop sequence for stopping image formation at least by stopping rotation of a developer carrier in a first direction when a number of printed sheets reach a threshold. The forced drive stop sequence rotates the developer carrier in a second direction for a prescribed time period when the image formation is stopped. The forced drive stop sequence stops the rotation of the developer carrier in the second direction and resumes the image formation after the prescribed time has elapsed. | 02-03-2011 |
20110026959 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND AGITATION CONTROLLING METHOD - According to one embodiment, an image forming apparatus includes: a developing device configured to store, on the inside, a developer containing a toner and a carrier and discharge a part of the stored developer; a supply unit configured to supply the developer to the developing device; a mixer arranged in the developing device and configured to rotate at first rotating speed or second rotating speed lower than the first rotating speed and agitate the developer; a number-of-sheets-information acquiring unit configured to acquire number-of-sheets information, which is information indicating a number of sheets output by execution of image output processing; a determining unit configured to determine, on the basis of the number-of-sheets information acquired by the number-of-sheets-information acquiring unit, whether the number of output sheets reaches a predetermined threshold; and an agitation control unit configured to switch, if the determining unit determines that the number of output sheets reaches the threshold, rotating speed of the mixer executed at the first rotating speed to the second rotating speed. | 02-03-2011 |
20110052233 | DEVELOPMENT APPARATUS - In a development apparatus including conveying screws which circulates and conveys developer in a developer container as being rotated, a developing sleeve which bears and conveys developer in the developer container as being rotated, and a restriction blade which restricts developer quantity at the developing sleeve, the developer container includes a supply chamber to supply developer to the developing sleeve and a retrieval chamber to retrieve developer from the developing sleeve, and rotation speed of the conveying screws or rotation speed of the developing sleeve is changed so that Vsc/Vsl during image forming is not performed is to be smaller than that during image forming is performed, as Vsc denotes the rotation speed of the conveying screws and Vsl denotes the rotation speed of the developing sleeve. | 03-03-2011 |
20110091228 | DEVELOPING DEVICE, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, AND IMAGE FORMING STRUCTURE - A developing device includes: a developing device main body that a developer chamber containing a developer is formed; a pressure application area forming unit that is provided in the developer chamber so as to form a pressure application area where pressure is applied to the developer in the developer chamber because of movement of the developer contained in the developer chamber; and a pressure regulating unit that regulates the pressure applied to the developer in the pressure application area in response to temperature of the developer in the pressure application area. | 04-21-2011 |
20110129246 | HIGH VOLTAGE POWER CONTROLLING APPARATUS OF IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND METHOD THEREOF - A high voltage power controlling apparatus of an image forming apparatus including a DC (direct current) power controller to convert and output a first PWM (pulse width modulation) signal provided from an engine controller into a switching waveform signal, a first voltage transformer to transform the switching waveform signal output from the DC power controller, a rectifier to rectify output power transformed by the first voltage transformer into DC power, first through N(where N is a positive integer greater than one) DC supplies to adjust and output the DC power rectified by the rectifier such that the DC power is adjusted to a predetermined level, first through N AC (alternating current) power controllers to convert and output a second PWM signal provided from the engine controller into switching waveform signals, and second through N+1 voltage transformer to transform the switching waveform signals output from the first through N AC power controllers, to overlap the transformed powers with the DC powers having predetermined levels of the first through N DC supplies, and to output the overlapped powers to first through N developers, respectively. | 06-02-2011 |
20110135331 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - Provided is an image forming apparatus that can achieve a stable image quality from a leading-end side to a trailing-end side of an image when printing a high-density image on a transfer medium, regardless of the length of the transfer medium or the condition of the image forming apparatus. | 06-09-2011 |
20110135332 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, IMAGE INFORMATION GENERATION METHOD, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM - When a toner image including an edge area (Ae) corresponding to an area defined between edges of a transfer material (P), and an internal area (Ai) corresponding to an area inside the edge area (Ae) is formed on an image bearing member ( | 06-09-2011 |
20110142465 | DEVELOPING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a developing chamber, an agitating chamber, a first conveying screw which is arranged in the developing chamber and conveys developer toward the agitating chamber, a second conveying screw which is arranged in the agitating chamber and conveys developer toward the developing chamber, a developing sleeve which bears developer supplied from the developing chamber and conveys the developer to the agitating chamber via a developing position opposed to a photosensitive drum, and a motor, which drives the developing sleeve, the first conveying screw and the second conveying screw, wherein stop timing of the developing sleeve is earlier than stop timing of the second conveying screw in accordance with image forming completion. | 06-16-2011 |
20110150512 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus to which a cleaning unit is detachably mountable to a main assembly of the apparatus includes a rotatable image bearing drum on which an electrostatic latent image is formed; a developing unit for developing the latent image into a toner image by supplying toner onto a surface of the drum; a cleaning unit including a cleaning blade for cleaning the drum by contacting to the surface of the image bearing member when the drum is rotating; a storing portion for storing information relates to a use amount of the developing unit; and a control device capable of executing toner supply into between the surface of the drum and the cleaning blade by supplying the toner to the surface of the drum from the developing unit in a period in which image formation on a sheet material is not executed, wherein when the toner supply is executed, the control device increases the amount of the toner to the surface of the drum from the developing unit with increase of the use amount of the developing unit on the basis of the information stored in the storing portion. | 06-23-2011 |
20110158669 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - The present invention prevents a toner bottle from being erroneously determined to be empty and allows toner to be reliably refilled into a hopper and thus a developing unit in an image forming apparatus including the developing unit configured to develop an electrostatic latent image formed on an image carrier, using toner. | 06-30-2011 |
20110170888 | DEVELOPING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING DEVICE - There is provided a developer container, which is divided into a first containing part and a second containing part that are communicated with each other at communication parts on the opposite end sides, which has a discharge port at the second containing part, and in which a developer is contained; a developer carrying member that carries the developer within the developer container to adhere it to the image carrying member; a first conveyance member that conveys the developer in the first containing part of the developer container while agitating it; a second conveyance member that conveys the developer in the second containing part of the developer container while agitating it, and supplies the developer to the developer carrying member; a third conveyance member that is arranged between the second conveyance member and the discharge port; a first driving member that rotary-drives the first conveyance member and the second conveyance member; and a second driving member that drives the third driving member so that its rotation direction can be changed. | 07-14-2011 |
20110182604 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, IMAGE DENSITY CONTROL METHOD, CONTROL PROGRAM AND RECORDING MEDIUM - An image forming apparatus includes: a developing unit forming a toner image on a photoreceptor drum; a photo sensor detecting the image density of the toner image; an operation unit calculating a relational equation between the measurement detected by the photo sensor and the development potential; a storage unit storing the relational equation; and a control unit setting up a corrected development potential to obtain a target image density for the developing unit, based on the image density of toner image patches. When high-density correction is performed, the control unit forms a multiple number of toner image patches on the photoreceptor drum based on the corrected development potential that was obtained at the time of the previous high-density correction, and sets up a corrected development potential for obtaining the target image density, based on the multiple image densities of the multiple toner image patches. | 07-28-2011 |
20110194866 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, IMAGE INFORMATION GENERATION METHOD, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM - The image forming apparatus includes an image forming section that forms a non-margin image by forming, on an image bearing member, a toner image including an edge portion area (Ae) and an internal area (Ai), transferring the toner image formed on the image bearing member to the transfer material. On the toner image corresponding to the edge portion area, which is formed on the image bearing member, toner amount increase processing is performed, the toner amount increase processing including toner amount gradual increase processing of gradually increasing intensity of the toner amount increase processing from the inner side of the edge portion area toward an outer side thereof. The image forming section forms, on the image bearing member, the toner image subjected to the toner amount increase processing. Accordingly, fixing performance during non-margin printing is enhanced and a high-quality image is formed. | 08-11-2011 |
20110206400 | ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHIC APPARATUS - The present disclosure provides toners having a tunable gloss level, electrophotographic apparatuses for using such toners as well as processes for making such toners. | 08-25-2011 |
20110211854 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING METHOD USED IN THE APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes: a plurality of image forming units each with an image carrier on which an electrostatic latent image is formed, and each with a developing member for developing process on the electrostatic latent image, wherein the image forming apparatus superimposes toner images of the respective colors to form a composite color image; when images on a plurality of pages are formed, the developing members of the respective colors are started or stopped in response to presence or absence of latent images of the respective colors on a page that is targeted for image formation; and when the image forming unit starts to be driven, a developing member, corresponding to a color whose latent image is not to be formed on a first page of the plurality of pages, is not started. | 09-01-2011 |
20110222884 | DEPOSITED TONER MEASURING APPARATUS, IMAGE FORMATION APPARATUS, AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING IMAGE FORMATION APPARATUS - Provided is a deposited-toner measuring apparatus capable of accurate detection of the amount of toner deposited on the toner carrying member, and an image forming apparatus equipped with the aforementioned measuring apparatus and capable of controlling the amount of toner deposited on the toner carrying member to a desired level so as to provide stable image quality at all times. A deposited-toner measuring apparatus that removes a toner layer in a part of the surface of the toner carrying member, detects change in the capacitance at the portion with a toner layer and the portion without such a toner layer, and detects the amount of the deposited toner based on the detection result of the said change in the capacitance. | 09-15-2011 |
20110229173 | Image forming apparatus and image forming method - An image forming apparatus includes: an image forming unit that includes a developing unit with a developing roller to form an image using toner; a controller; and a detection unit that detects a plurality of toner patches formed at different densities on an image carrier by the image forming unit. The controller controls the image forming unit to form the toner patches on the image carrier so that each interval between the toner patches is equal to or greater than a length corresponding to a circumference length of the developing roller. | 09-22-2011 |
20110229174 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus, which has a plurality of image forming units, comprises a plurality of cartridges adapted to supply developer; a plurality of supply members adapted to supply developer to the image forming units from a plurality of the cartridges; a drive unit adapted to drive a plurality of the supply members; and a control unit adapted to supply developer from a plurality of the cartridges by selectively operating a plurality of the supply members based on the amount of developer accommodated in the cartridges. | 09-22-2011 |
20110268463 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND CLEANING METHOD - An image forming apparatus includes: an image holder on which a toner image is formed; a developing device which is filled with a toner including a lubricant, and forms the toner image by making the toner adhere to the image holder; a torque calculation section which calculates torque of a drive motor which drives the image holder; a cleaning section which cleans the image holder; and a control section which calculates a print rate of the toner image formed on the image holder, makes determination of an adhering lubricant amount of the lubricant adhering to the image holder based on the print rate and the torque, and changes a toner image of a toner forcibly-discharging-pattern according to the determination. | 11-03-2011 |
20110280606 | DYNAMIC DONOR LOADING CONTROL FOR DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM - A method and apparatus transfer a material from first roller within a container to at least one second roller, and transfer the material from the second roller to at least one third roller. The second roller and the third roller form a loading nip at a location where the second roller is closest to the third roller. The method and apparatus transfer the material from the third roller to at least one recipient device, and measure current flow between the second roller and the third roller using a measurement device. Then, the method alters the relative rotation rate difference between the first roller and the second roller based on the current flow to maintain a predetermined density of the material at the loading nip using a controller. | 11-17-2011 |
20110293305 | Development method, method of manufacturing photomask, method of manufacturing semiconductor device and development device - A development method according to an embodiment includes exposing a photosensitive film formed on a substrate at a predetermined exposure amount, carrying out a first development process that develops the exposed photosensitive film at a predetermined first development condition so as to leave the photosensitive film, obtaining a sensitivity information of the photosensitive film from a film thickness reduction of the photosensitive film developed by the first development process and the exposure amount, predicting pattern dimensions of multiple types of patterns to be formed when a second development process is carried out following the first development process from the sensitivity information, and determining a first acceptable range of a development condition in the second development process, determining a second acceptable range of the development condition in the second development process from the first acceptable range and a variation amount of the pattern dimension after the development process between the multiple types of patterns and determining a second development condition in the second development process so as to satisfy both of the first and second acceptable ranges. | 12-01-2011 |
20120002993 | REDUCING BACKGROUND DEVELOPMENT IN ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTER - Background development in a multi-color electrophotographic printer is reduced. A print job including a plurality of separations is received. Each separation has an image area and a non-image area. A printer is provided, including a development member for supplying toner to a photoreceptor for each separation. A developing and a non-developing zone are determined for each separation, corresponding to the image area and non-image area, respectively. Developer is automatically supplied to the development members, and automatically removed developer from the respective non-developing zone of each development member. | 01-05-2012 |
20120008969 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND TONER CHARGE AMOUNT ADJUSTMENT METHOD OF THE IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a developer containing part, a developer mixer, a mixer drive motor, a magnetic sleeve, a sleeve drive motor, a mixer rotation speed determination part and a motor drive controller. The developer containing part contains a two-component developer including a toner and a carrier. The developer mixer is provided in the developer containing part, agitates the two-component developer, and charges the toner and the carrier. The mixer rotation speed determination part determines the mixer rotation speed of the mixer drive motor according to a supply amount of the toner supplied to the developer containing part from a toner cartridge by driving of a toner supply motor. The motor drive controller independently performs rotation control of the sleeve drive motor and the mixer drive motor, and rotates and controls the mixer drive motor at the mixer rotation speed determined by the mixer rotation speed determination part. | 01-12-2012 |
20120033985 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus is provided that reduces the occurrence of downtime in the case in which the interval between sheets needs to be expanded, and also suppresses the degradation of a photosensitive drum and a developing roller, when continuously forming images. The image forming apparatus of the present invention predicts the start timing of image formation onto the next printing material, and performs control of the positional relationship between the photosensitive drum and the developing roller without decreasing productivity, based on a result of the prediction. Further, the image forming apparatus performs control of the rotating operation of the photosensitive drum, based on the above prediction result. | 02-09-2012 |
20120045235 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member to bear a latent image on a surface thereof, a developing unit to develop the latent image on the image bearing member with toner, a driving unit to drive the developing device, a storage unit to store a cumulative travel distance of the developing roller at predetermined timing, a total travel distance of the developing unit, and control conditions for the developing unit, a controller to obtain a difference between the total travel distance of the developing roller and the cumulative travel distance up to a predetermined point in time in image forming operation and to instruct intermittent printing in which continuous printing is limited to a certain number of pages in a predetermined time period when the difference is equal to or greater than a threshold travel distance, and an operation unit in which the control conditions are set. | 02-23-2012 |
20120045236 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING SYSTEM - An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member; a developing device for accommodating a transport toner and a carrier; a transferring device for transferring a transparent toner image from the image bearing member onto a surface of a recording material; a heating device for heating the transparent toner image; a switching portion for switching between a first mode in which the transparent toner image is transferred onto the surface of the recording material having a fixed non-transparent toner image and a second mode having an unfixed non-transparent toner image or having no image; and a controller for controlling the developing device so that transfer of the carrier during the first mode is more suppressed than in the second mode. | 02-23-2012 |
20120057890 | Development device and image forming apparatus incorporating same - A development device includes a development portion, to develop a latent image formed on a latent image carrier with developer, disposed close to the latent image carrier; a developer agitation container to agitate the developer, provided separately from the development portion; a transport system connecting the development portion and the developer agitation container, through which the developer is transported from the developer agitation container to the development portion by air; and a developer retainer to temporarily retain the developer, disposed downstream from the transport system, to which the developer remaining in the transport system escapes. | 03-08-2012 |
20120070169 | DEVELOPING APPARATUS - A developing apparatus including a developing container for containing developer, the developing container having an opening portion, a developer carrying member for carrying the developer at the opening portion, a detecting member for detecting a developer amount, the detecting member detecting a capacitance between the developer carrying member and the detecting member, and a force receiving portion for receiving a force and moving the developing container between a first position in which a developing operation is performed by the developer carrying member and a second position in which the developing operation is not performed, wherein the capacitance can be detected in the second position, and the detecting member is a rotatable developer supplying member for supplying the developer to the developer carrying member, the developer supplying member including a foam layer in which the developer can enter. | 03-22-2012 |
20120082471 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, IMAGE FORMING METHOD AND A COMPUTER-READABLE MEDIUM HAVING COMPUTER-EXECUTABLE INSTRUCTIONS - According to one embodiment, an image forming apparatus includes an image forming part to form an image with one of a color unerasable developer and a color erasable developer, and a control part to automatically select the color erasable developer when test printing is selected. | 04-05-2012 |
20120087684 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, TONER AMOUNT CALCULATION METHOD, AND STORAGE MEDIUM - An apparatus and method for calculating toner amount including receiving print setting information, performing image processing on print data based on the print setting information received by the reception unit to form an image, calculating a print data feature quantity of the print data based on the formed image, and calculating a toner amount in a case where the print setting information is changed based on difference information between the print setting information before it is changed and after it is changed, and the calculated print data feature quantity based on the image formed by the image formation unit using the print setting information before it is changed. | 04-12-2012 |
20120087685 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member for carrying a developed image; a developer carrying member for carrying a developer to be supplied to the image bearing member; a cleaning blade for removing the developer from the image bearing member; a control device for executing, at predetermined timing during a non-image-formation period, sequence controls for moving a developer from the sleeve to the drum and removing a developer moved to the drum by the cleaning blade; and a removing device capable of removing the developer in a position before developer moved to the image bearing member by the cleaning blade, wherein the sequence controls includes a first sequence control and a second sequence control, and wherein an amount of the developer removed by the cleaning blade is controlled such that the amount is smaller in the first sequence control than in the second sequence control. | 04-12-2012 |
20120093530 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes: a development member carrying developer for forming a toner image on an image carrier; a cleaning member in contact with the development member for removing the developer left on the development member; a carrying member provided in contact with the development member, for carrying the supplied developer to the development member; a driving part driving at least one of the carrying member and the development member; and a regulating mechanism for separating the cleaning member and the development member from each other. The driving part causes preliminary rotation of the development member and the carrying member with the cleaning member separated from the development member, before starting main rotation for image formation. | 04-19-2012 |
20120099879 | LARGE PARTICLE TONER PRINTER - Printers are provided for printing using large particle toner. One printer has a printer controller causing a first imaging module to form first toner image using a first toner particle having a first charge-to-mass ratio and a median volume weighted diameter between 3 um and 9 um and having a first charge-to-mass ratio and, a second imaging module to form a second toner image using second toner particles having a median volume weighted diameter that is greater than 20 um and a charge-to-mass ratio that is between ⅓ to ½ of the first charge to mass ratio of the first toner times the ratio of the median volume weighted diameter of the first toner to the median volume weighted diameter of the second toner. The first toner image is transferred to a receiver using a first electrostatic field and the second toner image is transferred using a second electrostatic field. | 04-26-2012 |
20120114348 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A control unit decreases the potential difference according to an increase in the drive amounts of the image bearing member and the developer bearing member, based on a first information about a drive amount of the image bearing member and second information about a drive amount of the developer bearing member, in a case that an integrated value of the first information and the second information from initial installation or replacement of the developing device is greater than a predetermined value. | 05-10-2012 |
20120114349 | Developing Device And Image Forming Apparatus - In a disclosed developing device, a developing part includes a developer carrier for circulating a developer inside the developing part and for supplying the developer to an image carrier, a developer supply member for supplying the developer to the developer carrier, and a developer collection member for collecting the developer which is not used. A developer stirring part is arranged at a different position from a position of the developing part. A developer conveyance part carries the developer by an air conveyance in a developer conveyance path from the developer stirring part to the developing part. A developer detection part includes an opening which communicates between the developer supply member and the developer collection member, is arranged at a downstream side in a flow direction of the developer below and near the developer supply member, and detects whether the developer exists in a vicinity of the developer supply member. | 05-10-2012 |
20120121281 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus, which has a plurality of image forming units, comprises a plurality of cartridges adapted to supply developer; a plurality of supply members adapted to supply developer to the image forming units from a plurality of the cartridges; a drive unit adapted to drive a plurality of the supply members; and a control unit adapted to supply developer from a plurality of the cartridges by selectively operating a plurality of the supply members based on the amount of developer accommodated in the cartridges. | 05-17-2012 |
20120134695 | RELEASE LAYER - At least a portion of an intermediate transfer member ( | 05-31-2012 |
20120148278 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a toner supply member which is in contact with the toner carrier and is provided within the container, has a foam layer on its surface, rotates in a predetermined direction for image formation and supplies the toner to the toner carrier and has a contact area with the toner carrier with an uppermost stream position in the predetermined direction of the contact area being higher than a lowermost stream position and has a period when the toner supply member rotates in the opposite direction of the predetermined direction to increase the toner amount contained in the foam layer. | 06-14-2012 |
20120155900 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member, a developer bearing member, a conveying member circulating and conveying a developer, an executing portion which can make the image forming apparatus execute a first mode in which image formation is performed at a first image forming speed and a second mode in which image formation is performed at a second image forming speed lower than the first image forming speed, and a controlling portion which, in case that a mode is switched between the first mode and the second mode, gradually changes a target drive speed of the conveying member so that the drive speed of the conveying member is gradually changed from the drive speed of the conveying member in the mode before switching to the drive speed in a steady state in the mode after switching. | 06-21-2012 |
20120163845 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus that includes a latent image carrier, a latent image forming unit, a developing unit, a toner supplier, a toner concentration detector, a prediction calculator, and a toner supply controller. The toner supplier includes a single driving source and supplies toner to a two-component developer at a predetermined supply position by driving a toner supply member with the driving source. The toner concentration detector detects a toner concentration in the developer at a predetermined detection position located upstream of the supply position. The prediction calculator predicts changes in the toner concentration in the developer over time at a prediction position located at the supply position or downstream of the supply position and upstream of a developer feed position to the developer carrier when toner is not supplied. The toner supply controller adjusts an amount of the toner supplied based on the prediction. | 06-28-2012 |
20120195611 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a developing device, a detection mode execution unit, and a notice signal generating unit. The developing device supplies a toner bearing member with toner in a container by rotating a toner supply member in a contact manner with the toner bearing member. The detection mode execution unit executes a detection mode in which a predetermined period for changing a toner amount in the foam layer by rotating the toner supply member is provided, a capacitance C | 08-02-2012 |
20120195612 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - There is provided an image forming apparatus that accurately obtains the dynamic characteristic of the apparatus when a foreign substance is adhered to a driving roller for driving an endless belt, such as a facing roller. To accomplish this, the image forming apparatus uses an optical sensor to detect information of a foreign substance on the facing roller. When it is determined that there is no foreign substance information, the image forming apparatus executes profile detection of an intermediate transfer belt using the nominal circumference of the facing roller. When the optical sensor detects foreign substance information, the image forming apparatus measures the circumference of the facing roller, and performs profile detection of the intermediate transfer belt using the measured circumference of the facing roller. | 08-02-2012 |
20120207499 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR REDUCING RELOAD IMAGE QUALITY DEFECTS - An image forming apparatus includes a sensor that detects a property of a developer material, a transport unit that contacts the developer material and moves the developer material toward a recording medium, and a controller that receives the data regarding the property of the developer material from the sensor unit and sets both a voltage and a velocity of the transport unit, wherein the voltage and the velocity is determined based on data regarding the detected property of the developer material received from the sensor. | 08-16-2012 |
20120251143 | DUAL TONER PRINTING WITH CHARGE AREA DEVELOPMENT - Methods for printing are provided. In one aspect a primary imaging member having a pattern of engine pixel locations with image modulated differences of potential and with first toner having a first toner difference of potential is moved to a second development station. A second development difference of potential of the first polarity at the second development station forms a second net development difference of the second development difference of potential less any image modulated difference of potential at the individual engine pixel location and less any difference of potential relative to ground of any first toner at the individual engine pixel location. The second development difference of potential is greater than the first development difference of potential so that second toner that is different from the first toner is developed onto the first toner using the second net development difference of potential. | 10-04-2012 |
20120251144 | DUAL TONER PRINTING WITH DISCHARGE AREA DEVELOPMENT - Methods for printing are provided. In one aspect a primary imaging member having a pattern of engine pixel locations with image modulated differences of potential and with first toner having a first toner difference of potential is moved to a second development station. A second development difference of potential of the first polarity at the second development station forms a second net development difference of the second development difference of potential less any image modulated difference of potential at the individual engine pixel location and less any difference of potential relative to ground of any first toner at the individual engine pixel location. The second development difference of potential is greater than the first development difference of potential so that second toner that is different from the first toner, is developed onto the first toner using the second net development difference of potential. | 10-04-2012 |
20120251145 | RATIO MODULATED PRINTING WITH CHARGE AREA DEVELOPMENT - Methods for printing are provided. In one aspect, the method includes providing a primary imaging member having engine pixel locations with a ratio modulated difference of potentials, establishing a first development difference of potential to form a first net development difference of potential between the first development difference of potential and the engine pixel location and providing a first charged toner such that the second toner develops at the engine pixel location. Establishing a second development difference of potential that is greater than the first difference of potential proximate the engine pixel location such that a determined amount of first toner develops at the engine pixel locations according to a second net development difference of potential. Wherein the range of second toner potentials is such that a determined range of ratios of second toner amounts and the determined first toner amount provide ratio modulated differences of potential. | 10-04-2012 |
20120269528 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A rotational speed of an image bearing member on a downstream side is controlled so as to reduce a detection time difference between a leading end section of first electrostatic latent image indexes of an image bearing member and a leading end section of second electrostatic latent image indexes of a transfer medium in an area of a leading end margin preceding an effective image area. | 10-25-2012 |
20120301165 | METERING APPARATUS FOR ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTER - A metering skive for a dry electrophotographic (EP) printer is mounted on a retractable skive mount. The skive mount is spring-loaded to a mounting block, and a stop pin sets the distance between the skive mount and the mounting block. A movable spacer with a plurality of laterally-separated regions of respective, different thicknesses is mounted between the head of the stop pin and the mounting block. A retractor can be operated to pull the skive mount towards the mounting block so the spacer can be moved to select a desired spacing between the mounting block and the skive mount, and thus a desired gap between the metering skive and the toning member in the printer. | 11-29-2012 |
20120308247 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member; developing devices, each of which includes a developer carrying member, having an electrode member, for carrying a developer, and a developer feeding member, having a core metal and a surface foam layer, for supplying the developer to the developer carrying member; a supporting member, supporting the developing devices, for sequentially rotating the developing devices to a developing position; and a controller for executing an operation for reducing non-uniform distributions of the developers in the developing devices on the basis of electrostatic capacities between the electrode members and the core metals, respectively. | 12-06-2012 |
20130058670 | IMAGE DEVELOPING DEVICE, PROCESS CARTRIDGE INCLUDING IMAGE DEVELOPING DEVICE, AND IMAGE FORMING DEVICE INCLUDING IMAGE DEVELOPING DEVICE - An image developing device includes a developer supporting body; a first conveyance path in which a first conveyance member is arranged; a second conveyance path in which a second conveyance member is arranged; and a partition member that partitions the first conveyance path and the second conveyance path and that has a first communication port and a second communication port. The first communication path and the second communication path communicates with each other through the first communication port and the second communication port. The image developing device includes a developer amount detection unit that includes an optical detection unit arranged in the second conveyance path and that optically detects an amount of the developer in the image forming device. The developer is caused to accumulate in the vicinity of the developer amount detection unit. | 03-07-2013 |
20130089346 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING METHOD - This invention is to provide a technique of always obtaining a stable output image in image formation using toner. A supplier ( | 04-11-2013 |
20130142529 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD OF IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus has an image carrying member on a surface of which a latent image is formed, a developing roller to develop the latent image on the surface of the image carrying member by providing a developer to the latent image, a smoother, an applying roller to apply the smoother to the surface of the image carrying member, and a controller to determine whether the image forming apparatus is in a waiting mode wherein the image carrying member is moved and is ready for a subsequent image forming operation. The controller controls a rotation and a stop of the rotation of the developing roller when the controller determines that the image forming apparatus is in the waiting mode. | 06-06-2013 |
20130148992 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus capable of forming an image at a plurality of image forming speeds, includes: an image bearing member; a developer carrying member; a developer feeding member, having a foam layer at its surface, for feeding the developer to the developer carrying member by being rotated at a speed corresponding to each of the image forming speeds in contact with the developer carrying member; and a controller for rotating, before development, the developer feeding member for a predetermined time corresponding to the image forming speed. The controller extends the predetermined time when an image forming mode is switched from a first mode in which image formation is effected at a first image forming speed to a second mode in which the image formation is effected at a second image forming speed slower than the first image forming speed. | 06-13-2013 |
20130156453 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND METHOD - In an image forming apparatus, a control circuit rotationally drives a development roller at a predetermined rotation speed during a development process, in which the development roller has depression portions and land portions on a circumferential surface. The depression portions and the land portions are oblique grooves in the surface. While the development roller is rotationally driven, the control circuit controls the predetermined rotation speed such that a crossing angle approximates 90°. The crossing angle is formed by a screen line in the electrostatic latent image on the circumferential surface of the latent image support and an area where the land portion of the development roller substantially passes over the circumferential surface of the latent image support. | 06-20-2013 |
20130164008 | IMAGE FORMING METHOD - According to one embodiment, a developing device in which a decolorizable developing agent containing encapsulated colorant microparticles each including a core containing a color developable compound, a color developer, and a decolorizing agent is accommodated and a developing device in which a transparent developing agent containing a binder resin is accommodated are provided, respectively, and an image is formed by transferring a transparent developing agent image onto a region capable of covering a decolorizable developing agent image, followed by fusing the image. Further, in the second image formation and thereafter, the using amount of the transparent developing agent is decreased as compared with that in the first image formation. | 06-27-2013 |
20130164009 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - Image forming apparatus is disclosed. The developing portion is replenished with toner from a toner containing body by operating a toner feeding mechanism. The receiving portion receives a designation of switching to a low speed i.e. switching the rotation speed of the motor from the first speed to the second speed lower than the first speed. The measuring portion measures a value of a counter electromotive voltage generated in the motor by causing the motor to operate the toner feeding mechanism. The motor control portion causes the motor to rotate at the first speed until an absolute value of the value measured by the measuring portion is not larger than a predetermined first value, and causes the motor to rotate at the second speed after an absolute value of the measured value is smaller than the first value, in the case where the switching to a low speed is designated. | 06-27-2013 |
20130183052 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes: an image bearing member; a developer carrying member; a first chamber for permitting feeding of the developer to the developer carrying member; a second chamber for forming a circulation path of the developer at end portions thereof, wherein the second chamber collects the developer from the developer carrying member at an opposing position; a screw member for feeding the developer contained in the first and second chambers; a supplying portion for supplying a developer; a discharging portion, provided in the circulation path, for causing an excessive developer to overflow; and a controller for controlling, on the basis of information on a first drive time from a start of rotation of the screw member to an end of a developing operation, a second drive time from the end of the developing operation to a stop of the rotation of the screw member. | 07-18-2013 |
20130195484 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier that carries an electrostatic latent image; a developer supplying unit that supplies developer by being driven at a predetermined speed; a developing unit that develops the electrostatic latent image, while a transporting member transports the developer, a transport speed of the transporting member being switched to a plurality of speeds; a determining unit that determines whether or not an operation where a supply capacity of the developer supplying unit is greater than a transport capacity of the developing unit exceeds a predetermined threshold value and is continued; and a controller that performs control so that, when the determining unit determines that the operation exceeds the predetermined threshold value and is continued, an operation that was being executed immediately prior to the determination is stopped to forcefully drive the transporting member of the developing unit for a predetermined driving time. | 08-01-2013 |
20130195485 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a rotatable belt; a cleaning blade contacted to the belt; image forming stations including a first station and a second station for forming first and second adjustment toner images, respectively, on the belt, the second station being disposed downstreammost position, and the first station being disposed upstream of the second station and downstream of the cleaning blade with respect to a rotational direction of the belt; a detector for detecting the first image and the second image, at a position opposing the belt; a changing portion for changing image forming conditions of the stations on the basis of a result of detection of the detector, a controller for controlling the stations such that in a region between adjacent ones of the same images in a continuous image formations, the second image reaches the blade before the first image reaches the blade. | 08-01-2013 |
20130216250 | DEVELOPMENT DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS INCORPORATING SAME - A development device includes a developer bearer to carry by rotation developer to a development range facing a latent image bearer, and a developer regulator to adjust an amount of developer transported to the development range by the developer bearer. Multiple projections are formed in a surface of the developer bearer, and the developer bearer rotates in a reverse direction to a direction of rotation for image development while image development is not performed. The developer regulator includes a blade having a first end held by a regulator holder and a second end that contacts the multiple projections formed in the surface of the developer bearer and is disposed in a direction counter to the direction of rotation of the developer bearer for image development. | 08-22-2013 |
20130216251 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus has a first voltage application section for applying a first bias to a magnetic roller, a second voltage application section for applying a second bias to a developing roller, and a controller for controlling the voltages of the first and second voltage application sections and the driving/rotating of the magnetic roller and the developing roller. When no image formation is taking place, the controller can execute a toner collection mode in which, with the first and second biases set at the same potential and the second bias set lower than the voltage applied to an image carrying member, the magnetic roller is rotated in the direction reverse to that in which it is rotated during image formation. | 08-22-2013 |
20130223861 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a photosensitive drum; a first sleeve for carrying a developer containing toner and a carrier having a volume resistivity lower than that of the toner and for developing an image on the drum by rubbing the drum with the developer; a second sleeve for carrying the developer received from the first sleeve and for developing the image by rubbing the drum with the developer carried on the second sleeve; a voltage source for applying a developing bias voltage including a DC voltage component and an AC voltage component to the first sleeve and second sleeve; and a driving device for rotating the first sleeve at a peripheral speed higher than the drum and for rotating the second sleeve at a peripheral speed which is higher than the drum and which is lower than the first sleeve. | 08-29-2013 |
20130223862 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes: an image bearing member for bearing an electrostatic latent image; a developing device including a container for accommodating the developer, a developer carrying member for carrying the developer and for developing the electrostatic latent image with the developer, a developer supplying member for supplying the developer to the developer carrying member, and a stirring member for stirring the developer and for feeding the developer to the developer supplying member; and a controller for controlling, before image formation, a stirring operation by the stirring member on the basis of information on electrostatic capacity between the developer carrying member and the developer supplying member. | 08-29-2013 |
20130236201 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a toner forced consumption control unit that performs toner forced consumption control in which toner in a developing unit is forcibly consumed when a certain condition to perform the toner forced consumption control is met. The certain condition to perform the toner forced consumption control includes a specific performance condition that a transfer bias switching condition to switch a transfer bias to a superimposed transfer bias in which an alternating current component is superimposed on a direct current component, from a direct current transfer bias is met. When the specific performance condition is met, the toner forced consumption control unit performs preliminary toner forced consumption control in which the toner forced consumption control is performed before an image forming operation using the superimposed transfer bias is started. | 09-12-2013 |
20130279929 | INFERRING TONER CONTAMINATION OF ELECTRODES FROM PRINTING PARAMETERS - A computer implemented method of cleaning electrodes (such as wires) is used in a toner-based electrostatic printing device. The electrodes produce an environment containing charged toner particles to assist in electrostatic printing. The method automatically monitors at least two printing parameters that are unrelated to signals and voltages provided to the electrodes (using a processor of the electrostatic printing device). Further, this method also uses the processor automatically infers a toner contamination of the electrodes from the printing parameters. This allows the processor to automatically adjust the printing the used by the electrostatic printing device during electrostatic printing to maintain the contamination of the electrodes below a threshold. | 10-24-2013 |
20130302053 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus of a representative configuration of the present invention includes a photosensitive drum, which carries an electrostatic latent image, and a developing sleeve, which carries a two-component developer and develops the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum into a toner image. Moving directions of the photosensitive drum and the developing sleeve are opposite at an opposing portion in a developing device having a speed changing portion, which changes the driving speed of the developing sleeve, and a controller, which switches a target speed of the developing sleeve so that it is driven at a second velocity, before it is driven at the first velocity set in a lower speed mode, when the lower speed mode is executed in which the photosensitive drum is driven at a lower speed than in the normal image forming. | 11-14-2013 |
20140010561 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus configured to form an image on a recording medium, includes a developer container configured to store developer, an image bearing member configured to be rotated and on which a latent image is formed, a developer bearing member configured to bear developer and to be rotated to develop the latent image, an agitation member configured to be rotated to agitate the developer stored in the developer container, and a control unit configured to control the rotations of the image bearing member, the developer bearing member, and the agitation member so as to rotate the agitation member while the image bearing member is not rotated. | 01-09-2014 |
20140064759 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a controller and an imaging unit having a developing device to develop a latent image on a surface of a latent image carrier with toner. When control target value of control parameters that influence a developing ability of the imaging unit becomes inappropriate, the controller performs target value correction processing of correcting the control target value to bring the control target value close to an appropriate value for stabilizing a development density of the imaging unit. In the target value correction processing, the controller corrects a control target value of a second control parameter having a response speed, obtained when the developing ability is changed by the correction, faster than a first control parameter, correct the control target value of the first control parameter, and then turn the control target value of the second control parameter back to the original value. | 03-06-2014 |
20140147141 | DEVELOPING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS INCLUDING THE SAME - A developing device includes a transporting unit that rotates while facing an image carrier that carries an electrostatic latent image, the transporting unit transporting developer toward the image carrier; a feeding unit that contacts the transporting unit to feed the developer to the transporting unit; a transport path that connects a containing chamber that contains the developer to a feeding chamber that houses the feeding unit; a supplying unit that retains the developer to be supplied in the transport path and supplies the developer to the feeding unit in a supply region that is separated from a contact region in which the feeding unit contacts the transporting unit; and an attaching unit that is disposed downstream of the contact region and upstream of the supply region in a rotation direction of the feeding unit and that attaches the developer to the feeding unit at a location below the contact region. | 05-29-2014 |
20140147142 | DEVELOPING DEVICE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS USING THE SAME - There is provided a developing device including a toner holding member that is rotatably provided to face an image holding member and holds and transports a nonmagnetic single-component toner toward a development region to develop an electrostatic latent image on the image holding member, a supplying member that is rotatably provided in elastic contact with the toner holding member to supply the toner from a contact region therebetween to the toner holding member, a toner replenishing unit that faces a replenishment region at a portion apart from the contact region to replenish a new toner, and a regulating member that is provided on a downstream side of the contact region in a rotation direction thereof and on an upstream side of the development region to triboelectrically charge the toner held on the toner holding member and regulate the amount of toner provided for the development. | 05-29-2014 |
20140147143 | DEVELOPING DEVICE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS USING THE SAME - A developing device includes a transporting unit that rotates while being opposed to an image holding member and that transports a developer toward the image holding member to develop the electrostatic latent image on the image holding member, a supplying unit that has the developer adhered onto a circumferential surface thereof being rotated and that supplies the developer to the transporting unit in contact with the transporting unit, and a replenishing unit that includes a transporting path connected between a containing chamber and supplying chamber, that keeps the developer, with which the supplying unit is replenished, remaining, and that replenishes the supplying unit with the developer, wherein the replenishing unit is provided with an opening on a developing chamber side of the transporting path facing the supplying unit, and includes a downstream side counter member, and wherein the downstream side counter member has a regulating surface with a gap. | 05-29-2014 |
20140147144 | DEVELOPING DEVICE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS USING THE SAME - A developing device includes a toner holding member that is rotatably installed opposite to an image holding member which holds a latent image and circularly moves, a supply member that has a rough surface capable of capturing toner, a toner supply portion that supplies new toner, and a restriction member that restricts an amount of toner used for development, wherein the toner supply portion connects an accommodation chamber to a developing chamber via a toner transport path, wherein a developing chamber side opening is located on a lower side of an accommodation chamber side opening of the toner transport path, and wherein a width size in a direction following a rotation direction of the supply member in the developing chamber side opening of the toner transport path is set to be smaller than an outer diameter of the supply member in a projection plane viewed from the supply member side. | 05-29-2014 |
20140153944 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - In an image forming apparatus that is provided with a developing unit to develop an electrostatic latent image formed on an image carrier as a toner image, the developing unit is provided with a developer reservoir that is disposed between a supplying roller to feed developer agitated by an agitating member into the developer reservoir and a developing roller to cause the developer in the developer reservoir to adhere onto the latent image on the image carrier so as to be developed as the toner image. A control section controls driving of the supplying roller, independently from driving of the agitating member. | 06-05-2014 |
20140255053 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a first image forming part that forms a first developer image representing an image by using a first developer; and a second image forming part that forms a second developer image serving as a base or covering of the first developer image by using a second developer. In a case where the first developer image and the second developer image are superimposed and formed on an image-formed body by the first image forming part and the second image forming part, amount of the first developer that is used to form the first developer image is increased as compared to a case where the first developer image is formed on the image-formed body by the first image forming part without being superimposed with the second developer image. | 09-11-2014 |
20140334836 | IMAGE FORMING DEVICE - An image forming device includes an image carrying member that is rotatable, a development unit that develops an image on the image carrying member, a transfer unit that transfers a developed toner image from the image carrying member to a transferred member, a cleaning unit making contact with the surface of the image carrying member, a lubricant application unit that applies a lubricant to the surface of the image carrying member; and a switching control unit that switches a development condition of the development unit between a first mode in which the lubricant applied to the surface of the image carrying member is unlikely to be moved to the development unit and a second mode other than the first mode. The development condition is set at the first mode at a time of no image formation such that the lubricant is applied to the image carrying member. | 11-13-2014 |
20140369704 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS WITH DEVELOPING UNIT SEPARABLE FROM PHOTOSENSITIVE MEMBER - An image forming apparatus includes: a scanning unit configured to scan a photosensitive member with light; a developing unit configured to develop a latent image; a driving unit configured to cause the developing unit to come into contact with the photosensitive member or to be separated from the photosensitive member; and a control unit configured to let the scanning unit perform a preparation operation, in order for the scanning unit to form the latent image. The developing unit is separated from the photosensitive member while the preparation operation of the scanning unit is performed, and the control unit is configured to start, before the preparation operation of the scanning unit is completed, controlling the driving unit to bring the separated developing unit into contact with the photosensitive member. | 12-18-2014 |
20150010317 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - According to one embodiment, an image forming apparatus includes an image forming portion configured to selectively form a toner image on an image bearing member using a developing device including a decolorizable toner or a developing device including an undecolorizable toner, a transfer portion configured to transfer the toner image, which is formed on the image bearing member, onto a transfer material, and a fixing portion configured to fix the toner image, which is transferred by the transfer portion, on the transfer material. The undecolorizable toner has at least a fixing temperature range in a range equal to or higher than a fixing temperature lower limit of the decolorizable toner and lower than decoloring temperature of the decolorizable toner. | 01-08-2015 |
20150043932 | CONTAINER AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - The present application discloses a container including: a housing including a primary portion for storing developer, and a secondary portion, which projects from the primary portion and is connected to a developing device; a conveying mechanism which conveys the developer in the primary portion to the secondary portion; and a detector which detects a state of the developer. The primary portion includes a facing wall which is situated at a boundary between the primary and secondary portions so that the facing wall faces a flow of the developer moving toward the secondary portion. The developer includes a flowing portion under the conveyance to the secondary portion by the conveying mechanism, and an adhering portion defined by an adhering layer made of developer adhered to the facing wall. The detector detects a decrease of the flowing portion and a decrease of the adhering portion individually. | 02-12-2015 |
20150071664 | WET-TYPE IMAGE FORMATION APPARATUS - In the present wet-type image formation apparatus, when setting a standard image formation condition, a control unit adjusts both a conveyance amount of toner and a charge amount of the toner in order to obtain a predetermined developing characteristic. During normal image formation, the control unit obtains the image density of a patch image formed at a high contrast potential and the image density of a patch image formed at a low contrast potential, adjusts the conveyance amount of the toner when the image density of the patch image formed at the high contrast potential is varied from the developing characteristic for the standard image formation condition, and adjusts the charge amount of the toner when the image density of the patch image formed at the low contrast potential is varied from the developing characteristic for the standard image formation condition. | 03-12-2015 |
20150110509 | DETECTION DEVICE, DEVELOPING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A detection device configured to detect a charge amount of toner on a developer carrier, comprises: an assembly including a quartz oscillator and having a first surface and a second surface that are provided in the quartz oscillator, the first surface having a recess and a projection formed in a direction in which the quartz oscillator vibrates; a capacitor connected to the assembly; a first measurement unit configured to measure a potential difference between two ends of the capacitor; and a second measurement unit configured to measure a frequency of the quartz oscillator, wherein in a case where an alternating-current power is applied to the assembly, the direction in which the quartz oscillator vibrates is parallel to the first surface. | 04-23-2015 |
20150309440 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - Provided is an image forming apparatus that includes a first image forming section configured to form an auxiliary layer, a second image forming section configured to form an image layer, and a controller. The first and the second image forming sections each include an image supporting member configured to support a latent image on a surface thereof and a developer supporting member configured to support, on a surface thereof, a developer. The controller is configured to control the first and the second image forming sections to allow a first velocity and a second velocity to be different from each other. The first velocity is a traveling velocity of the surface of the developer supporting member in the first image forming section, and the second velocity is a traveling velocity of the surface of the developer supporting member in the second image forming section. | 10-29-2015 |
20150331357 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE SAME - An image forming apparatus includes: an image bearing member on which a toner image is formed; an image forming section configured to form the toner image by attaching toner mixed with lubricant to the image bearing member, and transfer the toner image formed on the image bearing member to a sheet; a computing section configured to compute a time average value of a coverage of the toner image transferred to the sheet by the image forming section for each of a plurality of different time periods; and a control section configured to control the image forming section to form a toner image of a pattern for forcible toner ejection on the image bearing member in accordance with a result of computing of the computing section. | 11-19-2015 |
20150331358 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IMPLEMENTING ADVANCED TONER DISPENSING AND EMPTYING OF TONER CARTRIDGE COMPONENTS IN IMAGE FORMING DEVICES - A system and method are provided for operating an image forming device in a first processor-controlled toner control operating mode to maintain a substantially constant dispense rate of toner material from a toner source or bottle. The disclosed systems and methods improve toner material dispensing from the toner source or bottle in the image forming device by transitioning to a second processor-controlled toner control operating mode as an amount of toner material in the toner source or bottle is determined to be in a depleted, or nearly-exhausted, state. The disclosed systems and methods compensate for a determined decrease in a toner dispense rate occurring as an amount of toner material remaining in the toner source or bottle is nearly depleted. One or more toner control parameters, including a pixel count gain, are modified in the second processor-controlled toner control operating mode. | 11-19-2015 |
20150346667 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMATION METHOD HAVING TONER SAVING MODE - Provided is an image forming apparatus that can fully reduce toner consumption. The image forming apparatus includes a memory part and a toner saving processing part. The memory part memorizes a toner saving table having a toner saving mode, a toner remaining threshold, a printing permission language, a language changing permission, and a changed classification. The toner saving processing part selects, when a specific fixed form document is printed according to a setup of the toner saving table memorized in the memory part, a language allowable to print with a least dot number for a specific fixed form document from a plurality of set languages. The toner saving processing part has a first saving mode that selects the language for each page when remaining toner amount is within a first range. | 12-03-2015 |
20150355569 | ROTATIONAL POSITION DETECTION DEVICE, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, AND NON-TRANSITORY COMPUTER READABLE MEDIUM STORING ROTATIONAL POSITION DETECTION PROGRAM - Provided is a rotational position detection device including a position detection unit that is provided in a motor for driving a developing roll developing a latent image, detects a rotational position of the motor by using magnetism, and outputs a rotational position signal for each rotational position determined in advance, and a generation unit that generates a reference signal indicating a reference position of rotation of the developing roll using the rotational position signal, based on a transmission ratio of a transmission mechanism that transmits driving of the motor to the developing roll. | 12-10-2015 |
20150362885 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - Fluctuations in chargeability in an initial state are expected to be small. If a charging member is new, an image forming apparatus performs a supply operation for supplying a developer or a lubricant prior to an image forming operation in such a manner that the developer or the lubricant adheres to a surface of the charging member. | 12-17-2015 |
20150370206 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING METHOD - An image forming apparatus includes a photoconductor to form an electrostatic latent image, a special color developing device to develop the latent image with a special color toner other than standard color toners to form a special color toner image, an adhesion amount adjuster to adjust a special color toner adhesion amount by changing an application bias between the photoconductor and a developing sleeve of the special color developing device, a setting unit to set brightness of the special color toner, and a developing-performance adjuster to adjust a developing performance of the special color developing device according to a setting value of the brightness set by the setting unit. The developing-performance adjuster adjusts the developing performance of the special color developing device to a developing performance different from a developing performance set to each of standard color developing devices in adjustment of densities of the standard color toners. | 12-24-2015 |
20160041497 | MAGNETIC PERMEABILITY DETECTOR, DEVELOPING DEVICE, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, AND OSCILLATION SIGNAL FREQUENCY CALCULATION METHOD THEREFOR - A magnetic permeability detector includes an LC oscillator circuit including a coil and a capacitor; and a resistor connected in series with the coil. | 02-11-2016 |
20160070200 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes: an image bearing member; a developer carrying member for carrying developer; a cartridge detachably mountable to a main assembly of the image forming apparatus, the cartridge includes a cleaning means for removing the developer remaining on the developer carrying member after a developer image is transferred onto a transfer material, a developer buffering portion for accommodating the developer removed by the cleaning portion, and a feeding member driven for feeding the developer from the developer buffering portion to a developer container provided in the main assembly; a storing portion for storing cartridge operation information; and a controller for controlling the feeding member to stop drive of the feeding member on the basis of the cartridge operation information stored in the storing portion. | 03-10-2016 |
20160091851 | Image Forming Apparatus That Reduces Variation of Count of Printable Sheets per Toner Container, Image Forming Method, and Recording Medium - An image forming apparatus includes a print mode setting circuit, an average printing amount identifying circuit, a parameter setting circuit, and an image processing circuit. The print mode setting circuit sets to normal print mode or ecological print mode whose toner usage is less than a toner usage of the normal print mode. The average printing amount identifying circuit identifies an average printing rate in a predetermined count of printed sheets or an average amount of toner consumption per sheet. The parameter setting circuit decreases a printing rate parameter value in the ecological print mode based on a ratio of a predetermined reference value to the identified average printing rate or the identified average amount of toner consumption. The image processing circuit multiplies tone values of a print image by the printing rate parameter value in the ecological print mode to reduce a printing rate of the print image. | 03-31-2016 |
20160109839 | METHOD FOR PRINTING COLORED AND WHITE TONER USING A DEVICE LINK PROFILE - A method for printing on a receiver with a plurality of colored dry inks including dry black ink and a dry white ink, the method includes the steps of providing a set of multidimensional look-up tables for transforming a set of color channel inputs to a set of colored channel outputs; inputting a set of color values to the multidimensional look-up table, which values corresponds to a color rendition at each pixel location of the receiver; wherein the multidimensional look-up table outputs a new set of laydown values corresponding to the input channels and a white laydown at each pixel location; and printing the laydown values at each pixel location with the plurality of colored dry inks and dry white ink. | 04-21-2016 |
20160116877 | Image Forming Apparatus, Control Method and Storage Medium - An image forming apparatus including a control device configured to predict, before printing a print job, whether or not a temperature of developer carried on a developing roller during the printing of the print job, in which the developing roller is rotated at a predetermined rotational speed, becomes equal to or higher than a first predetermined value by using a temperature detected by a temperature detector, rotate the developing roller at the predetermined rotational speed in a case where the predicted temperature does not become equal to or higher than the first predetermined value, and rotate the developing roller at a low speed lower than the predetermined rotational speed from a start to an end of the printing of the print job in a case where the predicted temperature becomes equal to or higher than the first predetermined value. | 04-28-2016 |
20160124342 | DRIVING APPARATUS, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, METHOD OF DRIVING CONTROL AND PROGRAM - There is provided a driving apparatus comprising: a driving unit configured to rotate a driving shaft; a speed setting unit for setting a rotational speed of the driving shaft; a driving shaft joint connected with the driving shaft to rotate with the driving shaft for transmitting driving-force to a driven apparatus, the driving shaft joint being fitted into a driven shaft joint connected with the driven apparatus that is made detachable; a rotational position detection unit configured to detect a predetermined rotational position of the driving shaft joint; and a driving control unit configured to control the driving unit; wherein upon the driven apparatus being detached, the driving control unit controls the driving unit to stop the rotating driving shaft based on a detection result of the rotational position detection unit after the speed setting unit sets the rotational speed of the driving shaft to be a first rotational speed. | 05-05-2016 |
20160124367 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus that includes an imaging device, a transferrer, a rotator, a rotation position sensor, an adhesion amount sensor, a power supply, and a controller. The controller executes a construction process to construct output pattern data to change a voltage output from the power supply, according to a result obtained by detecting a toner adhesion amount of a toner image for density unevenness detection and a detection result from the rotation position sensor obtained when the toner image is formed, and an output change process to execute a predetermined process while changing the voltage according to the detection result and the output pattern data. The controller executes a determination process to determine propriety of an output range of the voltage output from the power supply by the output change process and a data process for a shift to shift the range when a determination result is inappropriate. | 05-05-2016 |
20160124369 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a photosensitive member, an exposure device, and a developing device. A sensor detects a toner image formed by the developing device to output density information, and a supply device supplies developer to the developing device. In addition, a controller controls the supply device on the basis of a detection result of a supply control toner image formed by the exposure device, a storing portion stores the detection result, and an exchange detecting portion detects information for discriminating exchange of the photosensitive member and the developing device. When the developing device is not exchanged but the photosensitive member is exchanged, the controller executes an operation in a mode in which the controller adjusts an exposure condition for forming the supply control toner image by the exposure device after exchange of the photosensitive member. | 05-05-2016 |
20160147173 | DEVELOPING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - When rotation speed of second rotator is greater than or equal to a threshold previously determined, first control portion causes first generation portion to generate a first potential difference that enables toner in a predetermined amount to be transferred from first rotator to second rotator, and causes second generation portion to generate a second potential difference that enables the toner in the predetermined amount to be transferred from second rotator to a electrostatic latent image. When the rotation speed is less than the threshold, second control portion causes first generation portion to generate a third potential difference that enables the toner in an amount exceeding the predetermined amount to be transferred from first rotator to second rotator, and causes second generation portion to generate a fourth potential difference that enables the toner in the predetermined amount to be transferred from second rotator to the electrostatic latent image. | 05-26-2016 |
20160154355 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS EMPLOYING TECHNIQUE THAT REDUCES AMOUNT OF COLORING MATERIAL CONSUMED | 06-02-2016 |
20160161883 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - Provided is an image forming apparatus including an image bearing member, a developing device, a bias applying portion, a driving portion, a transfer device, and a controller. In a case where the length of the recording material is a second length larger than a first length, the controller controls the speed ratio of the driving speed of the developer bearing member to the image bearing member to be a second speed ratio larger than a first speed ratio and controls the residual developer amount born per unit area of the developer bearing member after the developing of the electrostatic image becomes a second developer amount larger than a first developer amount. | 06-09-2016 |
20180024487 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR CONTROLLING TONER DEVELOPMENT IN AN IMAGE FORMING DEVICE | 01-25-2018 |