Entries |
Document | Title | Date |
20080205918 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - With respect to principal papers distributed in the market and used in an image forming apparatus, a boundary between grammage ranges is set at the center of a section where neighboring grammage values of paper has a large difference, and an image is formed under optimum image forming conditions in accordance with the determined grammage range. | 08-28-2008 |
20080219685 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING METHOD - An image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention includes a storing unit configured to store an identification code of an image recording medium and an image forming condition in association with each other, a setting unit configured to set the identification code, and an image forming unit configured to form an image on the basis of the image forming condition associated with the identification code set by the setting unit. | 09-11-2008 |
20080226314 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF - An image forming apparatus of the invention conveys paper fed by a paper feeding mechanism piece by piece to a paper discharging unit through a paper conveying path. An image forming unit is arranged in a midway portion of this paper conveying path and executes an image forming process for printing an image based on image data on paper being conveyed. A sensor that detects a type of the paper conveyed is arranged on an upstream side with respect to the image forming unit on the paper conveying path. Image forming process conditions for the image forming unit are set in accordance with a detection result of the sensor. When the paper fed to the paper conveying path is paper not detected by the sensor, the image forming process is started awaiting a detection result by the sensor. On the other hand, when the paper is detected by the sensor, the image forming process is started without awaiting paper type detection. Moreover, paper being conveyed is conveyed to the image forming unit, in which the image forming process is started, in synchronization with a printing operation of the image forming unit. | 09-18-2008 |
20080226315 | FUSER UNIT AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS EQUIPPED WITH THE SAME - A fuser unit for an image forming apparatus including: a tape-like cleaning member that abuts on a fuser roller and cleans its peripheral surface; a press roller that presses the fuser roller via the cleaning member; a feed roller that feeds said cleaning member; a wind roller that winds the cleaning member therearound; and a controller that actuates a fixing function before an image formation, stops it after said image formation, and rotates and stops the wind roller and/or the feed roller to control a winding quantity of the cleaning member, wherein said controller calculates a toner image amount based on the prescribed number of pages by tracking from a page on which an image is formed just before the image formation is completed, and determines whether or not said cleaning member is wound around the wind roller during a non-fixing period based on the calculated toner image amount. | 09-18-2008 |
20080232834 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus having a short warm-up time desired by a user, wherein a quick output section is provided, and when a quick output mode is set by the quick output section, warm-up completion temperature is set to be low, and thereby, warm-up time is made to be short. | 09-25-2008 |
20080232835 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, IMAGE FORMING METHOD, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT - An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit that forms an image on a sheet of recording medium, a sheet feed tray selecting unit, a medium size selecting unit that selects a first medium size, a medium type selecting unit that selects a medium type. A determining unit determines operation of the image forming unit based on a search result of a first sheet feed tray corresponding to the first medium size selected by the medium size selecting unit, a search result of a second sheet feed tray corresponding to the medium type selected by the medium type selecting unit, a selected tray selected by the sheet feed tray selecting unit, and resetting values specified for the operation of the image forming unit. | 09-25-2008 |
20080240750 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, AND UNIT REMOVABLY INSTALLED IN AN IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a controller which sets fixing conditions in a fixing unit in accordance with the type of printing medium sensed by a sensor. An intermediate transfer member and sensor are configured as an intermediate transfer member unit. The intermediate transfer member unit is removably installed in the main body of the image forming apparatus. The intermediate transfer member unit has a storage unit which stores information used to determine the type printing medium by the sensor. | 10-02-2008 |
20080240751 | Image Forming System and Computer Readable Medium Therefor - An image forming system includes an information terminal device configured to edit image formation data with application software, an image forming device configured to form an image on a recording medium based on the image formation data edited by the information terminal device, a first detecting unit configured to detect size information of the recording medium, a registration unit configured to register the size information detected by the first detecting unit as setting information, and a reflecting unit configured to reflect desired one of setting information registered by the registration unit on the application software with which the information terminal device can edit the image formation data so as to conform to the size information. | 10-02-2008 |
20080240752 | Image-Forming Device - An image-forming device includes an image bearing member, a data providing unit, an image-forming unit, a detecting unit, a first calculating unit, a determining unit, and a second calculating unit. The image bearing member has a surface moving at a surface speed. The data providing unit provides pattern data indicative of a target test pattern to be formed on a target position of the surface in response to a test instruction. The image-forming unit forms an actual test pattern on an actual position of the surface in accordance with the pattern data provided from the data providing unit, and configure to form an image in response to an image-forming instruction. The detecting unit detects the actual position. The first calculating unit calculates a deviation of the actual position from the target position. The determining unit performs a first determination of whether the surface speed when the data providing unit receives the test instruction is stable or unstable. The second calculating unit calculates a correction amount based on the deviation and the first determination. The image-forming unit forms, in response to the image-forming instruction, an image on a position of the surface. The position is corrected based on the correction amount. | 10-02-2008 |
20080240753 | IMAGE RECORDING DEVICE AND IMAGE RECORDING METHOD - An image recording device includes a first detecting unit, a recording unit, and a control unit. The first detecting unit detects a position of a perforation pre-formed in a recording sheet. The recording unit records an image on the recording sheet based on printing data. The control unit is configured to imaginarily divide the recording sheet into a first region including a portion where the perforation is pre-formed, and a second region excluding the first region based on the position of the perforation detected by the first detecting unit. The control unit prohibits the recording unit from recording the image on the first region and controls the recording unit to record the image at least partially on the second region. | 10-02-2008 |
20080253782 | PAPER TYPE DETERMINATION DEVICE - A paper type determination device of the invention drives plural light emitting points different from one another and having sequentially increasing distances from a reference point to emit light in such a manner that each is identified for irradiating one surface of a sheet of paper subjected to determination. A photodetection device set at a specific detection field of view having the center at the reference point is disposed on the other surface side of the sheet of paper, and it receives light having passed through the sheet of paper from the respective light emitting points at positions on inside and outside of the detection field of view to detect intensity of light for each light emitting point. A diffusing characteristic of the sheet of paper is obtained on the basis of the intensity of light from each light emitting point detected by the photodetection device, and a paper type is determined on the basis of the diffusing characteristic. | 10-16-2008 |
20080253783 | SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE UNIVERSAL SUBSTRATE PRINTER ICC PROFILE SELECTION - Forming a multicolor image on a receiver member wherein a database of custom color profiles based on substrate physical properties and printing process characteristics is established. A set of universal color profiles is determined based on physical properties of substrates from clustered custom profiles. One universal color profile is assigned to a target substrate from the set of universal color profiles based on objective or subjective feedback. Thereafter, a multicolor toner image is formed on the receiver member with toners of at least three different colors of toner pigments which form various combinations of colors at different pixel locations on the receiver member to form the multicolor toner image thereon using the assigned one color profile. Based on objective or subjective feedback, the selected one universal color profile is modified, or a different universal color profile is selected. | 10-16-2008 |
20080253784 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS FOR FORMING IMAGE ON RECORD MEDIUM - A record medium determining device | 10-16-2008 |
20080267644 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND METHOD OF SETTING PRINTING CONDITION IN THE SAME - Using an operation panel a user selects group to which a recording medium to be subjected to image formation belongs out of plural groups of recording media classified according to grammages, a classification processing unit sub-classifies the group selected, to which the recording medium belongs, into plural sub-groups of recording media according to a detecting result of the media sensor provided further upstream in a conveying direction of a recording medium than a fixing unit, and a control unit sets, for the recording medium belonging to the group selected, the temperature of the fixing unit to a fixing temperature in a fixing temperature range and controls this fixing temperature according to any one of the sub-groups sub-classified. Consequently, it is possible to perform fixing processing at an optimum temperature according to a type of a recording medium. | 10-30-2008 |
20080267645 | DOCUMENT COPIER WITH A CONTROLLER FOR DECODING OPTICAL PATTERNS ON SHEETS OF MEDIA - Provided is a document copier having an input transport mechanism and an output transport mechanism linked via a media path, the mechanisms configured to feed sheets of media through the media path. Also included is a print engine located in the media path for printing on media fed through the media path, and a code sensor arranged before the print engine in the media path, said sensor configured to capture images of a sheet surface. The copier also includes a controller for controlling the transport mechanisms, the print engine and code sensor. The controller decodes optical patterns found in the captured images to obtain one or more codes able to identify an electronic source where an electronic copy of the sheet is stored, and to print the electronic copy on a blank sheet of media with the print engine. | 10-30-2008 |
20080317485 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND METHOD THEREOF - An image forming apparatus includes a static electricity eliminator to remove residual charge from a printing medium. A selector is provided to connect the static electricity eliminator to ground through a selected resistance, and a controller is provided to control the selector depending on printing medium characteristics. The resistance in the ground path connected to the static electricity eliminator is changed according to printing medium characteristics such that elimination of residual charge is effective over a range of printing media having different printing medium characteristics. | 12-25-2008 |
20080317486 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING METHOD - An image forming apparatus for performing an image forming operation is disclosed that includes an image carrier on which a toner image is formed, an intermediate transfer member configured to transfer the toner image to a recording medium, the intermediate transfer member having a toner image forming area including an output image forming area and a non-output image forming area located outside of the output image forming area, the toner image forming area being wider than the output image forming area, and a detecting part configured to measure a physical quantity regarding an image quality of a first reference image formed in the output image forming area and a second reference image formed in the non-output image forming area. | 12-25-2008 |
20080317487 | Method For Reusing Recording Medium, Reusable Recording Medium, Method For Producing Reusable Recording Medium and Image Forming Apparatus - A method for reusing a recording medium forms an image on the recording medium by use of an image forming material, and removes the image forming material from the recording medium through thermal transfer by use of a peeling member. The recording medium is paper produced by applying a treatment liquid at a size pressing after paper making and then drying the treatment liquid. The treatment liquid includes a water-soluble or water-dispersible polymer having an alkyl group with carbon atoms at its side chain as an image-repellant substance. The image forming material includes a thermoplastic resin, and the adhesive strength between the peeling member and the image forming material is higher than the adhesive strength between the recording medium and the image forming material. | 12-25-2008 |
20090003856 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A complex machine includes an image reading section for reading an image from a document. A determining section determines whether the read image includes a predetermined confidential pattern. A breaking pattern inserting section inserts a breaking pattern to the document image to break the document image. A printing section can print an image onto a recording sheet and a transmitting section can transmit the image read by the image reading section to external equipment. A controller controls the printing section to print a document image, to which the breaking pattern is inserted by the breaking pattern inserting section, if the copy function is executed. However, the controller prohibits the transmission section from transmitting the document image to outside if the facsimile function or the scanner function is executed and if the determining section determines that the image read by the image reading section includes the confidential pattern. | 01-01-2009 |
20090003857 | RECORDING MATERIAL DETERMINATION APPARATUS ANDIMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A recording material determination apparatus includes a first detection unit configured to detect a characteristic corresponding to a surface condition of a recording material based on a captured image of a surface of the recording material, a second detection unit configured to detect a characteristic corresponding to a grammage of the recording material based on an ultrasonic wave detected via the recording material by irradiating the recording material with an ultrasonic wave, and a conveyance unit configured to convey the recording material. The first detection unit and the second detection unit are located opposite each other with respect to the conveyance unit. | 01-01-2009 |
20090010663 | PRINTING APPARATUS AND PRINTING METHOD - The present invention provides a printing apparatus and a printing method which, even if print media of different sizes are printed, can print images in well-balanced, optimum layouts according to the size of each of the print media. Thus, the printing apparatus according to the present invention has leading end detector which detects a leading end of a print medium and trailing end detector which detects a trailing end of the print medium. The printing apparatus further has print control unit which prints images based on a first print data for which a print start position is determined on the basis of the leading end detected by the leading end detector and second print data for which a print start position is determined on the basis of the trailing end detected by the trailing end detector. | 01-08-2009 |
20090034997 | PRINTING SYSTEM WITH TRANSIENT AND PERMANENT IMAGING MEANS - A printing system including a substrate and a dual-mode printing device, the dual-mode printing device including a permanent writing source and a transient writing source, wherein the permanent writing source is adapted to deposit an imaging material onto the substrate and the transient writing source is adapted to develop an image on the substrate by applying a stimulus to the substrate. | 02-05-2009 |
20090034998 | IMAGE FORMING SYSTEM - An image forming system includes an image forming station for forming a transparent image on a recording material with transparent toner; a selecting portion for selecting one of image forming modes including a first image forming mode for forming a transparent image having a high glossiness and a second image forming mode for forming a transparent image having a glossiness lower than that in the first image forming mode; and a setting portion for setting a toner amount, per unit area, of the transparent image in accordance with the image forming mode selected by the selecting portion. | 02-05-2009 |
20090052913 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE SAME - An image forming apparatus includes a first sheet discharge unit, a second sheet discharge unit, a switching unit configured to cause a sheet discharge destination to switch between the first sheet discharge unit and the second sheet discharge unit, a memory unit configured to store information about drying time of a print medium, a timer unit configured to determine elapse of the drying time of the printed print medium based on the information stored in the memory unit, and a control unit configured to control the switching unit to set the first sheet discharge unit to be the sheet discharge destination based on a determination of the timer unit that a drying time of a print medium discharged to the first sheet discharge unit has elapsed. | 02-26-2009 |
20090060540 | IMAGE FORMING DEVICE - An intermediate transfer tandem type image forming device which has multiple first stage transfer units set parallel and a single power unit which simultaneously applies bias to the multiple first stage transfer units. When executing successive printing or both-sides printing and there is a need to change the bias value of the first stage transfer bias due to a mix of multiple types of recording media, the device is able to hold down electricity consumption, sustain image quality, and form images productively. When executing successive printing or both-sides printing, the application timing of the changed transfer bias due to the detection of a different recording medium to that of the initial medium is placed after the previous first stage transfer of a final color toner image is completed. | 03-05-2009 |
20090060541 | Image Forming Apparatus - An image forming apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention includes a fixing/pressurizing roller pair that nips a transfer sheet and transports to fix toner on the transfer sheet; a pressure control unit that controls a pressure demonstrated by the fixing/pressurizing roller pair in consideration of the type of the transfer sheet; a transfer sheet compatibility determining unit that determines whether or not the pressure set by the pressure control unit is compatible with the transfer sheet to be inserted between the fixing/pressurizing roller pair; and a control unit that performs a process to cause to notify a user of incompatibility and/or a process to forbid printing if the transfer sheet compatibility determining unit determines that the pressure set by the pressure control unit is not compatible with the transfer sheet. | 03-05-2009 |
20090074435 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS HAVING PAPER-TYPE DETECTING UNIT - An image forming apparatus having a paper-type detecting unit includes a paper-type detecting unit that detects a paper type of a sheet to be printed, a fixing unit that sets fixing temperature on the basis of the paper type detected by the paper-type detecting unit and fixes a toner image on the sheet, a paper-type-detection-failure determining unit that determines that the paper-type detecting unit is in failure, a paper-type-during-failure setting unit that sets in advance a paper type having a high frequency of use as a paper type during a failure according to a region, and a printing-during-failure selecting unit which is selectably provided, when the paper-type-detection-failure determining unit determines that the paper-type detecting unit is in failure, whether a printing condition for the paper type set by the paper-type-during-failure setting unit is set or it is determined that the paper type is a paper type of a sheet printed immediately before the failure and a printing condition is continued. | 03-19-2009 |
20090074436 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS CAPABLE OF CHANGING FIXING TEMPERATURE AND IMAGE FORMING METHOD THEREFOR - An image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a paper-type detecting unit that detects a paper type of a sheet to be printed, a fixing unit that sets fixing temperature on the basis of the paper type detected by the paper-type detecting unit and fixes a toner image on the sheet, and a fixing-temperature changing unit that changes the fixing temperature of the fixing unit to high temperature when a printed image fixed by the fixing unit is an image that fades or is matte compared with fixing temperature for an image that is rough or is glossy. | 03-19-2009 |
20090080918 | MEDIA ELEVATOR'S CURRENT POSITION IDENTIFICATION METHOD AND A MEDIA HANDLING DEVICE ARRANGED WITH THE SAME - A media handling device includes sensing means disposed in a media elevator that is movable in a generally-vertical travel path proximate to a generally-fixed surface. The sensing means detects a recorded information that is disposed in the surface. The resulting detected information is used to identify the media elevator's current position. Also, another media handling device includes a recorded information disposed in a movable media elevator. Sensing means are fixed proximate to a generally-vertical media elevator travel path. The recorded information is sensed and the resulting detected information is used to identify the media elevator's current position. | 03-26-2009 |
20090080919 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member for carrying a toner image; a rotatable transfer member constituting a transfer portion for transferring the toner image from the image bearing member onto a recording material; a voltage source for applying a voltage to the transfer member; an executing portion for executing an image forming mode for continuously forming an image on a plurality of recording materials having different widths measured in a direction of a rotational axis of the transfer member; an interval adjustment portion for adjusting, during execution of the image forming mode, an interval between adjacent recording materials to a first interval when the width of the recording material is larger than the width of the previous recording material, and for adjusting, during execution of the image forming mode, the interval between adjacent recording materials to a second interval when the width of the recording material is smaller than the width of the previous recording material, wherein the first interval is larger than the second interval; and a voltage controller for applying, to the transfer member, a voltage having a polarity which is the same as a polarity of the voltage when the tone images are transferred at the second interval. | 03-26-2009 |
20090087202 | ROLLER FUSER SYSTEM WITH FUSING MEMBER TEMPERATURE CONTROL FOR PRINTING - Internally-heated external rollers transfer heat rapidly to a fuser roller in an electrostatographic printer. Stored media process set points, input image content and input media type data are used to regulate the heat transfer rate by varying the nip width between the heated external rollers and the fuser roller. The rate of heat transfer and the rate of heat transfer adjustment are sufficiently rapid that many different media weights and types may be mixed in a print run without restrictions on media run lengths, without collation requirements per run, and without productivity losses due to slowing of feed rate for heavier receivers. | 04-02-2009 |
20090087203 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A controller controls transportation of the recording medium such that a first distance between a trailing edge of an image area of a preceding page of the two successive pages and a leading edge of an image area of a following page is equal to or longer than a second distance between the nip at a most upstream one of the image forming sections and the nip at a most downstream one of the image forming sections. Control may also be performed such that a first distance between a trailing edge of a preceding page of the two successive pages and a leading edge of a following page is equal to or longer than a second distance between the nip at a most upstream one of the plurality of image forming sections and the nip at a most downstream one of the plurality of image forming sections. | 04-02-2009 |
20090087204 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING THEREOF - An image forming apparatus is capable of executing an auto paper selection function for automatically selecting a paper size corresponding to a paper size of an input document from a plurality of paper cassettes, and an auto magnification selection function for automatically magnifying an image of the input document to correspond to a defined paper size. The auto magnification selection function is selected for execution by the apparatus when there is only one size of paper to be selected in the apparatus, and the auto paper selection function is selected for execution by the apparatus when there are a plurality of sizes of paper to be selected in the apparatus. | 04-02-2009 |
20090092407 | Image Forming Apparatus - An image forming apparatus is provided. The image forming apparatus includes: a carrier; a forming unit which forms an image on a carrier; a cleaning unit which cleans the carrier; a detection unit which detects a correction pattern formed on the carrier; and a control unit which performs a correction processing including cleaning a pattern forming region in the carrier by the cleaning unit, forming the correction pattern in the pattern forming region by the forming unit after finishing the cleaning by the cleaning unit, and correcting an image forming characteristic of the forming unit based on a detection result of the correction pattern by the detection unit. | 04-09-2009 |
20090103934 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND PRINTING METHOD THEREFOR - An image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an apparatus main body, an image creating unit that is provided in the apparatus main body and creates an image to be printed on recording paper, a paper feeding mechanism on which plural pieces of the recording paper are stacked as a paper bundle, a paper-type distinguishing device that distinguishes a type of the recording paper from the paper bundle stacked on the paper feeding mechanism, and a printing unit that prints, according to the type of the recording paper distinguished by the paper-type distinguishing device, the image created by the image creating unit on the recording paper. | 04-23-2009 |
20090110419 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING METHOD - An image forming apparatus and method which can take a countermeasure against a tail or the like in consideration of differences of various conditions such as a kind of transfer paper and the like is provided. The apparatus has an image processing portion for extracting an image pattern whose image information has a concentration of 100% and executing a thin-out process for thinning out a predetermined area in the extracted image pattern at a predetermined ratio. The image processing portion or step changes the thin-out process according to the transfer paper kind. | 04-30-2009 |
20090116860 | Image forming device - An image forming device is disclosed that is able to enlarge a gap of a nipping portion with a simple and inexpensive structure, and able to reduce impact when a front end of a recording sheet runs into or a back end of the recording sheet passes through the nipping portion. The image forming device includes an image carrying unit, an image forming unit, a transfer unit, a conveyance unit, a determination unit that determines whether a thickness of the recording sheet is greater than a threshold value, and a cam member that rotates to enlarge or reduce the gap of the nipping portion between the image carrying unit and the transfer unit according to rotational positions of the cam member. When the thickness of the recording sheet is greater than the threshold, the cam member rotates so that the gap of the nipping portion is enlarged. | 05-07-2009 |
20090136246 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS HAVING PAPER TYPE DETECTION SECTION AND PAPER TYPE CONFIRMATION METHOD OF THE SAME - An image forming apparatus having a paper type detection section according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a paper type and paper thickness storage section to store ranges of paper thicknesses correspondingly to a plurality of paper types, a paper thickness detection section to detect a thickness of a sheet on which a formed image is printed, and a paper thickness comparison and determination section to feed, when a specific paper type is selected, a sheet of the paper type to the paper thickness detection section and to determine whether the measured paper thickness is within the range of paper thickness stored in the paper type and paper thickness storage section and corresponding to the paper type, and when the paper thickness comparison and determination section determines that the measured paper thickness is outside the range of the selected paper type, a warning to that effect is issued. | 05-28-2009 |
20090136247 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - Provided is an image forming apparatus in which the image forming apparatus has a marginless mode in which the toner image is formed on said image bearing member in an area that covers the recording material and an area outside the recording material, and the toner image is transferred to extend beyond an edge of the recording material carried by said recording material carrying member, the image forming apparatus further including: a detecting device which detects the toner image that extends beyond the edge of the recording material and is transferred to said recording material carrying member in the marginless mode; and a control device which uses a detection result provided by said detecting device to control where said exposure device forms a latent image on said image bearing member. | 05-28-2009 |
20090142082 | METHOD OF ESTIMATING A DISTANCE - The invention relates to a method of estimating a distance to a surface, whereby an emitter emits light towards a surface, at least some light being reflected by the surface, the surface comprising a detectable feature, the reflected light being received by a first receptor and by a second receptor, the surface being in movement relative to the receptors, the first and the second receptor receiving the light reflected at a first and at a respectively second angle thereby producing a first and a respectively second dataset, each dataset including data representing said feature, the first and the second angle being different, whereby the distance is estimated using the first and the second dataset. | 06-04-2009 |
20090142083 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a plurality of image bearing members, a developing unit, an intermediate transfer belt, a secondary transfer body, and a registration roller. A linear speed difference between the intermediate transfer belt and the secondary transfer body is variably set based on a basis weight of a recording medium. | 06-04-2009 |
20090148175 | LIGHT SCATTERING PROPERTY MEASUREMENT METHOD | 06-11-2009 |
20090148176 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING METHOD - In the image forming apparatus according to the invention, a fixer fixes toner on the sheet and presses the sheet, and a media sensor measures a thickness of the sheet before pressurization and a thickness of the sheet after pressurization. Then, by calculating an amount of heat used if the fixer fixes the toner on the sheet on the basis of the measurement result, a control unit is able to control the temperature of the fixer on the basis of the calculated amount of heat. In this manner, it is possible to appropriately calculate an amount of heat per unit area required to fix toner on the sheet. | 06-11-2009 |
20090154943 | ON DEMAND FUSER AND RELATED METHOD - A variable shaped heated fusing member for fusing toner to sheets of receiver media with one or more support members in contact with said heated fusing member such that the contact member is capable of changing said fuser member shape as determined by a suitable manual input or electronic analysis of the image. | 06-18-2009 |
20090169224 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - The image forming apparatus has a discharge device, an air blow device and a detection device, wherein an amount of blown air by the air blow device when the height of the recording materials detected by the detection device is higher than a preset first detection position is smaller than an amount of blown air by the air blow device when the detected height of the recording materials is lower than the first detection position. Thereby, there is provided an image forming apparatus which is improved in the alignment of the recording materials on the stacking portion. | 07-02-2009 |
20090196638 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a transfer device, a voltage applicator, a current sensor, and a discharge detector. The transfer device transfers a toner image from one surface to another by developing an electrical field across a transfer gap when provided with a transfer bias. The voltage applicator applies a stepped test voltage to the transfer device. The current sensor senses a current flowing to the transfer device during application of the test voltage the discharge detector detects an electrical discharge occurring in the transfer gap based on a rate of increase of the sensed current. | 08-06-2009 |
20090232528 | Image forming apparatus, image forming method, and computer program product - An image forming apparatus includes a sheet-type determining unit that determines a sheet type of a recording sheet; a sheet-characteristic measuring unit that measures a sheet characteristic of the recording sheet; an image processing unit that performs an image processing on image data of an image for adjusting a consumption amount of color material that is used for forming the image on the recording sheet based on the sheet type and the sheet characteristic; and an image forming unit that forms the image of the image data processed by the image processing unit on the recording sheet. | 09-17-2009 |
20090245827 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD OF IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - In a second mode to form an image based on a pre-designated type of recording medium, a detection is performed to a recording medium which is fed, and in a first mode to form an image based on the detected type, image forming conditions are set based on a result of the sheet type detection in the second mode without executing the sheet type detection. | 10-01-2009 |
20090252510 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND PROCESS CARTRIDGE - Provided is an image forming apparatus containing: an image-bearing member; a toner removal unit configured to remove a toner remained on the image-bearing member; a coating unit configured to coat a surface of the image-bearing member with a lubricity imparting agent; a unit configured to change a coated state of the lubricity imparting agent which has been applied to the image-bearing member by the coating unit; and a controlling unit configured to control the coating unit so as to operate a coating mode for at least the period when the image-bearing member is rotated once or more in the course of image formation, wherein the coating mode is a mode in which an amount of the lubricity imparting agent applied onto the image-bearing member is increased compared to an applied amount of the lubricity imparting agent during an ordinal operation for image formation. | 10-08-2009 |
20090252511 | ANALYSIS APPARATUS AND ANALYSIS METHOD - A recording-medium-type setting unit selects a type of a recording medium to be analyzed on the basis of information input with an input unit. A threshold-value setting unit sets a threshold value on which the determination of whether the calculation result is output in a file is based for each recording medium type selected by the recording-medium-type setting unit. An amount-of-variation calculating unit calculates the reaction force for every time step, stores the reaction force in the current time step in time integration in a RAM during the calculation, and monitors the amount of variation in the reaction force between each time step and the next time step. A file-output controlling unit calculates the difference between the reaction force stored by the amount-of-variation calculating unit and the reaction force in the current time step and, if the difference is larger than the threshold value, performs file output. | 10-08-2009 |
20090269090 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND PRINTING METHOD THEREFOR - An image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an apparatus main body, an operation panel that is provided in the apparatus main body and used for instructing printing of a formed image, plural paper feeding cassettes that store paper for color printing or paper for monochrome printing on which the image is printed, and a cassette-paper-correspondence recognizing unit that is provided in the apparatus main body and recognizes whether the paper stored in the plural paper feeding cassettes is the paper for color printing or the paper for monochrome printing. | 10-29-2009 |
20090269091 | IMAGE FORMING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING METHOD THEREOF - An image forming device includes a first measuring unit to measure a size of the recording medium when the image is formed on the first surface by the image forming unit, and a second measuring unit to measure the size of the recording medium prior to an image being formed on the second surface of the recording medium, and a control unit configured to change the size of printing range based upon the image data that is used to form the image on the second surface of the recording medium in accordance with a medium ratio of the size of the recording medium measured by the first measuring unit to the size of the recording medium measured by the second measuring unit. | 10-29-2009 |
20090279909 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD THEREFOR - An image forming apparatus includes an exposure mechanism to form a latent image by exposure, a latent-image carrier to hold the latent image, a charging mechanism to charge the latent-image carrier evenly, a development device to develop a latent image on the latent-image carrier into a toner image, a transfer mechanism to transfer the toner image formed on the latent-image carrier onto a transfer material, at least one asperity profile reading mechanism to read an asperity of an entire image area of the transfer material at least in a width direction thereof onto which a toner image is to be transferred, and a control mechanism to adjust a toner adhesion amount of the toner image transferred to the transfer material in accordance with a localized asperity of a surface of the transfer material read by the asperity profile reading mechanism. | 11-12-2009 |
20090290889 | TRANSFER DEVICE, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD OF TRANSFER DEVICE - A transfer device includes: a transfer section for transferring a toner image on an image carrier onto a sheet passing through a nip portion which is formed between the transfer section and the image carrier; an application section for applying a voltage to the transfer section; and a control section for controlling the application section, wherein the control section controls the application section to apply a voltage having an opposite polarity to a transfer polarity to the transfer section since a leading edge of the sheet in a conveyance direction advances into the nip portion until a predetermined non image area of the sheet has passed through the nip portion, and then switch to apply a voltage having the transfer polarity from the voltage having the opposite polarity to the transfer section while a non image area of the sheet passes through the nip portion. | 11-26-2009 |
20090290890 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF - An image forming apparatus of the invention conveys paper fed by a paper feeding mechanism piece by piece to a paper discharging unit through a paper conveying path. An image forming unit is arranged in a midway portion of this paper conveying path and executes an image forming process for printing an image based on image data on paper being conveyed. A sensor that detects a type of the paper conveyed is arranged on an upstream side with respect to the image forming unit on the paper conveying path. Image forming process conditions for the image forming unit are set in accordance with a detection result of the sensor. When the paper fed to the paper conveying path is paper not detected by the sensor, the image forming process is started awaiting a detection result by the sensor. On the other hand, when the paper is detected by the sensor, the image forming process is started without awaiting paper type detection. Moreover, paper being conveyed is conveyed to the image forming unit, in which the image forming process is started, in synchronization with a printing operation of the image forming unit. | 11-26-2009 |
20090297186 | FUSER APPARATUS HAVING FUSER CLEANER WEB AND CORRESPONDING METHODS - Disclosed are methods of controlling a speed of a fuser cleaner web in a fuser apparatus, and the corresponding fuser apparatus. The method utilizes a fuser apparatus having a fuser roll and a web nip roll, the fuser cleaner web for cleaning the fuser roll and being disposed between the fuser roll and the web nip roll. The method determines a property of a media to be fused in the fuser apparatus, and controls a speed of the fuser cleaner web based on the determined property of the media. | 12-03-2009 |
20090310991 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, IMAGE FORMING SYSTEM, COMPUTER READABLE MEDIUM STORING PROGRAM AND IMAGE FORMING METHOD - An image forming apparatus includes a detecting unit that detects a size of a document,
| 12-17-2009 |
20090310992 | RECORDING MEDIUM DETERMINATION APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A recording medium determination apparatus that determines grammage of a recording medium by using an ultrasonic wave includes a transmission unit configured to output an ultrasonic wave having a predetermined frequency, a reception unit configured to receive the ultrasonic wave output from the transmission unit and transmitted through the recording medium and output a received signal, a calculation unit configured to calculate a signal having a peak component according to a cycle of the received signal, and a determination unit configured to determine the grammage of the recording medium based on the signal calculated by the calculation unit. | 12-17-2009 |
20090317102 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING METHOD - The image forming apparatus includes: an image former which, upon receiving a first instruction, feeds a sheet and performs an image forming operation to form an image on the sheet; a fixing part which (i) secures a fixing nip by bringing outer circumferential surfaces of first and second rotating bodies into contact with each other, (ii) upon receiving a second instruction, heats the first and second rotating bodies until a temperature thereof reaches a target temperature, and (iii) thermally fixes the image onto the sheet passing through the fixing nip; and a determiner which determines output timings of the first and second instructions such that a timing at which a leading end, in a sheet convey direction, of the image formed on the sheet reaches the fixing nip and a timing at which the temperature of the first and second rotating bodies reaches the target temperature match each other. | 12-24-2009 |
20090324266 | FIXING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING DEVICE - A fixing device comprise an endless fixing belt; a first heater that heats a first predetermined section of the fixing belt, a second heater that heats a second predetermined section of the fixing belt, a switch that determines whether or not the second predetermined section of the fixing belt is heated by the second heater, a controller controls a switching operation of the switch according to a size of a medium on which an image is fixed by the fixing belt, and a temperature controller that reduces a heating temperature of the first heater when the second predetermined section of the fixing belt is heated by the second heater. | 12-31-2009 |
20100008683 | Image forming apparatus including pre-heating unit - An image forming apparatus includes an image carrying member, a transfer unit, a pre-heating unit, a fixing unit, a first temperature sensor, and a first heat controller. The image carrying member carries a toner image. The transfer unit transfers the toner image carried on the image carrying member to a recording medium transported to a transfer position. The pre-heating unit selectively heats the recording medium before the recording medium is transported to the transfer position. The fixing unit fixes the toner image on the recording medium. The first temperature sensor detects temperature of the recording medium as the recording medium passes through the pre-heating unit. The first heat controller changes an amount of heat energy to be applied to the recording medium per unit area of the recording medium by the pre-heating unit. The first heat controller is controlled based on a detection result of the first temperature sensor. | 01-14-2010 |
20100008684 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND METHOD - An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member to bear an electrostatic latent image on its surface, a developing device to develop the electrostatic latent image using toner to form a toner image, a transfer device to transfer the toner image onto a recording medium, a fixing device to fix the toner image, a first detector to detect at least glossiness of a surface of the recording medium, a second detector to detect at least a space between asperities on the surface of the recording medium, and a controller to control an amount of toner when forming the toner image. The controller adjusts the amount of toner based on the glossiness of the recording medium detected by the first detector and the space between the asperities detected by the second detector. | 01-14-2010 |
20100040387 | Wet development device, wet development method, and image forming apparatus using the device - The invention provides a wet development device, wet development method and image forming apparatus having the device by which appropriate cleaning can be performed, the wear of the blade or developing roller can be reduced, and good images can be obtained without toner contamination even when the amount of toner for development or that of electric charge of the toner is changed for changing the density or gradation of image or type of paper. The toner in the developer is electrically charged to an arbitral charging amount by a discharging section and provided for the development and the charge of the toner is eliminated after development by that a discharging section is provided before cleaning the developer remaining on the developing roller and the output of the discharging section is appropriately controlled corresponding to the output of the discharging section. | 02-18-2010 |
20100054772 | CONTINUOUS-SHEET PRINTING TANDEM ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHY SYSTEM AND METHOD OF PRINTING A CONTINUOUS SHEET - A continuous-sheet printing tandem electrophotography system for printing a continuous sheet includes first and second electrophotography units. A first size of the continuous sheet is measured before an image printed by the first electrophotography unit with a first parameter value is fused on the continuous sheet. A second size of the continuous sheet is measured after the image printed by the first electrophotography unit is fused on the continuous sheet. The second electrophotography unit then prints the continuous sheet with a second parameter value that is determined by a size difference between the first and the second sizes. The first and the second sizes include a page length and a page width of the continuous sheet. The parameter values include a print speed, a polygon mirror rotating speed, a video clock frequency, and a laser power. | 03-04-2010 |
20100061746 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus that enables effective utilization of a sheet. The image forming apparatus includes a sheet conveying path that conveys a sheet from a paper feeding tray to a secondary transfer position, an image transfer unit that transfers an image onto the sheet conveyed to the secondary transfer position via the sheet conveying path, a detection sensor that optically acquires information concerning a dirty spot on the sheet in a detection position located further on an upstream side than the secondary transfer position in the sheet conveying path, and a CPU that determines, on the basis of the information acquired by the detection sensor, whether a dirty spot is present in a predetermined region of the sheet. | 03-11-2010 |
20100067929 | Fixing unit and image forming apparatus using same - A fixing unit includes a fixing member, a pressing member, a heating device, a sheet width detector, and a heating area adjustor. The pressing member faces the fixing member to form a fixing nip between the fixing member. An un-fixed toner image is fixed on a recording medium when the recording medium passes through the fixing nip. The heating device heats the fixing member while maintaining a non-contact condition with the fixing member. The sheet width detector detects sheet width of the recording medium. The heating area adjustor changes a heating area of the fixing member, heatable by the heating device, based on the sheet width detected by the sheet width detector. The heating area adjustor is moveable in a space between the fixing member and the heating device along a sheet width direction to change a size of the heating area. | 03-18-2010 |
20100074640 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes: an image forming unit; a first sheet discharging path having a first dischargeable minimum sheet length; a second sheet discharging path having a second dischargeable minimum sheet length that is shorter than the first dischargeable minimum sheet length; a measuring unit that measures a length of the sheet; and a control unit. When the length of the sheet is shorter than the first dischargeable minimum sheet length in a state in which the first sheet discharging path is selected, the control unit is configured to: control the image forming unit to form the image on the measured sheet; convey the measured sheet downstream in a sheet conveying direction from the image forming unit; and stop conveyance of a sheet subsequent to the measured sheet at a position upstream in the sheet conveying direction from the measured sheet. | 03-25-2010 |
20100080589 | TRANSFER DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A transfer device includes: a first transfer unit that transfers a developer image formed on an image carrier to an intermediate transfer member; a second transfer unit that transfers the developer image on the intermediate transfer member to a recording medium; and a control unit that controls at least one of a transfer pressure and a transfer electric field by the first transfer unit in accordance with a type of the recording medium to which the developer image is transferred. | 04-01-2010 |
20100080590 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus comprising an image forming unit that forms an image on a sheet, a sheet feeder that feeds the sheet to the image forming unit, a detector that detects a width of the sheet, a setting unit that is operated by a user to input a width and a length of a nonstandard-size sheet, a determination unit that determines whether the width of the nonstandard-size sheet detected by the detector and the width of the nonstandard-size sheet inputted by the user to the setting unit differ from each other, when the image is printed on the nonstandard-size sheet and a controller that controls the image forming unit to form the image, based on the width of the sheet detected by the detector and the length of the sheet inputted by the user to the setting unit, when the determination unit determines that the detected width and the inputted width differ from each other. | 04-01-2010 |
20100092190 | PAPER SHEET RECOGNIZING METHOD AND APPARATUS - The present invention provides a paper sheet recognizing apparatus for recognizing paper sheets having different sizes and colors for each type, by using a sensing unit including a line sensor that detects a light quantity of reflected light or transmitted light obtained by irradiating a paper sheet being transported with a plurality of lights having different source wavelengths. The apparatus includes a storing unit that stores therein reference size data and reference light quantity data generated beforehand for each type of paper sheets to be recognition candidates; a first determining unit that selects a recognition target type from the recognition candidates based on detected size data of the paper sheet detected by the sensing unit and the reference size data; and a second determining unit that determines a type of the paper sheet by comparing detected light quantity data of the paper sheet detected by the line sensor with the reference light quantity data of the recognition target type. | 04-15-2010 |
20100104302 | Developing Device, Image Forming Apparatus, and Developing Method - A developing device includes: a developer storage portion which stores a liquid developer including toner and carrier liquid; a first coating member which rotates and coats the liquid developer stored in the developer storage portion; a second coating member which comes into contact with the first coating member and rotates in a direction opposite to that of the first coating member and slower than a rotary peripheral velocity of the first coating member; and a developer supporting body which comes into contact with the second coating member and rotates in the same direction as that of the second coating member and faster than a rotary peripheral velocity of the second coating member. | 04-29-2010 |
20100111548 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MEDIA THICKNESS MEASUREMENT IN AN IMAGE PRODUCTION DEVICE - A method and apparatus for media thickness measurement in an image production device is disclosed. The method may include receiving images of a media stack from an imaging device, measuring one or more sheet-to-sheet interfaces in the media stack from the received images, determining the media thickness based on the sheet-to-sheet interface measurements, and adjusting at least one image production device parameter based on the determined media thickness. | 05-06-2010 |
20100111549 | FUSERS, PRINTING APPARATUSES AND METHODS OF FUSING TONER ON MEDIA - Fusers, printing apparatuses and methods of fusing toner on media are disclosed. An embodiment of a fuser for fusing toner on a medium includes at least two modules arranged along a process direction of the medium, each module having an ON state in which the module discharges a hot gas and an OFF state in which the module does not discharge the hot gas; and a controller connected to the modules for controlling the ON/OFF state of each module to control the discharge of the hot gas from each module onto the medium as the medium is transported past the modules in the process direction. | 05-06-2010 |
20100129096 | METHODS, APPARATUS AND SYSTEMS TO COMPENSATE FOR DISTORTIONS CAUSED BY FUSING - Disclosed are printing methods, apparatus and systems to compensate for distortion caused by fusing toner to a media substrate. According to one exemplary embodiment, the method includes processing image data according to media characterization data for a measured fuser temperature. The media characterization data provides a basis to compensate for media substrate shrinkage due to fusing the printed image on the media substrate. | 05-27-2010 |
20100135681 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING RECORDING MEDIUM CONVEYANCE - An image forming apparatus has an intermediate transfer member to which an image on an image bearing member is primarily transferred. The image primarily transferred to the intermediate transfer member is secondarily transferred to a recording medium. The velocity at which the recording medium is conveyed is switched to a velocity different from the image forming velocity before the recording medium is conveyed to the transfer position. | 06-03-2010 |
20100142982 | APPARATUS, METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR FEEDFORWARD OF SHEET ELECTROSTATIC TACKING PARAMETERS TO IMAGE TRANSFER SUBSYSTEM IN IMAGE TRANSFER APPARATUS - A toner image transfer assembly has a tacking assembly, an image transfer assembly, and a media transport assembly. The tacking assembly senses critical properties of media while electrostatically tacking media to a transport device. The tacking assembly forwards data corresponding to the sensed electrical properties to the image transfer assembly so that the image transfer assembly anticipates the electrical properties of an approaching media type. | 06-10-2010 |
20100150587 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ADJUSTING NIP WIDTH BASED ON THE MEASURED HARDNESS OF A FUSER ROLL IN AN IMAGE PRODUCTION DEVICE - A method and apparatus for adjusting nip width based on the measured hardness of a fuser roll in an image production device is disclosed. The method may include receiving an identification of media type, receiving a signal to measure fuser roll hardness, positioning a fuser roll hardness measurement unit onto the fuser roll, measuring the fuser roll hardness, and adjusting the nip width based on the measured fuser roll hardness and received media type identification. | 06-17-2010 |
20100150588 | PRIMARY TRANSFER DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS HAVING THE SAME - A primary transfer device includes a primary transfer roll that is capable of being engaged with and disengaged from an intermediate transfer member to which a developer image is primarily transferred; and a setting-changing unit that changes a setting of pressure of the primary transfer roll to the intermediate transfer member in accordance with kind of a recording medium to which the developer image is secondarily transferred, wherein the setting-changing unit has an irregular medium transfer mode for a case where the recording medium to which the developer image is a recording medium having irregularities formed on a surface thereof, and an ordinary transfer mode for a case where the recording medium is a recording medium other than the recording medium having the irregularities, wherein a pressure set in the irregular medium transfer mode is smaller than that set in the ordinary transfer mode. | 06-17-2010 |
20100158549 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a consumable supply remaining amount detection unit for detecting a remaining amount of a consumable supply; a printable length detection unit for determining a printable length of a medium printable with the remaining amount; a printable length determining processing unit for determining whether the printable length is smaller than a requested print length of the medium requested with print data; and a printing processing unit for performing a partial printing operation when the printable length determining processing unit determines that the printable length is smaller than the requested print length. | 06-24-2010 |
20100158550 | CORONA CHARGER INCLUDING SHUTTER - A charging device includes a corona charger, provided with an opening opposing a photosensitive member, for electrically charging the photosensitive member; a sheet-like member provided so that the sheet-like member can cover the opening; a movable device for moving the sheet-like member; and a regulating device for regulating a shape of the sheet-like member so that a central portion of the sheet-like member protrudes toward the corona charger with respect to a circumferential direction of the photosensitive member. | 06-24-2010 |
20100172663 | Image forming device and method of the same - An image forming device includes a first medium container for a first printing medium; a second medium container for a second printing medium; a medium feeder for feeding one of the first and second media from one of the first and second medium containers; a special process unit that performs a special process on the first printing medium fed by the medium feeder when image data, including instruction information instructing the special process, is received; a detector that detects a characteristic of the first printing medium; a special process capability determination unit for determining whether or not the special process can be performed based on the characteristic; and a control unit that ejects the printing medium and that causes the second medium to be fed from the second medium container when the special process capability determination unit determines that the special process cannot be performed. | 07-08-2010 |
20100183324 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - The image forming apparatus includes a photosensitive drum, developer bearing members to develop a latent image formed on the photosensitive drum into a toner image while bearing developer, a secondary transfer roller to transfer the toner image to a sheet, an operation apparatus to which smoothness of the sheet having the toner image transferred, and a CPU which controls to decrease fog elimination potential difference between non-image portion potential of the photosensitive drum and direct current component potential of bias applied to developer bearing members in a case that smoothness inputted to the operation apparatus is information that the smoothness of the sheet having the toner image formed is equal to or higher than a predetermined smoothness as compared to a case of being lower than the predetermined smoothness. | 07-22-2010 |
20100183325 | Image Forming Apparatus and Method - An image forming apparatus has an image forming unit and a feeding unit for feeding a recording material at a predetermined speed to the image forming unit. A reflective type sensor reads irradiated light reflected off of the recording material and an image reading unit reads the light so as to obtain a surface image of the recording material so that a feed control unit can control the feeding of the recording medium so that a moving distance is shorter and in the case of feeding it at a predetermined speed while the recording material is read by the image reading unit. In the image forming apparatus a reflective type determination unit determines a predetermined attribute of the recording material using the surface image of the recording material read by the image reading unit so that the image forming apparatus can determine a kind of recording material based on the attribute obtain so as to form the image on the recording material. | 07-22-2010 |
20100189450 | PRINTING APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF - This invention provides an image forming apparatus which performs fixing control complying with sheet characteristics in consideration of the productivity of a printing process and the precision of fixing control, and a control method thereof. To accomplish this, upon receiving a print job, the image forming apparatus extracts a sheet type used in the print job, and determines whether one set value in fixing control can be used for the extracted sheet type. If one set value can be used for the extracted sheet type, the image forming apparatus decides a common set value. If one set value cannot be used for the extracted sheet type, the image forming apparatus decides a set value for each type. In accordance with the decided set value, the image forming apparatus executes a printing process. | 07-29-2010 |
20100196027 | TANDEM PRINTING SYSTEM WITH SCHEDULER FOR PROCESSING PRINT JOBS - According to aspects of the embodiments, there is provided a printing system that includes first and second marking devices for applying images to print media. A first fusing module associated with the first marking device for applying a primary fusing treatment to the images applied to print media by the first marking device. A second fusing module which receives printed media from the first and second marking devices, the secondary fusing module including a fusing device that applies a fusing treatment to the images applied to the printed media. A printing controller having a scheduler for processing print jobs in the first and second marking devices based on fusing requirements of the print media. | 08-05-2010 |
20100196028 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus which attains a high quality image by suppressing fluctuation in speed of an intermediate transfer belt generated when a leading edge of a recording material having high rigidity such as a thick sheet is brought into contact with the belt in a single color mode. The single color mode is switched between a first single color mode in which a toner image on one photosensitive drum is primarily transferred onto the belt with only the one drum being in contact with the belt, and the toner image on the belt is secondarily transferred onto the recording material, and a second single color mode in which a toner image born on one of drums is primarily transferred onto the belt with the drums being in contact with the belt, and the toner image on the belt is secondarily transferred onto the recording material. | 08-05-2010 |
20100215387 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier, an endless intermediate transfer member having a transport surface and being tensioned to transport a developer image, transferred from the image carrier to the intermediate transfer member, from a first transfer position to a second transfer position, a first transfer member that brings the intermediate transfer member in contact with the image carrier and transfers a developer image present on the image carrier to the intermediate transfer member at the first transfer position, a second transfer member that transfers the developer image to a recording medium at the second transfer position, a position adjusting member that adjusts a position of the transport surface of the intermediate transfer member downstream of the first transfer position, and a controller that controls the position adjusting member responsively to a type of the recoding medium to which the second transfer member transfers the developer image. | 08-26-2010 |
20100226667 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit that forms an image on a recording medium; a fixing unit that fixes the image formed on the recording medium by the image forming unit by applying heat; a first detector unit that detects a length of the recording medium in a transport direction, the first detector unit being disposed upstream of the fixing unit in the transport direction; and a second detector unit that detects the length of the recording medium in the transport direction, the second detector unit being disposed downstream of the fixing unit in the transport direction. | 09-09-2010 |
20100239282 | To-be-transferred object length measurement device and image forming apparatus and computer-readable storage medium - A disclosed to-be-transferred object length measurement device includes a first rotating body; a passage detection unit detecting a passage of the to-be-transferred object; a rotation amount measurement unit measuring a rotation amount of the first rotating body in a first measurement period; a second rotating body feeding the to-be-transferred object; a speed detection unit detecting a first feeding speed and a second feeding speed of the to-be-transferred object; and a calculation unit calculating a feeding distance of the to-be-transferred object per a predetermined rotation amount of the first rotating body based on the first feeding speed, and further calculating a length of the to-be-transferred object based on the rotation amount of the first rotating body in the first measurement period, the feeding distance, and the second feeding speed of the to-be-transferred object in the second measurement period. | 09-23-2010 |
20100239283 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a movable image bearing member; an exposure device for exposing the image bearing member after being electrically charged; a developing device for developing, with toner, a latent image formed on the image bearing member by the exposure device; and a movable intermediary transfer member for receiving a toner image from the image bearing member, wherein the toner image on the intermediary transfer member is transferred onto a transfer material, wherein the transfer material is fed at a first speed, a moving speed of the image bearing member, an exposure speed of the exposure device in a moving direction of the image bearing member, and a moving speed of the intermediary transfer member are equal to the first speed, and wherein when the transfer material is fed at a second speed which is lower than the first speed, the moving speed of the image bearing member is equal to the first speed, and the speed of the exposure device and the moving speed of intermediary transfer member is equal to the second speed. | 09-23-2010 |
20100254722 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus according to an aspect of the invention includes: a media sensor that detects a type of a recording paper; a development unit configured to develop an image on the recording paper; a pair of rollers that fixes the image on the recording paper by nipping the recording paper bearing the image developed in the development unit and forcing the recording paper to pass by; a main heater that heats the pair of rollers by passing a current therethrough when the recording paper passes by; and an auxiliary heater that selectively heats at least one of the pair of rollers by passing a current therethrough when the recording paper passes by the pair of rollers in a case where the media sensor detects that the weight per unit of the recording paper or the thickness of the recording paper is equal to or greater than a specific value. | 10-07-2010 |
20100272456 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND SHEET PROCESSING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a toner image forming section that adheres toner to a sheet to form a toner image, a discharge unit into which the sheet is discharged, a conveying unit that conveys the sheet on which the toner is adhered by the toner image forming section and discharges the sheet to the discharge unit, a cooling section that cools the sheet conveyed by the conveying unit, a sheet type instructing section that instructs the type of the sheet, and a controller that controls, in accordance with the type instructed by the sheet type instructing section, the conveyance speed when the conveying unit conveys the sheet. | 10-28-2010 |
20100303488 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a rotatable image bearing member; a developing device, including a developer carrying member and developing bias application means for applying a developing bias for developing a developer image; a rotatable intermediary transfer member; a primary transfer member for forming a primary transfer nip and for transferring the developer image from the image bearing member onto the intermediary transfer member; a secondary transfer member for secondary-transferring the developer image from the intermediary transfer member onto a recording material; wherein an area of the image bearing member includes a first area at least containing an area located in primary transfer nip at a time when a speed of the intermediary transfer member is temporarily decreased and includes a second area located in the primary transfer nip when there is no temporary change in speed; and a control device for controlling a developing bias. | 12-02-2010 |
20100310264 | RECORDING-MEDIUM IMAGING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An effective image area can be properly corrected in accordance with the quantity of light from an irradiation unit by selecting, as the effective image area, pixels having light quantities more than or equal to a threshold value that allows accurate acquisition of a surface image of a recording medium, on the basis of a light quantity distribution of the light from the irradiation unit. This reduces the influence of mounting accuracy of the irradiation unit, and allows the recording medium to be identified accurately. | 12-09-2010 |
20100316399 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, AND UNIT REMOVABLY INSTALLED IN AN IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a controller which sets fixing conditions in a fixing unit in accordance with the type of printing medium sensed by a sensor. An intermediate transfer member and sensor are configured as an intermediate transfer member unit. The intermediate transfer member unit is removably installed in the main body of the image forming apparatus. The intermediate transfer member unit has a storage unit which stores information used to determine the type printing medium by the sensor. | 12-16-2010 |
20100329708 | FUSING APPARATUS FOR HIGH SPEED ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHY SYSTEM - A fuser and receiver release system and method are provided for improving the release of receivers in high speed of printing systems. This system controls the release of a receiver in conjunction with a fuser in a printing system, and specifically the efficiency and accuracy of the release system. One embodiment of this method includes a belt fuser that allows the separating of the heat transfer and release functions of the fuser such that fuser roller could be made of hard metal core that can be heated to high temperatures without the fear of delaminating elastomeric coatings which are common in roller fusing. | 12-30-2010 |
20110002703 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD THEREOF - An image forming apparatus of the invention conveys paper fed by a paper feeding mechanism piece by piece to a paper discharging unit through a paper conveying path. An image forming unit is arranged in a midway portion of this paper conveying path and executes an image forming process for printing an image based on image data on paper being conveyed. A sensor that detects a type of the paper conveyed is arranged on an upstream side with respect to the image forming unit on the paper conveying path. Image forming process conditions for the image forming unit are set in accordance with a detection result of the sensor. When the paper fed to the paper conveying path is paper not detected by the sensor, the image forming process is started awaiting a detection result by the sensor. On the other hand, when the paper is detected by the sensor, the image forming process is started without awaiting paper type detection. Moreover, paper being conveyed is conveyed to the image forming unit, in which the image forming process is started, in synchronization with a printing operation of the image forming unit. | 01-06-2011 |
20110020020 | SHEET LENGTH MEASUREMENT APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A sheet length measurement apparatus including: a rotating member that comes in contact with a recording sheet conveyed on a conveying path, and rotates along with the conveyance of the recording sheet; a rotation amount detector that detects a rotational amount of the rotating member; a fixing support member that fixedly supports an rotating shaft of the rotating member at a fixed position; an opposed member that is disposed opposite to the rotating member so as to hold the recording sheet between the rotating member and the opposed member, the opposed member being disposed so that the rotating member rotates along with the conveyance of the recording sheet; and a support member that supports the opposed member in a movable state in a direction to separate from or come in contact with a surface of the recording sheet. | 01-27-2011 |
20110020021 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND PRINTING METHOD THEREFOR - An image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an apparatus main body, an image creating unit that is provided in the apparatus main body and creates an image to be printed on recording paper, a paper feeding mechanism on which plural pieces of the recording paper are stacked as a paper bundle, a paper-type distinguishing device that distinguishes a type of the recording paper from the paper bundle stacked on the paper feeding mechanism, and a printing unit that prints, according to the type of the recording paper distinguished by the paper-type distinguishing device, the image created by the image creating unit on the recording paper. | 01-27-2011 |
20110058828 | LENGTH MEASUREMENT APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A length measurement apparatus including: a measurement portion that measures a sheet length based on a rotational amount of a length measurement roll for a first detection period in which first and third sensors detect the sheet, and a sheet length based on a rotational amount of the length measurement roll for a second detection period in which the second sensor and any one of the first and third sensors detect the sheet, the any one of the first and third sensors being disposed at a position opposite to the second sensor via the length measurement roll; and a whole length calculation portion that selects the sheet length nearer to integral multiples of the circumference length of the length measurement roll from the sheet lengths measured for the first and second detection periods, and calculates the whole length of the sheet by using the selected sheet length. | 03-10-2011 |
20110058829 | Sheet thickness detector and image forming apparatus using same - The sheet thickness detector includes a fixed member, a displacement roller disposed opposite the fixed member and movable in such a linear direction as to be contacted with or separated from the fixed member when the sheet passes through a nip therebetween, bearings rotatably supporting a shaft of the displacement roller, a displacement member movable in the linear direction in conjunction with the displacement roller and integrated with at least one of the bearings, and a displacement sensor operatively connected to the displacement member and detecting displacement of the displacement member. The thickness of the sheet passing through the nip is determined based on the amount of displacement of the displacement member. | 03-10-2011 |
20110058830 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING METHOD - An image forming apparatus including: an image bearing belt that bears an image; an image creation unit that transfers the image on the image bearing belt; a first driving source; a driving roller that is rotationally driven by the first driving source and causes the image bearing belt to move; a transfer roller that has a concaved portion in a circumferential surface, forms a transfer nip by the transfer roller making contact with the image bearing belt, and transfers the image on the image bearing belt to a recording material; a second driving source that rotationally drives the transfer roller; a material type determination unit that determines a type of the recording material; and a control unit that controls a number of rotation of the transfer roller when the recording material is nipped by the transfer nip based on information of the type determined by the material type determination unit. | 03-10-2011 |
20110069980 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - With respect to principal papers distributed in the market and used in an image forming apparatus, a boundary between grammage ranges is set at the center of a section where neighboring grammage values of paper has a large difference, and an image is formed under optimum image forming conditions in accordance with the determined grammage range. | 03-24-2011 |
20110085810 | Method and apparatus for controlling voltage of image forming apparatus - According to a method and apparatus for controlling a voltage of an image forming apparatus, a transferring roll resistance, which indicates the resistance between a transferring roller and a photoconductor drum, is detected by applying a first voltage to the transferring roller. A transferring voltage, which corresponds to the detected transferring roll resistance, is applied to the transferring roller with reference to a transferring table which corresponds to the paper resistance, and a transferring is performed on a printing paper by using a transferring roller to which a transferring voltage is applied. | 04-14-2011 |
20110110675 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS WITH CONTROL FOR SETTING IMAGE FORMING CONDITION BASED ON EXECUTED MODE - In a second mode to form an image based on a pre-designated type of recording medium, a detection is performed to a recording medium which is fed, and in a first mode to form an image based on the detected type, image forming conditions are set based on a result of the sheet type detection in the second mode without executing the sheet type detection. | 05-12-2011 |
20110116818 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING METHOD - An image forming apparatus includes a plurality of toner-image forming units that receive image data and form electrostatic latent images on image bearing members in accordance with the image data, and form toner images of respective colors by developing the electrostatic latent images, an intermediate transfer member onto which the toner images are transferred, a transfer unit that transfers the toner images of the respective colors onto the intermediate transfer member, a controller that performs transfer control for changing a transfer pressure applied when the transfer unit transfers the toner images onto the intermediate transfer member, and a misregistration detector that detects a difference of a transfer position of each of the toner images of the respective colors on the intermediate transfer member when the transfer control is performed by the controller. | 05-19-2011 |
20110129242 | Image-forming device - An image-forming device includes: an image-forming unit; a sheet discharge unit; a sheet support unit; and a reading unit. The image-forming unit forms images on a recording sheet. The sheet discharge unit discharges, in a sheet discharging direction, a recording sheet formed with an image by the image-forming unit. The sheet support unit is disposed above the image-forming unit, and supports sheet discharged from the sheet discharge unit. The reading unit is disposed above the sheet support unit, with an underside surface of the reading unit opposing a top surface of the sheet support unit. The sheet discharge unit is configured to discharge the sheet diagonally upwardly so that sheet discharged by the sheet discharge unit contacts the underside surface of the reading unit. | 06-02-2011 |
20110129243 | Image Forming Apparatus - An image forming apparatus, comprises an image forming section, a transfer section to transfer the toner image onto a recording material; and a fixing device to fix the toner image onto the recording material; wherein the image forming section includes a plurality of color image forming sections and a transparent image forming section, and the plurality of color image forming sections and the transparent image forming section are arranged such that the transparent image is transferred so as to form a transparent image layer on an outer surface of the color image on the recording material at a fixing time by the fixing device, and wherein an amount of wax contained in the transparent toner is larger than an amount of wax contained in each color toner of the plurality of color toners and smaller than an amount of base resin contained in the transparent toner. | 06-02-2011 |
20110135330 | PAPER TYPE DETERMINATION DEVICE - A paper type determination device of the invention drives plural light emitting points different from one another and having sequentially increasing distances from a reference point to emit light in such a manner that each is identified for irradiating one surface of a sheet of paper subjected to determination. A photodetection device set at a specific detection field of view having the center at the reference point is disposed on the other surface side of the sheet of paper, and it receives light having passed through the sheet of paper from the respective light emitting points at positions on inside and outside of the detection field of view to detect intensity of light for each light emitting point. A diffusing characteristic of the sheet of paper is obtained on the basis of the intensity of light from each light emitting point detected by the photodetection device, and a paper type is determined on the basis of the diffusing characteristic. | 06-09-2011 |
20110142461 | ULTRASONIC WAVE CONTROL DEVICE AND RECORDING MATERIAL DETERMINING DEVICE - In a device for detecting a basis weight of a recording material, an initial measurement is performed by using ultrasonic waves that have passed through the recording material, and the recording material is roughly classified first. By changing the number of pulses of the driving signal in accordance with a result of the initial measurement, the basis weight of the recording material can be detected by using ultrasonic waves suitable for the recording material, so that the detection accuracy of the basis weight of the recording material can be increased. | 06-16-2011 |
20110142462 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING METHOD - According to one embodiment, an image forming apparatus includes a characteristic acquiring unit configured to acquire a characteristic of the medium, a fixing device including a heating member configured to heat the front surface of the medium and a pressing member configured to heat a rear surface of the medium, and a control unit configured to turn off, when the thickness or the basis weight of the medium is determined to be equal to or smaller than a predetermined value based on an acquired characteristic of the medium, heating power for the pressing member at start of a fixing operation by the fixing device and control the temperature of the pressing member during the fixing operation to the temperature between a second threshold temperature which is temperature lower than a temperature during standby of the fixing operation, and a first threshold temperature lower than the second threshold temperature. | 06-16-2011 |
20110176821 | FIXING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A fixing device, in which an unfixed image carried by a recording medium is passed through a fixing nip part being pressed by a fixing rotative body and a pressuring rotative body, and is fixed to the recording medium, is disclosed, including: a pressing part, and control part. The pressing part applies a pressure to the fixing nip part. The control part controls the pressure to be applied to the fixing nip part by the pressing part, to be lower than a case in which the recording medium passes through a curl correcting part for correcting a curl of the recording medium, when the recording medium does not pass through the curl correcting part. | 07-21-2011 |
20110176822 | IMAGE FIXING APPARATUS STABLY CONTROLLING A FIXING TEMPERATURE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS USING THE SAME - An image forming apparatus includes an image forming mechanism and an image fixing unit. The image forming mechanism forms a toner image on a recording sheet. The image fixing unit fixes the toner image onto the recording sheet. The image fixing unit includes a magnetic flux generator, a heat member, a magnetic flux adjuster, and a controlling member. The magnetic flux generator generates a magnetic flux. The heat member is heated inductively by the magnetic flux generated by the magnetic flux generator. The magnetic flux adjuster reduces the magnetic flux active on the heat member to form a heat reduction area in an outer circumferential surface of the heat member in a width direction thereof. The controlling member moves the magnetic flux adjuster to change the heat reduction area. | 07-21-2011 |
20110176823 | IMAGE HEATING APPARATUS - An image heating apparatus includes a heating member for heating a toner image on a recording material in a heating nip, a pressing member for forming the heating nip and being in contact with the heating member, an abrading member for abrading a surface of the heating member, a contact-and-separation device for causing contact and separation of the abrading member with respect to the heating member, and a selecting device for selecting, depending on the basis weight of the recording material to be heated by the heating member, whether or not the contact-and-separation means brings the abrading member into contact with the heating member before a recording material is conveyed to the heating nip. | 07-21-2011 |
20110200345 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, TONER IMAGE TRANSFER AND FIXING METHOD, AND COMPUTER-READABLE RECORDING MEDIUM HAVING RECORDED THEREON TONER IMAGE TRANSFER AND FIXING PROGRAM - According to one embodiment, an image forming apparatus includes a photoconductive member, an intermediate transfer belt, a transfer and fixing belt, a fixing and pressing roller, and a heating device. The heating device heats a toner image on the transfer and fixing belt between a first toner image transfer position for transfer from the intermediate transfer belt onto the transfer and fixing belt and a second toner image transfer position for transfer from the transfer and fixing belt onto a sheet in a moving direction of a belt surface of the transfer and fixing belt and, at the same time, heats the sheet conveyed to the second toner image transfer position. | 08-18-2011 |
20110222881 | FIXING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS INCLUDING SAME - A fixing device for fixing a toner image on a recording medium includes a fixing roller to rotate in a predetermined direction of rotation, a pressing roller to rotate and contact an outer circumferential surface of the fixing roller to form a nip between the pressing roller and the fixing roller through which the recording medium bearing the toner image passes to fix the toner image by heat and pressure, a pressing lever to hold both lateral end portions of the pressing roller, and a cam disposed on a camshaft, to rotate the pressing lever to change the position of the pressing roller. Rotation of the cam in a first, pressing direction enables the pressing roller to pressingly contact the fixing roller. Rotation of the cam in a second direction opposite the pressing direction enables the pressing roller to separate from the fixing roller. | 09-15-2011 |
20110229168 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, IMAGE FORMING METHOD, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR CAUSING A COMPUTER TO EXECUTE THE METHOD - An image forming apparatus includes: an image carrier; a toner image forming unit that forms a toner image on the image carrier; a transfer unit that transfers the toner image on the image carrier to a transfer target having ridges and valleys on a surface thereof; an adjusting unit that adjusts a ratio of A/B, where A is a transfer ratio [%] from the image carrier to a valley portion of the transfer target while B is a transfer ratio [%] from the image carrier to a ridge portion of the transfer target, based on an adjustment input by a user; and a control unit that controls a transfer condition of the transfer unit based on the ratio of A/B adjusted by the adjusting unit. | 09-22-2011 |
20110229169 | IMAGE FORMING SYSTEM - An image forming system including: a fixing device for fixing a toner image on the recording sheet; a curl flattening section for flattening a curl formed on the recording sheet, and conveying the recording sheet in a downstream direction against the fixing device; a first conveying route for conveying the recording sheet having been processed by the fixing device to the curl flattening section; a second conveying route, being longer than the first conveying route, for conveying the processed recording sheet to the curl flattening section; a switching section for switching the conveying route, to guide to the first conveying route or the second conveying route; and a control section for controlling the switching section to guide the recording sheet to the first conveying route or the second conveying route, based on a type of the recording sheet, having been processed by the fixing device. | 09-22-2011 |
20110229170 | FIXING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An excitation coil positioned along an axial direction of a fixing rotational body having a heat generating layer causes the heat generating layer to generate heat by electromagnetic induction. Magnetic flux shielding members positioned outside the excitation coil in a radial direction of the fixing rotational body cover at least one end of a maximum sheet passing region. A controller moves the magnetic flux shielding members along the excitation coil, and when a fed sheet has a width smaller than a width of the maximum sheet passing region, a center hole of the excitation coil is more widely covered. In a plan view, a circumference of each of the magnetic flux shielding members partially and obliquely crosses with the center hole in the axial direction of the fixing rotational body. | 09-22-2011 |
20110236045 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes an image forming portion for forming a toner image of color toner and transparent toner on a recording material; a heating device for heating the toner image formed on the recording material; an execution portion for executing a mode in which the transparent toner is partly placed in an image formable region of the recording material; and a control portion for controlling, on the basis of an amount of the color toner to be placed in an adjacent region adjacent to a region in which the transparent toner is to be placed, an amount of the transparent toner so that the amount of the transparent toner to be partly placed on the recording material when glossiness in the adjacent region is high is larger than that when the glossiness in the adjacent region is low. | 09-29-2011 |
20110262160 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING METHOD - An image forming apparatus and method which can take a countermeasure against a tail or the like in consideration of differences of various conditions such as a kind of transfer paper and the like is provided. The apparatus has an image processing portion for extracting an image pattern whose image information has a concentration of 100% and executing a thin-out process for thinning out a predetermined area in the extracted image pattern at a predetermined ratio. The image processing portion or step changes the thin-out process according to the transfer paper kind. | 10-27-2011 |
20110268461 | Image forming apparatus and method for controlling image forming apparatus - An image forming apparatus includes: a photosensitive element; a writing light source; a conveying unit; a light-emitting unit; a detection unit; a writing control unit; and an adjustment unit. The detection unit detects reflected light from a recording medium. The writing control unit controls the writing light source based on operational timing when a signal output from the detection unit turns to a fixed threshold. The adjustment unit acquires information of a gloss level of the recording medium, and adjusts light emission intensity of the light-emitting unit according to the acquired information of the gloss level in such a manner that a signal output from the detection unit when the light-emitting unit irradiates a plain region of the recording medium approximates a certain reference value. | 11-03-2011 |
20110274453 | FIXING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS INCORPORATING SAME - A fixing device includes a metal thermal conductor provided inside a loop formed by a fixing rotary body to heat the fixing rotary body; a heater provided inside the metal thermal conductor to heat the metal thermal conductor; a pad support provided inside the metal thermal conductor; and a reflector provided between the heater and the pad support to reflect heat emitted by the heater thereto toward an inner circumferential surface of the metal thermal conductor. The reflector includes a center reflection portion provided at a center of the reflector in a longitudinal direction thereof and a plurality of end reflection portions provided at respective lateral ends of the reflector. A plurality of reflector moving assemblies is connected to the plurality of end reflection portions of the reflector, respectively, to tilt the plurality of end reflection portions toward the center reflection portion. | 11-10-2011 |
20110274454 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus to which a paper handling unit is connected thereto is provided. The image forming apparatus detects the size of a sheet in a direction in which the sheet is conveyed for image formation. The image forming apparatus outputs sheet size mismatch information indicating that the size of the sheet does not match a predetermined size to the paper handling unit before a size detecting operation thereof has been completed detecting the trailing edge of the sheet is greater than the predetermined size. | 11-10-2011 |
20110280601 | Apparatus and method to control temperature of heating roller used in fusing device of image forming apparatus - The apparatus includes a heating roller that generates heat for melting toner attached to a printing medium; a first induction coil that is disposed outside the heating roller and heats the heating roller by using induced current generated according to current flowing through the first induction coil; two second induction coils that are disposed at upper portions of both ends of the first induction coil and heat the heating roller by using induced current generated according to current flowing through the two second induction coils; a power supply unit that supplies current to the first induction coil and the two second induction coils; and a control unit that controls the power supply unit to supply current flowing in the same direction or different directions to the first induction coil and the second induction coils according to the size of paper fed into the heating roller. | 11-17-2011 |
20110280602 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus according to an embodiment includes a charging device that charges an electric charge to an image carrier, a developing device supplying the image carrier with a developer, and a transfer device that transfers a toner image formed on the image carrier by a developing device onto a recording medium. The apparatus further includes a control unit, discriminates between a first mode of forming an image on a first recording medium of a first thickness and a second mode of forming an image on a second recording medium thinner than the first recording medium to control a developing contrast electric potential, and controls a magnitude of the developing contrast electric potential in the second mode so as to be lower than the first mode. | 11-17-2011 |
20110280603 | FIXING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - In order that the air surrounding a fixing member is prevented from entering a blowing section for blowing separation air, a wind speed setting section is provided with switchable control modes, namely, a first control mode (control mode for operating the blower fan at a wind speed for separation) and a second control mode (control mode for operating the blower fan at a low speed). This structure allows the blower fan to be controlled in conformity to any one of these first and second control modes. | 11-17-2011 |
20110286756 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus, which forms an image on a recording medium, including: an image bearing member; a toner image forming portion configured to form a toner image on the image bearing member; a transfer device configured to transfer the toner image formed on the image bearing member to the recording medium; a fixing device configured to pressurize and heat the recording medium to which the toner image is transferred, to fix the toner image on the recording medium; and a control circuit portion configured to control a temperature of the fixing device, wherein the control circuit portion controls a temperature of the fixing device for a first recording medium considering a temperature of the fixing device for a second recording medium to be fixed after the first recording medium. | 11-24-2011 |
20110311250 | FIXING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A fixing device for thermally fixing image onto recording sheet by causing recording sheet to pass through fixing nip, while heating electromagnetic induction heating layer provided in heating rotation body by flux generated by flux generator including exciting coil located a distance away from circumferential surface of heating rotation body along width direction of heating rotation body. The flux generator includes: magnetic cores arranged to be separated from each other in width direction, to face heating rotation body via exciting coil; holder holding predetermined magnetic cores, arranged in correspondence with non-paper-pass area of heating rotation body, in displaceable state; displacement unit displacing predetermined magnetic cores in predetermined move unit, which is a unit of one magnetic core or a unit of a predetermined number of consecutively placed magnetic cores; and controller controlling displacement unit to displace predetermined magnetic cores in sequence in predetermined move unit. | 12-22-2011 |
20110311251 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING METHOD - According to one embodiment, an image forming apparatus includes an image forming portion configured to form a toner image on a recording medium, a fixing unit configured to be brought into press-contact from both sides with the recording medium formed with the toner image to heat the recording medium at a predetermined fixing temperature, a memory configured to store a first fixing temperature for determining that a monochrome image can be fixed, and a second fixing temperature for determining that a color image can be fixed, higher than the first fixing temperature, and a controller configured to correct at least one of the first fixing temperature and the second fixing temperature depending on at least a thickness of the recording medium or a peripheral temperature of the image forming apparatus. | 12-22-2011 |
20110311252 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, RESISTANCE MEASURING DEVICE OF RECORDING MEDIUM, AND RESISTANCE MEASURING METHOD - An image forming apparatus according to an embodiment includes: an image carrier; a transfer device which transfers a toner image formed on the image carrier onto a recording medium; a resistance measuring device which causes a current to flow through the recording medium before transferring the toner image and measures the resistance of the recording medium; and a setting unit which sets a condition of the transfer on the basis of the measurement result of the resistance of the recording medium. The resistance measuring device includes an electric shock prevention member which prevents the current from flowing to a user through the recording medium during the measurement of the resistance of the recording medium. | 12-22-2011 |
20110311253 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMATION PROCESSING METHOD - An image forming apparatus with no staining or deterioration of images can be provided. The image forming apparatus includes: an image holding body that transfers toner onto a sheet; a transfer voltage applying unit that applies a transfer voltage for transferring the toner onto the sheet from the image holding body; a fixing unit that includes a heating rotation body which heats the toner on the sheet to fix the toner onto the sheet, and a pressurizing body which forms a nip portion with the heating rotation body and nips and transports the sheet by cooperating with the heating rotation body; a sensor unit that is at a position on an upstream side of the fixing unit in a sheet transport direction and detects an electrical resistance value of the sheet; and a voltage applying unit that applies a predetermined voltage value having the opposite polarity to that of a voltage applied by the transfer voltage applying unit to a reverse surface to a toner transfer surface of the sheet, to the pressurizing body, on the basis of the electrical resistance value of the sheet detected by the sensor unit. | 12-22-2011 |
20110318030 | FIXING APPARATUS AND FIXING METHOD - An fixing apparatus of the present invention includes: a developer image forming section that is provided to an apparatus main body and forms a developer image on a recording medium; a fixing section that is provided to the apparatus main body and fixes the developer image that has been formed on the recording medium by the developer image forming section; an identification section that is provided to the fixing section and allows a type of recording medium for being fixed by the fixing section to be identified; and a banning section that is provided to the apparatus main body, identifies the type of recording medium for being fixed by the fixing section using the identification section and bans image forming on a recording medium that has a different type from the type of recording medium for being fixed by the fixing section. | 12-29-2011 |
20110318031 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - The present invention provides an image forming apparatus having a conveying portion | 12-29-2011 |
20120002988 | RECORDING MATERIAL DETERMINATION APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A recording material determination apparatus includes a first detection unit configured to detect a characteristic corresponding to a surface condition of a recording material based on a captured image of a surface of the recording material, a second detection unit configured to detect a characteristic corresponding to a grammage of the recording material based on an ultrasonic wave detected via the recording material by irradiating the recording material with an ultrasonic wave, and a conveyance unit configured to convey the recording material. The first detection unit and the second detection unit are located opposite each other with respect to the conveyance unit. | 01-05-2012 |
20120020685 | RECORDING MATERIAL DETERMINATION DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A recording material determination device includes an ultrasonic wave transmission unit configured to transmit an ultrasonic wave to a recording material based on a driving signal, an ultrasonic wave receiving unit configured to receive the ultrasonic wave, a light exposure unit configured to expose the recording material to light, a light receiving unit configured to receive light, an amplification unit configured to amplify an ultrasonic wave received by the ultrasonic wave receiving unit to a first output value, and after the amplification unit amplifies the ultrasonic wave received by the ultrasonic wave receiving unit to the first output value, a control unit performs control so as to obtain the second output value by the light exposure unit and the light receiving unit during a period of time after the amplification of the ultrasonic wave is stopped and before the next ultrasonic wave comes to be transmittable. | 01-26-2012 |
20120045230 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A mode in which a toner image formed on an intermediate transfer belt passes through a primary transfer portion without a toner image being transferred from a photosensitive drum onto the intermediate transfer belt is provided. In the mode, an area of the photosensitive drum that passes through the primary transfer portion while the toner image is passing through the primary transfer portion is defined as a first area. When the first area passes through a charging position, a charging bias is adjusted so that the occurrence of an image defect is prevented. | 02-23-2012 |
20120045231 | TRANSFER DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS INCORPORATING SAME - A transfer device includes a controller that controls a transfer bias supply to cause a transfer bias to increase, between an image carrier and a first rotary body disposed opposite the image carrier, a potential of the first rotary body toward an opposite polarity to a charge polarity of toner of a toner image on the image carrier to be higher than a potential of the image carrier, and to change, on the basis of identified recording medium type, a returning peak value which is one of a peak value of positive polarity and a peak value of negative polarity of the transfer bias and which generates an electric field that causes the toner having moved to the recording medium from the image carrier to return to the image carrier from the recording medium in a transfer nip. | 02-23-2012 |
20120093529 | Fusing device for image forming apparatus and image forming apparatus having the same - A fusing device for an image forming apparatus that heats an infused image on a printing medium by an electromagnetic induction heating method includes a heated member having a metallic layer; a plurality of main cores disposed to be spaced apart a predetermined distance from a surface of the heated member, the plurality of main cores arranged to be spaced apart a predetermined interval from each other in a length direction of the heated member; and a main coil wound to surround the plurality of main cores. | 04-19-2012 |
20120106994 | RECORDING-MATERIAL IDENTIFYING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - By providing a step in a pressing member for pressing a recording material P to a reading surface of an image-pickup unit, surface images in a tight contact area and a non-tight-contact area are picked up. By identifying the type of the recording material P based on the two surface images, the accuracy of identifying the recording material is improved without using a plurality of sensors. | 05-03-2012 |
20120106995 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS CAPABLE OF COMPUTING POWER CONSUMPTION THEREOF, AND CONTROL METHOD AND STORAGE MEDIUM THEREFOR - An image forming apparatus capable of accurately computing power consumption thereof. First power consumption consumed by a fixing device of the image forming apparatus until the fixing device becomes a state capable of fixing a toner image onto a sheet is computed, second power consumption that includes power consumption consumed by the fixing device to fix the toner image onto the sheet and power consumption consumed by conveyance of the sheet is computed according to at least a sheet type, and third power consumption consumed by an exposure unit of the image forming apparatus to expose a photosensitive member of the image forming apparatus to light is computed according to an image to be formed. Then, a sum of the first to third power consumptions is computed. | 05-03-2012 |
20120114346 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a fixing device that has: a fixing roller heated by induction and a pressing roller brought into press-contact with the fixing roller to fix a toner image borne on a paper sheet conveyed toward the fixing device by a conveyor unit. When a paper sheet having a width smaller than a width of a maximum-width recording medium that can be passed through the fixing device is passed through the fixing device, a non-paper passing region is formed at each end portion of each of the fixing and pressing rollers. Sirocco fans cool the non-paper passing region at a part of an outer peripheral surface of the pressing roller. The pressing roller is disposed opposed to the outer side of the main body of the image forming apparatus. | 05-10-2012 |
20120134693 | OPTICAL SENSOR AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An optical sensor includes an irradiation system including a semiconductor laser having plural light-emitting parts; and at least one photodetector that detects an amount of light which is emitted from the irradiation system and reflected on a sheet-like object. | 05-31-2012 |
20120134694 | MEDIUM DETECTION DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMATION APPARATUS - An aspect is a medium detection device to detect a slack of a medium to be introduced into a fixation device in an image formation apparatus. The fixation device is detachable from a part of the image formation apparatus other than the fixation device. The medium detection device includes a lever support provided at the fixation device, a lever supported by the lever support such that the lever moves or displaces when the lever comes in contact with slack medium, a sensor support provided at the part of the image formation apparatus other than the fixation device, and a sensor supported by the sensor support and configured to detect the movement or the displacement of the lever. | 05-31-2012 |
20120148274 | PROVIDING DESIRED GLOSS TO MIXED MEDIA SHEETS - Method of fixing marking particles to sheets having different basis weights in a continuous stream of receiver sheets, includes: providing two fixing members which engage each other to form a nip, at least one of the members being heated; and adjusting at least one parameter including temperature, speed, or pressure in the fixing nip, which will provide a predetermined gloss upon the sheet(s). The method further includes feeding the sheets of the higher basis weight through the nip so that the higher basis weight sheet(s) is fed more times through the nip than the other sheet(s); and applying marking particles to the prepared heavier basis weight sheets and passing them through the nip so that the gloss formed by the marking particles is substantially the same for heavier basis weight sheets as for lighter basis weight sheets. | 06-14-2012 |
20120148275 | RECORDING MATERIAL DETECTION APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A recording material detection apparatus having a detecting device configured to detect a surface state of a recording material on the basis of reflected light from a surface of the recording material includes a reference surface to be irradiated with light from a light source, the detecting device includes a light-shielding portion configured to control conditions for detecting information relating to the surface state of the recording material on the basis of the reflected surface from the reference surface, and cover a portion of the reference panel other than the reference surface so as to prevent the light from the light source from being reflected from the portion of the reference panel other than the reference surface and being received by the light-receiving unit. | 06-14-2012 |
20120148276 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD FOR THE SAME - When image forming is to be successively performed on recording sheets having different sizes, an image forming apparatus suitably executes adjustment processing on a fixing apparatus or the like used in the image forming, and maintains image quality as well as suppresses a drop in productivity. To accomplish this, the image forming apparatus specifies the size of a printing material onto which an image is to be performed, and with use of the specified printing material size and the size of printing materials on which images have been formed immediately previously, determines whether it is necessary to execute adjustment processing for maintaining image quality. Specifically, adjustment processing is executed only if the size of the printing material on which an image is to be formed is greater than the size of the printing materials on which images were formed immediately previously. | 06-14-2012 |
20120213536 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, IMAGE FORMING METHOD, AND IMAGE FORMING SYSTEM - An image forming apparatus includes a calculating unit configured to specify pieces of thickness information for calculation of a difference between thicknesses of a recording medium among pieces of thickness information each indicating thicknesses of the recording medium and calculate the difference using the specified pieces of thickness information, the pieces of thickness information being obtained as a detection result by sequentially detecting the thicknesses of the recording medium being conveyed; a determining unit configured to determine whether the calculated difference is equal to or larger than a first threshold; and a transfer unit configured to transfer an image onto the recording medium using at least an alternating-current voltage when the difference is equal to or larger than the first threshold. | 08-23-2012 |
20120219309 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING METHOD - An image forming apparatus includes a toner image forming device that forms a toner image by using at least one of a plurality of toners that include a color toner and a first transparent toner; an intermediate transfer body to which the toner image is transferred; a second transfer unit that transfers the toner image to a recording medium; and a controller that acquires characteristic information that represents a characteristic of in-plane resistance variation of a currently-used recording medium before the toner image forming device forms the toner image, and if the characteristic information indicates that the in-plane resistance variation of the currently-used recording medium is larger than a predetermined value, controls the toner image forming device so that the toner image forming device forms a transparent toner image in such a way that a color toner image is superimposed on the transparent toner image on the intermediate transfer body. | 08-30-2012 |
20120224871 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a forming section that forms an image on a side of paper; a fixing section that applies heat to fix the image onto the side of the paper; a paper reversing section that reverses a front and back of the paper having the image fixed onto a first side in the fixing section; a first measuring section that is provided between a registration roller and the forming section to measure a first moisture content of the paper before an image is formed on the first side, and a second moisture content of the paper before an image is formed on a second side, after the image is fixed on the first side; and a calculating section that calculates amount of change of the size of the paper on the basis of the difference between the first moisture content and the second moisture content. | 09-06-2012 |
20120237231 | INFORMATION PROCESSOR, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD, AND NON-TRANSITORY COMPUTER-READABLE MEDIUM - An information processor includes a storage unit storing a first coefficient in correspondence with a characteristic of a sheet of paper, a first acquisition unit acquiring a first signal based on the water content of a first sheet of paper not having an image formed thereon, a second acquisition unit acquiring a second signal based on the water content of the first sheet of paper having an image formed thereon and being heated for fixing, a determination unit determining the characteristic of the first sheet of paper, a first calculation unit calculating a variation in water content of the first sheet of paper using the difference between the first signal and the second signal and the first coefficient stored in correspondence with the determined characteristic, and a second calculation unit calculating an expansion and contraction ratio of the first sheet of paper using the variation in water content. | 09-20-2012 |
20120294636 | GRAMMAGE DETECTION SENSOR OF RECORDING MEDIUM AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A grammage detection sensor which detects a grammage of a recording medium using an ultrasonic wave includes a transmitting unit configured to transmit the ultrasonic wave and a receiving unit including a first vibration member configured to receive the ultrasonic wave that is transmitted from the transmitting unit and passes through the recording medium. The receiving unit includes a guide member configured to guide the ultrasonic wave that passes through the recording medium to the first vibration member. A length from a surface of the first vibration member to a plane including an end plane of the guide member along a line that passes through a center of the first vibration member and is perpendicular to the first vibration member is approximately n times of one-half wavelength of the ultrasonic wave transmitted from the transmitting unit where n is an integer of one or greater. | 11-22-2012 |
20120328311 | APPARATUS, METHODS, AND SYSTEMS FOR ENGAGING AND DISENGAGING A FIXING NIP FOR CUT SHEET PROCESSING - A fixing device includes a first fixing member a second fixing member that are movable to engage and disengage a fixing nip defined by the first and second fixing member. The fixing nip is disengaged to accommodate entry and exit of a cut sheet, and engaged to accommodate warm-pressure fixing a marking material image to the cut sheet. | 12-27-2012 |
20130039672 | RECORDING MATERIAL DETERMINATION APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A recording material determination apparatus includes a transmission unit configured to transmit an ultrasonic wave, a reception unit configured to receive an ultrasonic wave transmitted from the transmission unit and then via a recording material, and a control unit configured to cause the transmission unit to transmit an ultrasonic wave a plurality of times under different conditions, measure an output value a plurality of times, and determine the recording material based on the output values measured a plurality of times. | 02-14-2013 |
20130051825 | PRODUCING MATTE-FINISH PRINT ON RECEIVER - A method of producing a print having a matte finish on a receiver having a surface type includes depositing toner with a viscosity of less than about 10 kpoise in a selected pattern on a receiver. A fixing system is provided including a rotatable fixing member and a pressure member arranged to form a fixing nip between them. The fixing member has a selected non-smooth surface that includes silicone. A release lubricant is applied to the fixing member. A fixing temperature and a fixing speed are selected based on the receiver surface type. The fixing member is heated to have a surface temperature substantially equal to the selected fixing temperature. The fixing member is rotated at the selected fixing speed to draw the toned receiver through the fixing nip, so that the toner is heated and fixed to the receiver and the resulting print has a matte finish. | 02-28-2013 |
20130051826 | Image Heating Apparatus - An image heating apparatus including: an image heating member configured to heat an image on a sheet; a heating device configured to heat the image heating member so that a temperature of the image heating member is kept to a target temperature; an air blowing device configured to blow an air toward the image heating member when a predetermined sheet is separated from the image heating member; and an actuating device configured to actuate the air blowing device to cool the image heating member by blowing the air when the target temperature of the image heating member is lowered. | 02-28-2013 |
20130084088 | FIXATION DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMATION APPARATUS - A fixation device includes a first roller, a second roller facing the first roller, a stretch member configured to travel to pass between the first roller and the second roller, a press member configured to press the stretch member against the first roller, a heater member configured to heat the stretch member, a movement mechanism configured to move at least one of the first roller and the second roller in such directions that the first roller and the second roller come close to each other and are spaced away from each other, and a controller configured, depending on a type of a medium, to change a contact state between the first roller and the second roller by driving the movement mechanism. | 04-04-2013 |
20130094870 | IMAGE TRANSFER DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS INCORPORATING SAME - An image transfer device includes an image bearing member, a pair of opposed transfer members, a media separator, and an electrical bias applicator. The image bearing member defines an image bearing surface on which a toner image is created. The pair of opposed transfer members is disposed opposite each other via the image bearing member to form a transfer nip therebetween through which a recording medium is passed. One of the transfer members defines a first electrode to which a first electrical bias is applied. The media separator defines a second electrode downstream from the transfer nip to which a second electrical bias is applied. The electrical bias applicator includes a power supply connectable with each of the first and second electrodes to supply the first electrical bias to the first electrode and the second electrical bias to the second electrode. | 04-18-2013 |
20130101303 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND METHOD CAPABLE OF IMPROVING FIXING QUALITY - In an image forming apparatus, multiple toners are superimposed, formed and layered, on a recording medium and a toner image is made. The toner that superimposed lastly on the recording medium, that is, a top layer of toner, has a toner fixing characteristic value that causes the top layer of toner to be fixed on the recording medium by lower temperature than one or all of the other multiple toners. This provides for a better fixing quality. | 04-25-2013 |
20130108291 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING SAME | 05-02-2013 |
20130148990 | RECORDING MATERIAL DETERMINATION APPARATUS ANDIMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A recording material determination apparatus includes a first detection unit configured to detect a characteristic corresponding to a surface condition of a recording material based on a captured image of a surface of the recording material, a second detection unit configured to detect a characteristic corresponding to a grammage of the recording material based on an ultrasonic wave detected via the recording material by irradiating the recording material with an ultrasonic wave, and a conveyance unit configured to convey the recording material. The first detection unit and the second detection unit are located opposite each other with respect to the conveyance unit. | 06-13-2013 |
20130170848 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus has rotatable members for rotatably retaining respective ones of flanges mounted to opposite ends of a roll sheet, and placement stages on which the roll sheet is to be placed and on which respective ones of the rotatable members are mounted. Racks are mounted to respective ones of the placement stages for undergoing movement to move the placement stages relative one another to vary a distance between the placement stages. A pinion is arranged between the racks for undergoing rotation to move the racks, and a potentiometer whose resistance value varies in accordance with a distance between the placement stages undergoing movement with rotation of the pinion is provided. An A/D converter outputs a value based on a resistance value of the potentiometer. A calculation device calculates a width of the roll sheet based on the value output from the A/D converter. A memory stores the calculated width of the roll sheet. | 07-04-2013 |
20130195482 | SHEET CONVEYING APPARATUS, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, SHEET CONVEYING DISTANCE CALCULATION APPARATUS AND SHEET LENGTH CALCULATION APPARATUS - A sheet conveying apparatus includes a sheet conveying unit that conveys a sheet; a conveying amount measuring unit that measures a conveying amount of the sheet conveyed by the sheet conveying unit; a first detection unit that detects the sheet downstream of the sheet conveying unit in a conveying direction of the sheet; a second detection unit that detects the sheet upstream of the sheet conveying unit in the conveying direction of the sheet; and a conveying distance calculation unit that calculates a conveying distance of the sheet based on the measured result by the conveying amount measuring unit and the detected results detected by the first detection unit and the second detection unit. | 08-01-2013 |
20130195483 | TRANSFER DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS INCLUDING SAME - A transfer device includes a transfer bias power source, a switching device, and a sheet dependent condition setting device. The transfer bias power source applies to a transfer member, based on sheet dependent conditions for a recording medium onto which a toner image is transferred, one of a DC transfer bias and a superimposed transfer bias including an alternating current (AC) component superimposed on a DC component. The switching device switches a transfer mode between a DC transfer mode in which the DC transfer bias is applied to the transfer device and a superimposed-bias transfer mode in which the superimposed transfer bias is applied to the transfer device. The sheet dependent condition setting device sets arbitrarily at least one of the sheet dependent conditions for the recording medium at the superimposed-bias transfer mode. The sheet dependent conditions include a DC component value and an AC component value. | 08-01-2013 |
20130216245 | OPTICAL SENSOR AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An optical sensor is disclosed, including an irradiating system; a first photodetecting system including a first photodetector which is arranged on an optical path of a light which is specularly reflected from a subject; a second photodetecting system including an optical element which is arranged on an optical path of a light which is diffuse reflected from the subject within an incident face in the subject and which separates a linearly polarized component in a second polarizing direction which is orthogonal to a first polarizing direction and a second photodetector which receives a light separated by the optical element; and a restricting member which is arranged on an optical path of an incident light with respect to at least one of the first photodetector and the second photodetector and which restricts a light receiving range in the at least one photodetector. | 08-22-2013 |
20130216246 | OPTICAL SENSOR AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An optical sensor is disclosed. The optical sensor includes a light source in which a semiconductor laser having multiple light-emitting units is sealed with one resin member; a light source driving unit which causes the multiple light-emitting units to emit light; and at least one photodetector which detects a light amount of a light which is emitted from the multiple light-emitting units and is reflected from a subject. | 08-22-2013 |
20130216247 | OPTICAL SENSOR AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An optical sensor is disclosed. The optical sensor includes an irradiating system which irradiates a linearly polarized light; a first photodetecting system including a first photodetector which is arranged on an optical path of a light which is specularly reflected from a subject; a second photodetecting system including an optical element which is arranged on an optical path of a light which is diffuse reflected from the subject within an incident face in the subject and which separates a linearly polarized component in a second polarizing direction which is orthogonal to a first polarizing direction and a second photodetector which receives a light separated by the optical element, wherein an angle of taking in the light in the first photodetector and an angle of taking in the light in the second photodetector are mutually different. | 08-22-2013 |
20130243454 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS CAPABLE OF PRINTING LONG SHEETS - In the case of a standard sized sheet, a first controller sets a linear velocity D of an image bearing member at a first velocity and sets a linear velocity S of a toner bearing member so that S/D, which is a ratio of the linear velocity S to the linear velocity D, has a first value and a second controller sets the thickness of the toner layer carried on the toner bearing member at a first layer thickness. In the case of a long sheet, the first controller sets the linear velocity D at a second velocity slower than the first velocity and sets the linear velocity S so that the S/D has a second value larger than the first value and the second controller sets the thickness of the toner layer at a second layer thickness smaller than the first layer thickness. | 09-19-2013 |
20130243455 | RECORDING-MEDIUM IMAGING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An effective image area can be properly corrected in accordance with the quantity of light from an irradiation unit by selecting, as the effective image area, pixels having light quantities more than or equal to a threshold value that allows accurate acquisition of a surface image of a recording medium, on the basis of a light quantity distribution of the light from the irradiation unit. This reduces the influence of mounting accuracy of the irradiation unit, and allows the recording medium to be identified accurately. | 09-19-2013 |
20130259498 | RECORDING MATERIAL END POSITION DETECTION APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An rotation angle of a crank arm is calculated on the basis of a period of time in which a recording material is detected or a period of time in which the recording material is not detected and an end position of the recording material is calculated from the calculated rotation angle, so that detection of the end position of the recording material can be started regardless of a stop position of a sensor and the end position of the recording material can be accurately detected without using a dedicated drive source or member to reciprocate the sensor. | 10-03-2013 |
20130302047 | SHEET SIZE DETECTING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus has a sheet size detecting unit with first and second arms each moved by contact with a moving sheet, the arms disposed at differing locations in a direction orthogonal to sheet movement. An actuator which acts on the sensor is not moved when only one arm is moved by sheet contact, but is moved when both arms are moved by sheet contact so that the sensor output level when only one arm is moved is the same as when neither arm is moved, and the output level of the sensor when both of arms have moved differs from when neither arm moves. The first and second arms have first and second regulating portions, respectively, for regulating actuator movement, and the actuator is moved only when both regulating portions are moved from contact of both arms with the moving sheet. | 11-14-2013 |
20130315612 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes: a transfer belt that is stretched on a plurality of support rollers including a backup roller in a loop-like manner and has an outer surface for carrying thereon a toner image; a transfer roller that is brought into pressurized contact with the backup roller across the transfer belt and forms a transfer nip with the transfer belt; a restriction member that is placed upstream of a transfer nip in a sheet conveying direction so as to be switchable between a first state in which the restriction member is brought closer to an inner surface of the transfer belt and a second state in which a distance of the restriction member from the inner surface of the transfer belt is larger than that in the first state; and a control section that switches a state of the restriction member. | 11-28-2013 |
20130322900 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING METHOD - An image forming apparatus includes a fixing device that is attachable to and detachable from an apparatus body and fixes a developer image onto a recording medium; a setting unit that is provided in the fixing device and in which a size of a recording medium to be used in the fixing device is set; an acquiring unit that is provided in the apparatus body and acquires size information of a recording medium onto which the developer image is to be fixed; a determining unit that compares the size of the recording medium set in the setting unit with the size of the recording medium acquired by the acquiring unit so as to determine whether or not a fixing process is performable by the fixing device; and a notifying unit that at least provides notification of a negative determination result obtained by the determining unit. | 12-05-2013 |
20130343773 | METHOD AN APPARATUS FOR SELECTIVELY LOADING A CLEANING WEB IN A FUSER UNIT BASED ON MEDIA ATTRIBUTES - An approach is provided for selectively loading a cleaning web useful in printing based on various media attributes of a media that is to be processed by a fuser unit. The approach involves determining one or more media attributes associated with a media to be processed by a fuser unit, the fuser unit comprising one or more heat rolls. The approach also involves determining at least one of the one or more media attributes meets a predetermined criteria. The approach further involves causing, at least in part, a cleaning web to contact at least one of the one or more heat rolls based, at least in part, on the determination that one or more media attributes meets the predetermined criteria. | 12-26-2013 |
20140037308 | IMAGE HEATING APPARATUS - An image heating apparatus includes: a rotatable heating member for heating a toner image formed on a recording material by using a toner containing a parting agent; an exciting coil for causing the rotatable heating member to generate heat by electromagnetic induction heating; a magnetic flux suppressing member for suppressing a part of magnetic flux acting from the exciting coil onto the rotatable heating member; a moving mechanism for moving the magnetic flux suppressing member depending on a width size of the recording material; a motor for operating the moving mechanism; and an executing portion capable of selectively executing an operation in a first mode in which a first current is supplied to the motor and an operation in a second mode in which a second current larger than the first current is supplied to the motor. | 02-06-2014 |
20140037309 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes (i) a feeding portion; (ii) an image forming portion; (iii) a fixing portion, wherein the fixing portion includes: (iii-i) a rotatable member; (iii-ii) an exciting coil configured to cause the rotatable member to generate heat by electromagnetic induction heating; (iii-iii) a magnetic flux suppressing member configured to suppress a part of magnetic flux acting from the exciting coil to the rotatable member; and (iii-iv) a motor for moving the magnetic flux suppressing member depending on a width size of the sheet; and (iv) a controller configured to variably control a feeding interval of the sheet by the feeding portion so that a number of times of movement per unit time of the magnetic flux suppressing member is not more than a predetermined value when image formation of a plurality of sheets different in width size is continuously effected. | 02-06-2014 |
20140037310 | RECORDING SHEET SURFACE DETECTION APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus for detecting surface conditions of a recording sheet on which an image is formed, includes a light source configured to emit a first light beam and a second light beam, an image capture device configured to capture a first image of a surface of the recording sheet illuminated with the first light beam and a second image of the surface of the recording sheet illuminated with the second light beam. A first straight line including a ray in a center of the first light beam and a second straight line including a ray in a center of the second light beam intersect with each other, when each straight line is projected onto the surface of the recording sheet, and a detection device configured to detect information about the unevenness on the surface of the recording sheet based on the first image and the second image. | 02-06-2014 |
20140086604 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit, an image carrier carrying a developer image, a transfer unit for transferring the developer image to a recording medium, a voltage supplying unit for supplying a transfer voltage to the transfer unit, a transfer current measuring unit for measuring a transfer current value when a prescribed voltage is applied while no recording medium exists in the transfer unit, a resistor serially coupled between the transfer current measuring unit and the transfer unit, a memory unit for memorizing electrical character information of the recording medium, and a controller for controlling the transfer voltage where the developer is transferred to the recording medium, based on a consequence measured by the transfer current measuring unit, a recording medium width in association with the recording medium type, the electrical character information, and a resistance value of the resistor, to adjust a secondary transfer current value. | 03-27-2014 |
20140086605 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier, a transfer unit, and a control unit. The image carrier has a surface to bear a toner image thereon. The transfer unit has a transfer member to transfer the toner image onto a recording sheet conveyed in a conveyance direction for trailing-end borderless image formation and duplex image formation. The transfer unit is configured to form the toner image on the recording sheet without forming a margin at a trailing end of the recording sheet in the conveyance sheet in the trailing-end borderless image formation. The transfer unit is configured to form the toner image on front and back faces of the recording sheet in the duplex image formation. When a width of the toner image formed in a borderless image area of the recording sheet in the trailing-end borderless image formation is smaller in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction than a threshold value, the control unit permits the duplex image formation. When the width is the threshold value or greater, the control unit prohibits the duplex image formation. | 03-27-2014 |
20140093260 | RECORDING MATERIAL DETECTION APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A recording material detection apparatus having a detecting device configured to detect a surface state of a recording material on the basis of reflected light from a surface of the recording material includes a reference surface to be irradiated with light from a light source, the detecting device includes a light-shielding portion configured to control conditions for detecting information relating to the surface state of the recording material on the basis of the reflected surface from the reference surface, and cover a portion of the reference panel other than the reference surface so as to prevent the light from the light source from being reflected from the portion of the reference panel other than the reference surface and being received by the light-receiving unit. | 04-03-2014 |
20140105625 | RECORDING MEDIUM DETERMINATION APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - The timing of obtaining an output value for use in a determination of a recording medium is generated from a received ultrasonic wave and a waveform generated by delaying the ultrasonic wave, whereby it is possible to reduce an influence of a reflection wave from the peripheral members and an influence of a change in the environment to improve the accuracy of determination of the recoding medium. | 04-17-2014 |
20140147137 | IMAGE FORMATION APPARATUS - An image formation apparatus includes a primary transfer unit configured to transfer a developer image from an image carrier to an intermediate transfer body, a secondary transfer unit configured to transfer the developer image to a recording medium, a voltage application unit configured to apply a voltage to the secondary transfer unit, a voltage controller configured to control the voltage to be applied to the secondary transfer unit by the voltage application unit, a recording medium type detector configured to detect a type of the recording medium, and a recording medium width detector configured to detect a width of the recording medium in a direction orthogonal to a conveyance direction of the intermediate transfer body. The voltage controller controls the voltage to be applied to the secondary transfer unit, based on the detected recording medium type and the detected recording medium width. | 05-29-2014 |
20140161475 | RECORDING MATERIAL IMAGE CAPTURE DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A recording material image capture device includes light sources radiating light to a recording material, an image capture element receiving the light which is reflected on a surface of the recording material, a cover member provided between the image capture element and the recording material so that the reflected light passes through the cover member, a roller pressing the recording material toward the cover member, and an output portion outputting, based on an image captured by the image capture element, a value related to the recording material to which the light is radiated. The roller is a rotating member which rotates along with movement of the recording material, and the roller includes a recess portion which is prevented from contacting with an entire portion corresponding to the image used for determining the recording material, and projecting portions which are brought into contact with the recording material. | 06-12-2014 |
20140161476 | PRINTING APPARATUS, METHOD FOR CONTROLLING PRINTING APPARATUS, AND STORAGE MEDIUM - A printing apparatus includes a power control unit, a detecting unit, and a determining unit. The power control unit controls power supply to an operation unit, an engine unit, and a controller unit. The detecting unit detects a size of a sheet held in a sheet holding unit. The determining unit determines, after the printing apparatus is shifted to a power saving state which restricts power supply to the operation unit, the engine unit, and the controller unit, whether a size of a sheet specified in a received job and the detected size match each other. Where the determining unit determines that the detected and specified size of the sheets match each other, the power control unit supplies power to the controller engine units while maintaining the restriction on power supply to the operation unit, and shifts the printing apparatus to the power saving state after the job ends. | 06-12-2014 |
20140169813 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS INCLUDING REMOVAL UNIT FOR REMOVING DEVELOPER - An image forming apparatus includes a removal unit configured to remove developer that was not transferred to a recording material; and a control unit configured to control an image forming unit for supplying developer to the removal unit. The image forming unit is configured to form first developer image, and second developer image whose length in the sub-scanning direction is longer than that of the first developer image, and whose amount of developer per unit area is less than or equal to that of the first developer image, and the control unit is further configured to, based on a predetermined relationship between the recording material type and the supplying image, select a supplying image formed by the image forming unit before or after the developer image transferred to the recording material. | 06-19-2014 |
20140199089 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes an intermediate transfer belt that is stretched by multiple rollers, the intermediate transfer belt transporting a toner image on an outer peripheral surface, a second transfer member that performs second transfer, the second transfer transferring the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt to a recording medium, an opposed member that abuts against an inner peripheral surface of the intermediate transfer belt, the opposed member being opposed to the second transfer member, and a changing section that changes a width of contact between the intermediate transfer belt and the second transfer member at a second transfer position, on a basis of paper attribute information of the recording medium, the second transfer position being a position where the second transfer member abuts against the opposed member with the intermediate transfer belt being sandwiched between the second transfer member and the opposed member. | 07-17-2014 |
20140241742 | SENSOR AND IMAGE-FORMING APPARATUS - A sensor comprising an optical sensor including a light source and a plurality of light receivers which receive light emitted from the light source and light regularly reflected and diffusely reflected by an object, a database including output data regarding multiple objects of known and different types from the plurality of light receivers when an incident direction of light emitted from the light source forms a first direction to the object and when the incident direction of light emitted from the light source forms a second direction which is orthogonal to the first direction, and a processor which controls the light emitted from the light source to illuminate an object of unknown type and specifies the type of the object by matching the output data of the plurality of light receivers to the database. | 08-28-2014 |
20140270822 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND METHOD OF ARRANGING SHEET DETECTOR - An image forming apparatus includes an image forming device to form a toner image on a recording medium under a prescribed image forming condition, a fixing device to fix the toner image borne on the recording medium thereonto by heating the recording medium based on target fixing temperature, and a detector to detect a type of recording medium. The type is used in setting at least one of the image forming condition and the target fixing temperature. The inequality Tb>Ta is established when Ta represents a time period needed to reach a setting of fixing temperature allocated to the recording medium with its tip detected by the detector after detection of the tip and Tb represents a time period needed for the recording medium with its tip detected by the detector to reach the fixing device after detection of the tip. | 09-18-2014 |
20140270823 | ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHIC FIXING DEVICE, FIXING ROTARY MEMBER, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, AND FIXING METHOD - An electrophotographic fixing device includes a pressure roller, and a fixing rotary member disposed at a fixed distance away from the pressure roller. The fixing rotary member includes a layer formed of an elastic body. The elastic body includes carbon fibers and hole portions. The electrophotographic fixing device controls pressure of a nip between the pressure roller and the fixing rotary member by a temperature setting according to a sheet type. | 09-18-2014 |
20140270824 | FIXING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A fixing device, corresponding to a plurality of sheet passing widths, includes a rotating member configured to convey a recording medium, rise in temperature, and fix toner; temperature sensors configured to detect the surface temperature of the rotating member; heating members including at least one heat generating unit, provided inside the rotating member; and a control unit configured to control a heating state obtained by the heating members. The heat generating units are provided not to overlap each other in the direction of the sheet passing width orthogonal to the recording medium conveying direction. The temperature sensors are only placed at positions corresponding to the heat generating units used when printing on the recording medium having a minimum width. The control unit controls the heating state in accordance with the surface temperature, a sheet passing width, and an operational state of the rotating member that changes with time. | 09-18-2014 |
20140270825 | RECORDING MEDIUM DETERMINATION APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A recording medium determination apparatus that determines grammage of a recording medium by using an ultrasonic wave includes a transmission unit configured to output an ultrasonic wave having a predetermined frequency, a reception unit configured to receive the ultrasonic wave output from the transmission unit and transmitted through the recording medium and output a received signal, a calculation unit configured to calculate a signal having a peak component according to a cycle of the received signal, and a determination unit configured to determine the grammage of the recording medium based on the signal calculated by the calculation unit. | 09-18-2014 |
20140294411 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier; an intermediate transfer body; a second-transfer member; a support mechanism that supports the second-transfer member in a second-transfer region; a surface-positioning member that is disposed upstream of the second-transfer member in a transport direction; a determination device that determines whether or not a recording medium is a thin medium; and a controller that, in a case where it is determined that the recording medium is a thin medium, controls the support mechanism so as to move the second-transfer member more upstream in the transport direction than in other cases and controls the position of the surface-positioning member so as to move the second-transfer member in a direction such that an angle between the intermediate transfer body and the second-transfer member on the upstream side becomes larger than in other cases. | 10-02-2014 |
20140341598 | INFORMATION FORMING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING SYSTEM - An image forming apparatus includes a medium storing portion storing a recording medium, and a storage unit that stores first size information indicating a size of the stored recording medium. A receiving unit receives print data containing image data and second size information indicating a size relating to the image data. A feeding unit feeds the recording medium from the medium storage portion. An image forming unit forms an image on the recording medium. A detection unit detects a size of the recording medium fed by the feeding unit to obtain third size information. A first determining unit determines whether the first size information corresponds to the second size information. A second determining unit determines whether the third size information corresponds to the second size information. An acquiring unit acquires determination instruction information. A determination control unit causes only the second determining unit to perform determination according to the determination instruction information. | 11-20-2014 |
20140348524 | HEATING APPARATUS FOR HEATING A TONER IMAGE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS INCLUDING THE SAME - A non-contact power supply unit including a secondary coil supplies an alternating voltage to multiple heat generation layers provided in a heat generation film. In one of the heat generation layers, a loop is provided as a variable impedance circuit in which the impedance changes according to the frequency. A capacitance element in which the impedance changes according to the frequency is provided in the loop. The heat generation amounts of the heat generation layers are switched by changing the frequency of the alternating voltage generated in the secondary coil according to the size of the recording material that is the heating target. | 11-27-2014 |
20140376936 | RECORDING-MATERIAL IDENTIFYING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - By providing a step in a pressing member for pressing a recording material P to a reading surface of an image-pickup unit, surface images in a tight contact area and a non-tight-contact area are picked up. By identifying the type of the recording material P based on the two surface images, the accuracy of identifying the recording material is improved without using a plurality of sensors. | 12-25-2014 |
20150037052 | IMAGE HEATING APPARATUS FOR HEATING TONER IMAGE ON SHEET - In an image heating apparatus including heat generating members arranged along a longitudinal direction of a belt, when an image heating operation is performed on a recording material having a width which is smaller than a maximum width of the recording material usable in the image heating apparatus, the heat generating member positioned within an area corresponding to a non passing portion of the recording material is actuated together with the heat generating member positioned within an area corresponding to a non passing portion of the recording material. | 02-05-2015 |
20150037053 | SHEET DETERMINATION APPARATUS USING ULTRASONIC WAVE TRANSMITTING UNIT OR RECEPTION UNIT - A protection member is arranged such that the distance from an opening plane of a reception guide to the center of the protection member is half of the distance from the opening plane of the reception guide to the surface of a reception vibration member. In other words, the arrangement position of the protection member is in the center between the opening plane of the reception guide and the surface of the reception vibration member. Accordingly, even if a protection member is arranged, a transmission coefficient is obtained that is equal to a transmission coefficient in the case where no protection member is present. | 02-05-2015 |
20150043930 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes: a recording material accommodating portion configured to accommodate a recording material; an image forming portion configured to form a toner image on the recording material fed from the recording material accommodating portion; a fixing portion configured to heat-fix the toner image formed on the recording material by the image forming portion; a storing portion configured to store information corresponding to a type of the recording material accommodated in the recording material accommodating portion; a detecting portion configured to detect that a predetermined operation is performed by an operator before the image forming apparatus receives an image formation instruction; and an executing portion configured to execute a start-up process, when the detecting portion detects the predetermined operation performed by the operator, over a time depending on the information stored in the storing portion. | 02-12-2015 |
20150043931 | PRINTING SYSTEM, JOB PROCESSING METHOD, STORAGE MEDIUM, AND PRINTING APPARATUS - A printing system is operable to enable a printing apparatus to continue a printing of a print job by using printing media of a second supply source after using printing media of a first supply source without expending all of printing media of the first supply source. The printing media included in the first supply source are the same size and type as the printing media included in the second supply source. | 02-12-2015 |
20150063846 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a paper feed unit, an image forming unit, a fixing unit, a conveyance unit, a control unit, a movement unit and an actuator. The fixing unit includes sandwiching members between which paper is sandwiched. The paper has a toner image thereon formed by the image forming unit. The sandwiching members form a nip part, and the fixing unit fixes the toner image to the paper at the nip part. When an execution condition is satisfied, the control unit performs first control under which the actuator releases a sandwiching pressure made by the sandwiching members and thereafter the movement unit moves the sandwiching members along a paper width direction which is at right angles to a conveyance direction of the paper. | 03-05-2015 |
20150063847 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, CONTROL METHOD FOR IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, AND PROGRAM - In an image forming apparatus including an image forming unit configured to transfer a developing agent to a sheet for image forming and a plurality of fixing units each configured to perform a heat-fixing process on the developing agent transferred to the sheet by the image forming unit, whether the sheet is of a type for which a plurality of fixing units are to be used for performing a heat-fixing process is determined. It is controlled so as to electrify one fixing unit of the fixing units and not to electrify the other fixing units not to be used until the number of sheets having undergone the heat-fixing process by using the one fixing unit is equal to a predetermined number if the determining determines that the sheet is of a type for which a plurality of fixing units are to be used for performing a heat-fixing process. | 03-05-2015 |
20150063848 | IMAGE FORMING SYSTEM AND CONTROL METHOD FOR THE SAME - A serial tandem image forming system is described which is capable of inhibiting both the degradation of image quality and the reduction of the productivity. This system consists mainly of the control units of upstream and downstream apparatuses. When a preceding sheet differs from the subsequent sheet in sheet type, a control unit for controlling the image forming system has the subsequent sheet stand by at a paper stop roller of the upstream apparatus, and performs the operation of switching the operating states of the upstream and downstream apparatuses in accordance with the sheet type of the subsequent sheet. Also, the control unit predicts the timing of finishing the switching of the operating state, and then re-starts the conveyance of the subsequent sheet, in advance of finishing the switching of the operating state, by controlling the paper stop roller on the basis of the predicted finishing timing. | 03-05-2015 |
20150071660 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus for forming an image on each of recording media includes an optical sensor to irradiate each of the recording media with light to detect smoothness of each of the recording media according to a strength of specularly reflected light of the light with which each of the recording media is irradiated, and a processor to compare the smoothness of the recording media to determine whether a normal image can be formed on one of the recording media having a smoothness detected last. | 03-12-2015 |
20150071661 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a conveyance passage unit, a fixing device, an optical sensor, a fixing condition adjuster, and a regulator. A recording medium passes through the conveyance passage unit. The fixing device fixes a toner image onto the recording medium. The optical sensor includes a light-emitting device and a light-receiving device to detect smoothness of the recording medium according to strength of light received. The fixing condition adjuster adjusts fixing conditions according to the smoothness detected. The regulator is disposed in the conveyance passage unit to regulate conveyance of the recording medium, such that at least a part of the recording medium passes through an irradiated area including an intersection that is determined by an emission angle of a first optical axis of light emitted by the light-emitting device and a reflection angle of a second optical axis of light received by the light-receiving device. | 03-12-2015 |
20150078770 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes paper trays to contain and feed a recording sheet on which a toner image is transferred; status sensors to detect a storage status of the recording sheet contained in the paper trays; a sheet sensor to detect a smoothness of the recording sheet; a memory to store detection values of the smoothness detected by the sheet sensor; a fixing device to heat and press the toner image transferred onto the recording sheet and fix it onto the recording sheet; and a control circuit to determine a target fixing temperature of the fixing device based on the detection values stored in the memory. The control circuit determines the target fixing temperature for successive recording sheets depending on the detected smoothness, and resets the detection values stored in the memory to zero when the status sensors detect a change in the storage status of the paper trays. | 03-19-2015 |
20150078771 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, IMAGE FORMING SYSTEM, IMAGE FORMING METHOD, AND NON-TRANSITORY COMPUTER READABLE RECORDING MEDIUM STORED WITH IMAGE FORMING PROGRAM - An image forming apparatus of the present invention includes: an image forming unit for forming an image on a continuous paper; a fixing unit for fixing by heat the image which has been formed on the continuous paper by the image forming unit; conveyance units for conveying the continuous paper; and a control unit for controlling the conveyance units to convey the continuous paper in such a manner that, when an image forming operation by the image forming unit is stopped, the same portion of the continuous paper, on which the image is not formed, does not remain in the fixing unit for a predetermined period of time. | 03-19-2015 |
20150078772 | RECORDING MATERIAL DETECTION APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A recording material detection apparatus having a detecting device configured to detect a surface state of a recording material on the basis of reflected light from a surface of the recording material includes a reference surface to be irradiated with light from a light source, the detecting device includes a light-shielding portion configured to control conditions for detecting information relating to the surface state of the recording material on the basis of the reflected surface from the reference surface, and cover a portion of the reference panel other than the reference surface so as to prevent the light from the light source from being reflected from the portion of the reference panel other than the reference surface and being received by the light-receiving unit. | 03-19-2015 |
20150309459 | RECORDING MEDIUM DETERMINATION APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - The recording medium determination apparatus includes a transmission unit for transmitting an ultrasonic wave, a receiving unit for outputting a signal corresponding to the ultrasonic wave, a peak extraction unit for detecting a value of the signal output from the receiving unit, a control unit for determining basis weight of a recording medium based on the value of the signal, and a timer for measuring a period of time from when the transmission unit transmits the ultrasonic wave to the detection by the peak extraction unit. The control unit calculates, based on a period of time measured by the timer at the time of factory shipment and a period of time measured by the timer after the factory shipment, variation of a distance between the transmission unit and the receiving unit after the factory shipment. | 10-29-2015 |
20150338818 | Image Forming Apparatus and Image Forming Method - An image forming apparatus of the present invention includes an image carrying member capable of carrying an image, a paper conveying unit, a foreign matter detection unit, and a toner layer forming unit. The paper conveying unit conveys a paper to the image carrying member. The foreign matter detection unit detects a foreign matter projecting from the end portion of the paper. The toner layer forming unit forms a toner layer on the surface of the image carrying member in response to a position of the foreign matter detected by the foreign matter detection unit. | 11-26-2015 |
20150346651 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes an image bearer, a nip forming device, a contact-and-separation device, a thickness information retrieving device, and a controller. The contact-and-separation device moves the image bearer and the nip forming device to contact and separate from each other. The controller controls the contact-and-separation device based on information on a thickness of a recording medium obtained by the thickness information retrieving device such that in a case in which a thickness of a preceding recording medium and a thickness of a successive recording medium are different in continuous printing in which a plurality of recording media is printed out continuously, the contact-and-separation device adjusts a space between the image bearer and the nip forming device when the preceding recording medium exits the transfer nip to a preset size corresponding to the thickness of the successive recording medium that enters the transfer nip. | 12-03-2015 |
20160004201 | Method for Controlling Media Bubble Formation in an Imaging Device - A method of controlling bubble formation in a media sheet between two sets of media feed roll pairs using a single media edge detector positioned downstream of the upstream media feed roll pair. The method may also be practiced using a bubble chamber positioned between the two sets of media feed roll pairs. | 01-07-2016 |
20160077478 | DETERMINATION APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING TYPE OF RECORDING MEDIUM - A transmission unit transmits an ultrasonic wave by a drive signal being supplied to two terminals. A reception unit receives the ultrasonic wave transmitted from the transmission unit and to output a reception signal from two terminals in accordance with the received ultrasonic wave. A change unit changes a determination scheme for determining a type of a recording medium, based on information indicating a relation between a polar character of the transmission unit and a polar character of the reception unit, the information having been acquired from the reception signal. | 03-17-2016 |
20160085195 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, IMAGE FORMING SYSTEM, AND IMAGE FORMATION CONTROL METHOD - An image forming apparatus or an image forming system, includes a control section to control, at the time of forming an image by using a long sheet with a conveying direction sheet length longer than that of a sheet with a fixed paper size, so as to perform image formation by arranging multiple images on the long sheet, and the control section controls so as to form images repeatedly with a predetermined cycle on the long sheet, detects a margin region being a region where images are not formed on the long sheet, and controls image formation so as to dispose a patch image on the margin region. | 03-24-2016 |
20160109840 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMATION SYSTEM - An image forming apparatus includes: a first conveyance section disposed on an upstream side of the image formation position in a sheet conveyance direction of the long sheet, and configured to convey the long sheet to the image formation position; a second conveyance section disposed on a downstream side of the image formation position in the sheet conveyance direction, and configured to convey the long sheet on which the toner image is formed; a displacement detection section configured to detect displacement of the long sheet in a sheet width direction; and a control section configured to move the first conveyance section in the sheet width direction to orient the long sheet in the sheet width direction, and move the second conveyance section in a direction identical to a direction along which the first conveyance section is moved based on a detection result of the displacement detection section. | 04-21-2016 |
20160116878 | PAPER SIZE DETECTION SYSTEM AND METHOD - A paper size detection system includes a paper tray, a width adjuster, a length adjuster, a plurality of sensors, and a signal processor. The paper tray is configured to receive a printing paper and includes a blocking plate. Each of the width adjuster and the length adjuster is movably mounted to the paper tray. The width adjuster, the length adjuster, and the blocking plate cooperatively define a paper placing space with a size substantially equal to a size of the printing paper. The sensors are configured to get a position signal assembly according to positions of the width adjuster and the length adjuster. The signal processor is configured to confirm the size of the paper placing space according the position signal assembly. A paper size detection method is further disclosed. | 04-28-2016 |
20160124363 | SHEET LENGTH MEASURING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A sheet length measuring apparatus includes first and second detection units respectively provided downstream and upstream of a conveyance unit, each detection unit detecting passage of an edge of a sheet medium; a first control unit to, until a predetermined set time passes since the detection of the passage of a leading edge of the sheet medium, regard detection of the passage of an edge of the sheet medium by each of the first and second detection units as not detected; and a second control unit to, when passage of an edge of the sheet medium is not detected again before a lapse of a predetermined monitoring time since the second detection unit detects passage of an edge of the sheet medium being passing a detection position of the second detection unit, judge that the edge detected by the second detection unit is a trailing edge of the sheet medium. | 05-05-2016 |
20160139550 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND RECORDING MATERIAL DETERMINATION UNIT - An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit for forming an image on a recording material, a first detection unit including a transmission unit for transmitting an ultrasonic wave and a reception unit for receiving the transmitted ultrasonic wave, first and second conveyance units for conveying the recording material, and a control unit. The first and second conveyance units form a loop on the recording material by conveying the recording material at different speeds. The control unit controls an image forming condition for forming an image on the recording material by the image forming unit, based on the ultrasonic wave received via the recording material in a period in which no loop is formed on the recording material by the first and second conveyance units. | 05-19-2016 |
20160150117 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND DENSITY CORRECTION METHOD - An image forming apparatus includes: an image forming section including a rotational member and configured to form an image on the long sheet; a density unevenness cycle acquiring section configured to acquire a cycle of a density profile that represents density variation in a sub scanning direction; a cycle control section configured to operate such that, in a case where a same image is continuously formed on the long sheet, a length of the image in the sub scanning direction is an integer multiple of a cycle length that corresponds to one cycle of the density profile; and a density correction section configured to form a patch image for correction that has a size greater than the cycle length of the density profile on the image bearing member, and perform density correction using correction data created based on a detection result regarding the patch image for correction. | 05-26-2016 |
20160154356 | OPTICAL SENSOR, AND DEVICES INCORPORATING THE SAME | 06-02-2016 |
20160156795 | PRINTING APPARATUS, CONTROL METHOD FOR PRINTING APPARATUS, AND STORAGE MEDIUM | 06-02-2016 |
20160187826 | Sheet Type Detection Device That Ensures Reduced Trouble for Unexecuted Sheet Type Setting, Sheet Type Detection Method, Image Forming Apparatus, and Recording Medium - A sheet type detection device includes an image reading circuit, a surface property determination circuit, a thickness determination circuit, and a sheet type identifying circuit. The image reading circuit reads a document image to generate image data. The surface property determination circuit determines a sheet surface condition of a sheet type detection target based on the image data generated by the image reading circuit. The thickness determination circuit determines a sheet thickness of the sheet based on the image data generated by the image reading circuit. The sheet type identifying circuit identifies a sheet type based on the determination result of the surface property determination circuit and the determination result of the thickness determination circuit. | 06-30-2016 |
20190146392 | SENSOR DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS | 05-16-2019 |
20190146396 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND COMPUTER READABLE STORAGE MEDIUM STORING PROGRAM | 05-16-2019 |