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US4736223A Expired / Lapsed US ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Color copying machine

Assignee: Canon Inc
•
Filing: 1986-05-22
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Granted: 1988-04-05
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Expires: 2006-05-22
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Abstract

Abstract A color copying machine of the invention has a halogen lamp for emitting light to an original, a photosensitive drum on a surface of which is formed an electrostatic latent image by the light reflected from the original, a transfer section which color-separates the image and transfers it on a paper sheet, a potentiometer probe which detects the surface potential of the photosensitive drum, a microcomputer which makes the measured surface potential to converge to a reference value determined for each color, and a fine tuning board for allowing fine control of the converged value. A copy image of excellent color balance is obtained over a long period of time irrespective of degradation in the units of the machine or variations in the quality of toners. A particular color of the copy image may be emphasized or deemphasized as desired.

Inventors

  • 👤 Koji Suzuki

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction US
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-10-31 23:29
CPC Classifications
G; G03; G03G; G03G15/00; G03G15/01

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 26
Claim 1
Independent Claim 127 words
A color image forming apparatus comprising: image forming means for forming a color image on a recording medium; control means for controlling said image forming means to form a plurality of different density patterns on said recording medium; and detecting means for sequentially detecting the value of a surface condition of said recording medium in accordance with said density patterns; storage means for storing the values of the surface condition of said recording medium which are detected by said detecting means; display means for displaying the values of the surface condition stored in said storage means; and selecting means for manually selecting any one of the values of the surface condition to be displayed on said display means in accordance with said plurality of different density patterns.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 127 words
A color image forming apparatus comprising: image forming means for forming a color image on a recording medium; control means for controlling said image forming means to form a plurality of different density patterns on said recording medium; and detecting means for sequentially detecting the value of a surface condition of said recording medium in accordance with said density patterns; storage means for storing the values of the surface condition of said recording medium which are detected by said detecting means; display means for displaying the values of the surface condition stored in said storage means; and selecting means for manually selecting any one of the values of the surface condition to be displayed on said display means in accordance with said plurality of different density patterns.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 25 words
A color image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said displaying means displays surface potentials corresponding to a plurality of parts of the original.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 21 words
A color image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the original is a reflecting sheet having a reference density pattern.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 28 words
A color image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said displaying means continuously displays the surface potential of said recording medium corresponding to the reference density pattern.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 132 words
A color image forming apparatus comprising: image forming means for forming a color image on a recording medium; detecting means for detecting the value of a surface condition of said recording medium; and controlling means for controlling the value of the surface condition for each color in response to a detection signal from said detecting means, wherein said detecting means detects the value of the surface condition of a sample area formed on said recording medium with a common sample for each color, and said control means controls said image forming means in accordance with the detection signal from said detecting means and a different control parameter for each color for varying an operation condition of said image forming means for each color to regulate an image forming condition for each color.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 132 words
A color image forming apparatus comprising: image forming means for forming a color image on a recording medium; detecting means for detecting the value of a surface condition of said recording medium; and controlling means for controlling the value of the surface condition for each color in response to a detection signal from said detecting means, wherein said detecting means detects the value of the surface condition of a sample area formed on said recording medium with a common sample for each color, and said control means controls said image forming means in accordance with the detection signal from said detecting means and a different control parameter for each color for varying an operation condition of said image forming means for each color to regulate an image forming condition for each color.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 17 words
A color image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the surface condition is a surface potential.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 132 words
A color image forming apparatus comprising: image forming means for forming a color image on a recording medium; determining means for determining the respective color data concerning a control of said image forming means before a color image formation, upon varying an operation condition of said image forming means for each color, to regulate an image forming condition of said image forming means for each color; storage means for storing, during the color image formation, the data for plural colors obtained from said determining means; and control means for controlling said image forming means to form the color image on the recording medium in accordance with the data for each other stored in said storage means after the control data for all of the plural colors are determined by said determining means.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim 132 words
A color image forming apparatus comprising: image forming means for forming a color image on a recording medium; determining means for determining the respective color data concerning a control of said image forming means before a color image formation, upon varying an operation condition of said image forming means for each color, to regulate an image forming condition of said image forming means for each color; storage means for storing, during the color image formation, the data for plural colors obtained from said determining means; and control means for controlling said image forming means to form the color image on the recording medium in accordance with the data for each other stored in said storage means after the control data for all of the plural colors are determined by said determining means.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim 47 words
A color image forming apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said image forming means resolves reflected light from an original for every color, forms a latent image on a photosensitive medium, develops the latent image for every color, and transfers the developed image to the recording medium.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim 27 words
A color image forming apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said determining means causes a surface condition on said photosensitive medium to converge on a predetermined value.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim 21 words
A color image forming apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said surface condition is a surface potential on said photosensitive medium.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim 19 words
A color image forming apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said plurality of colors are red, green and blue.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim 38 words
A color image forming apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said control means controls said image forming means in accordance with the data, for each color, stored in said storage means, after each color image formation is completed.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim 108 words
A color image processing apparatus comprising: image processing means including light means for exposing a document; detecting means for detecting an image forming condition obtained from irradiation of a reference sample common for each color by said light means; and control means for controlling said image processing means in accordance with control data for each color, wherein said control data are obtained by means of an arithmetic operation of output values from said detecting means according to each color using a different operational parameter for each color for varying an operation condition of said processing means for each color to regulate an image forming condition for each color.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim 108 words
A color image processing apparatus comprising: image processing means including light means for exposing a document; detecting means for detecting an image forming condition obtained from irradiation of a reference sample common for each color by said light means; and control means for controlling said image processing means in accordance with control data for each color, wherein said control data are obtained by means of an arithmetic operation of output values from said detecting means according to each color using a different operational parameter for each color for varying an operation condition of said processing means for each color to regulate an image forming condition for each color.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim 21 words
An apparatus according to claim 13, wherein a density of said reference sample is a density according to a recording medium.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim 24 words
An apparatus according to claim 13, wherein said control means controls a turn on voltage of said light means based on said control data.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim 116 words
A color image forming apparatus comprising: image forming means for forming a color image on a recording medium, said image forming means having a platen for receiving thereon an original; detecting means for detecting an image forming condition according to reflection from the plane of said platen; and control means for controlling said image forming means in accordance with control data for each color, wherein said control data are obtained by means of an arithmetic operation of output values from said detecting means for each color using a different operational parameter for each color for varying an operation condition of said image forming means for each color to regulate an image forming condition for each color.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim 116 words
A color image forming apparatus comprising: image forming means for forming a color image on a recording medium, said image forming means having a platen for receiving thereon an original; detecting means for detecting an image forming condition according to reflection from the plane of said platen; and control means for controlling said image forming means in accordance with control data for each color, wherein said control data are obtained by means of an arithmetic operation of output values from said detecting means for each color using a different operational parameter for each color for varying an operation condition of said image forming means for each color to regulate an image forming condition for each color.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim 31 words
An apparatus according to claim 16, wherein said image forming means has exposing means for exposing the original, and said control mans controls said exposing means based on said control data.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim 19 words
An apparatus according to claim 17, wherein said control data is a turn on voltage of said exposing means.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim 26 words
An apparatus according to claim 16, wherein said detecting means detects the image forming condition according to reflection from a white sheet disposed on said platen.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim 19 words
An apparatus according to claim 19, wherein said image forming condition is a surface condition of said recording medium.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim 14 words
An apparatus according to claim 20, wherein said surface condition is a surface potential.

References Cited (Backward Citations)

US3815988A Cited
US3852668A Cited
US3944354A Cited
US4261660A Cited
US4213693A Cited

USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows

Annuity Stage Window Opens Payment Deadline Surcharge Period Until Estimated Fee Status
3.5 Years (Year 4) 1991-04-05 1991-10-05 1992-04-05 $2000.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8) 1995-04-05 1995-10-05 1996-04-05 $3760.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12) 1999-04-05 1999-10-05 2000-04-05 $7700.00 Window Closed / Lapsed

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