US4888618A
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Image forming apparatus having ambient condition detecting means
Assignee: Canon Inc
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Filing: 1988-01-19
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Granted: 1989-12-19
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Expires: 2008-01-19
Abstract
Abstract An image forming apparatus includes a processor for processing image signals, an image forming system for forming images on recording mediums in accordance with the image signals processed by the processor, the image forming system being capable of forming the images in different colors, a detector for detecting an ambient condition, and a controller for controlling an image forming condition, relating to an image density, of the image forming system in accordance with an output of the detector and a color of image formation by the image forming system.
Inventors
- 👤 Tadashi Ishikawa
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-26 05:18
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N1/00; H04N1/23; H04N1/29; H04N1/295; G; G03; G03G; G03G15/00; G03G15/01; G03G15/50; G03G15/5033; G03G15/5037; G03G2215/00; G03G2215/00025; G03G2215/00029; G03G2215/00033; G03G2215/00054
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 75
Claim 1
Independent Claim
93 words
An image forming apparatus, comprising: image forming means for forming images on a recording medium, said image forming means being capable of forming the images in different colors; means for detecting an ambient condition; means for determining a contrast voltage to be given to said recording medium in accordance with both the ambient condition detected by said detecting means and a color in which the image is to be formed; and control means for controlling an operating condition of said image forming means in accordance with the contrast determined by said determining means.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
93 words
An image forming apparatus, comprising: image forming means for forming images on a recording medium, said image forming means being capable of forming the images in different colors; means for detecting an ambient condition; means for determining a contrast voltage to be given to said recording medium in accordance with both the ambient condition detected by said detecting means and a color in which the image is to be formed; and control means for controlling an operating condition of said image forming means in accordance with the contrast determined by said determining means.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
16 words
An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said detecting means detects a humidity in said apparatus.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
14 words
An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said detecting means detects an absolute humidity.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
32 words
An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said image forming means includes means for charging a recording medium, and wherein said control means controls a degree of charging by said charging means.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
33 words
An apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said image forming means includes plural developing means containing different color developers, and wherein said control means controls a developing bias voltage of said developing means.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
14 words
An apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said charging means includes a grid electrode.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
24 words
An apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said control means controls a voltage applied to said grid electrode in accordance with the contrast voltage.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
24 words
An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said image forming means includes means for exposing the recording medium in accordance with an image signal.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
45 words
An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for detecting a temperature, wherein said control means corrects the outputs of said detecting means in accordance with the temperature detected by said temperature detecting means to control said image forming means with the corrected output.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
19 words
An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said image forming means includes plural developing means containing different color developers.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
82 words
An image forming apparatus, comprising: image forming means for forming an image on a recording medium; sensor means for sensing an ambient condition in a time series; discriminating means for discriminating a state of change in the ambient condition on the basis of ambient condition data sensed in the time series; and control means for controlling an image forming condition, relating to an image density, of said image forming means in accordance with outputs of said sensor means and said discriminating means.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
82 words
An image forming apparatus, comprising: image forming means for forming an image on a recording medium; sensor means for sensing an ambient condition in a time series; discriminating means for discriminating a state of change in the ambient condition on the basis of ambient condition data sensed in the time series; and control means for controlling an image forming condition, relating to an image density, of said image forming means in accordance with outputs of said sensor means and said discriminating means.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
16 words
An apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said sensor means senses a humidity in said apparatus.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
22 words
An apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said discriminating means discriminates whether the humidity is increasing or decreasing from a past humidity.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
27 words
An apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said discriminating means includes means for storing plural humidities detected by said sensor means within a predetermined period of time.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
22 words
An apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said discriminating means determines plural times an average of the humidities within different time periods.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
17 words
An apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said storing means renews stored data from the oldest data.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
14 words
An apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said sensor means detects an absolute humidity.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
37 words
An apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said image forming means is capable of forming images in different colors, and wherein said control means controls said image forming means in accordance with a color of image formation.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
19 words
An apparatus according to claim 18, wherein said image forming means includes plural developing means containing different color developers.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
32 words
An apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said image forming means includes means for charging a recording medium, and wherein said control means controls a degree of charging by said charging means.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
33 words
An apparatus according to claim 20, wherein said image forming means includes plural developing means containing different color developers, and wherein said control means controls a developing bias voltage of said developing means.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
41 words
An apparatus according to claim 20, wherein said charging means includes a grid electrode, and said control means controls a voltage applied to the grid electrode to give a contrast voltage to the recording medium in accordance with the ambient condition.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
94 words
An image forming apparatus, comprising: image forming means for forming an image on a recording medium; means for detecting an ambient condition; means for determining a contrast voltage to be given to said recording medium in accordance with the ambient condition detected by said detecting means to stabilize a density of the image formed by said image forming means, wherein said determining means changes processing to provide the contrast voltage; and control means for controlling an operating condition of said image forming means in accordance with the contrast voltage determined by said determining means.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
94 words
An image forming apparatus, comprising: image forming means for forming an image on a recording medium; means for detecting an ambient condition; means for determining a contrast voltage to be given to said recording medium in accordance with the ambient condition detected by said detecting means to stabilize a density of the image formed by said image forming means, wherein said determining means changes processing to provide the contrast voltage; and control means for controlling an operating condition of said image forming means in accordance with the contrast voltage determined by said determining means.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
16 words
An apparatus according to claim 23, wherein said detecting means detects a humidity in said apparatus.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
23 words
An apparatus according to claim 23, wherein said determining means changes a constant for the processing in accordance with the detected ambient condition.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
23 words
An apparatus according to claim 25, wherein said determining means changes a variable for the processing in accordance with the detected ambient condition.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
19 words
An apparatus according to claim 26, wherein said detecting means includes a table storing the constants and the variable.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
41 words
An apparatus according to claim 25, wherein said image forming means is capable of forming images in different colors, and wherein said determining means changes a constant for the processing in accordance with the color in which the image is formed.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
16 words
An apparatus according to claim 25, wherein said determining means includes a table storing the constants.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
32 words
An apparatus according to claim 23, wherein said image forming means includes means for charging a recording medium, and wherein said control means controls a degree of charging by said charging means.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
26 words
An apparatus according to claim 30, wherein said charging means includes a grid electrode, and said control means controls a voltage applied to the grid electrode.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
35 words
An apparatus according to claim 23, wherein said image forming means includes means for developing a latent image formed on said recording medium, and said control means controls a developing bias of said developing means.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
34 words
An apparatus according to claim 23, wherein said image forming means is capable of forming images in plural colors, and wherein said controls means controls said image forming means in accordance with the colors.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
122 words
An image forming apparatus, comprising: image forming means for forming an image on a recording medium; means for detecting an ambient condition; and control means for controlling an image forming condition, relating to an image density, of said image forming means in accordance with an output of said detecting means, said control means including a table storing a coefficient and a variable of a predetermined equation giving the image forming condition and selecting the coefficient and the variable from the table in accordance with an output of said detecting means; wherein said image forming means is capable of forming images in plural colors, and wherein said control means selects the coefficient from said table in accordance with a color of image formation.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
122 words
An image forming apparatus, comprising: image forming means for forming an image on a recording medium; means for detecting an ambient condition; and control means for controlling an image forming condition, relating to an image density, of said image forming means in accordance with an output of said detecting means, said control means including a table storing a coefficient and a variable of a predetermined equation giving the image forming condition and selecting the coefficient and the variable from the table in accordance with an output of said detecting means; wherein said image forming means is capable of forming images in plural colors, and wherein said control means selects the coefficient from said table in accordance with a color of image formation.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
25 words
An apparatus according to claim 34, wherein said control means determines a proper contrast potential of the recording medium in accordance with the predetermined equation.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
21 words
An apparatus according to claim 35, further comprising manual input image for correcting the contrast potential determined by said control means.
Claim 41
Dependent Claim
18 words
An apparatus according to claim 36, wherein said input means is effective at the time of manual mode.
Claim 42
Dependent Claim
34 words
An apparatus according to claim 35, wherein said image forming means includes charging means for charging the recording medium, and wherein said control means controls the charging means in accordance with the contrast voltage.
Claim 43
Dependent Claim
19 words
An apparatus according to claim 34, wherein said image forming means includes plural developing means containing different color developers.
Claim 44
Dependent Claim
16 words
An apparatus according to claim 34, wherein said detecting means detects a humidity in said apparatus.
Claim 45
Dependent Claim
92 words
An image forming apparatus, comprising: image forming means for forming an image on a recording medium; means for detecting an ambient condition; means for storing a history of outputs of said detecting means within a predetermined period of time, said storing means storing plural outputs of said detecting means at different times; manual input means for rewriting data stored in said storing means; control means for controlling an image forming condition, relating to an image density, of said image forming means in accordance with the plural data stored in said storing means.
Claim 46
Dependent Claim
92 words
An image forming apparatus, comprising: image forming means for forming an image on a recording medium; means for detecting an ambient condition; means for storing a history of outputs of said detecting means within a predetermined period of time, said storing means storing plural outputs of said detecting means at different times; manual input means for rewriting data stored in said storing means; control means for controlling an image forming condition, relating to an image density, of said image forming means in accordance with the plural data stored in said storing means.
Claim 47
Dependent Claim
16 words
An apparatus according to claim 41, wherein said detecting means detects a humidity in said apparatus.
Claim 48
Dependent Claim
22 words
An apparatus according to claim 41, wherein said storing means stores outputs of said detecting means for each predetermined period of time.
Claim 49
Dependent Claim
17 words
An apparatus according to claim 41, wherein said manual input means rewrites data therein all at once.
Claim 50
Dependent Claim
38 words
An apparatus according to claim 41, wherein when said storing means does not contain data in a predetermined period of time, all contents of said storing means are rewritten to be a latest output of said detecting means.
Claim 51
Dependent Claim
33 words
An apparatus according to claim 41, wherein said image forming means is capable of forming images in plural colors, wherein said control means controls said image forming means in accordance with the colors.
Claim 52
Dependent Claim
19 words
An apparatus according to claim 46, wherein said image forming means includes plural developing means containing different color developers.
Claim 53
Dependent Claim
32 words
An apparatus according to claim 41, wherein said image forming means includes means for charging said recording medium, and wherein said control means controls a degree of charging by said charging means.
Claim 54
Dependent Claim
41 words
An apparatus according to claim 48, wherein said charging means includes a grid electrode, and said control means controls a voltage applied to the grid electrode to give a contrast voltage to the recording medium in accordance with the ambient condition.
Claim 55
Dependent Claim
19 words
An apparatus according to claim 41, wherein said input means is effective at the time of a special mode.
Claim 56
Dependent Claim
89 words
An image forming apparatus, comprising: image forming means for forming an image on a recording medium; means for detecting an ambient condition; means for determining a contrast voltage to be given to the recording medium in accordance wiht the ambient condition detected by said detecting means to provide an optimum image density of the image formed by said image forming means; and a memory for storing data for correcting the contrast voltage determined by said determining means; the correction data and the contrast voltage determined by said determining means.
Claim 57
Dependent Claim
89 words
An image forming apparatus, comprising: image forming means for forming an image on a recording medium; means for detecting an ambient condition; means for determining a contrast voltage to be given to the recording medium in accordance wiht the ambient condition detected by said detecting means to provide an optimum image density of the image formed by said image forming means; and a memory for storing data for correcting the contrast voltage determined by said determining means; the correction data and the contrast voltage determined by said determining means.
Claim 58
Dependent Claim
20 words
An apparatus according to claim 51, further comprising manual input means for rewriting the corrected data stored in said memory.
Claim 59
Dependent Claim
19 words
An apparatus according to claim 52, wherein said input means is effective at the time of a manual mode.
Claim 60
Dependent Claim
16 words
An apparatus according to claim 51, wherein said detecting means detects a humidity in said apparatus.
Claim 61
Dependent Claim
34 words
An apparatus according to claim 51, wherein said image forming means is capable of forming images in plural colors, and wherein said control means controls said image forming means in accordance with the colors.
Claim 62
Dependent Claim
19 words
An apparatus according to claim 55, wherein said image forming means includes plural developing means containing different color developers.
Claim 63
Dependent Claim
23 words
An apparatus according to claim 55, wherein said memory stores different data depending on colors in which the image is to be formed.
Claim 64
Dependent Claim
34 words
An apparatus according to claim 51, wherein said image forming means includes charging means for charging the recording medium, and wherein said control means controls the charging means in accordance with the contrast voltage.
Claim 65
Dependent Claim
35 words
An apparatus according to claim 51, wherein said image forming means includes means for developing a latent image formed on said recording medium, and said control means controls a developing bias of said developing means.
Claim 66
Dependent Claim
98 words
An image forming apparatus, comprising: image forming means for forming images on a recording medium, said image forming means including means for forming latent images on said recording medium and means for developing the latent images with developer; means for detecting an ambient condition; means for discriminating wetness of the developer in accordance with the ambient condition detected by said detecting means; and control means for controlling an operating condition of said image forming means in accordance with the discrimination by said discriminating means to stabilize an image density of the images formed by said image forming means.
Claim 67
Dependent Claim
98 words
An image forming apparatus, comprising: image forming means for forming images on a recording medium, said image forming means including means for forming latent images on said recording medium and means for developing the latent images with developer; means for detecting an ambient condition; means for discriminating wetness of the developer in accordance with the ambient condition detected by said detecting means; and control means for controlling an operating condition of said image forming means in accordance with the discrimination by said discriminating means to stabilize an image density of the images formed by said image forming means.
Claim 68
Dependent Claim
16 words
An apparatus according to claim 60, wherein said detecting means detects a humidity in said apparatus.
Claim 69
Dependent Claim
14 words
An apparatus according to claim 61, wherein said detecting means detects an absolute humidity.
Claim 70
Dependent Claim
32 words
An apparatus according to claim 60, wherein said latent image forming means includes means for charging the recording medium, wherein said control means controls a degree of charging by said charging means.
Claim 71
Dependent Claim
27 words
An apparatus according to claim 63, wherein said charging means includes a grid electrode, and wherein said control means controls a voltage applied to the grid electrode.
Claim 72
Dependent Claim
19 words
An apparatus according to claim 60, wherein said control means controls a developing bias potential of said developing means.
Claim 73
Dependent Claim
45 words
An apparatus according to claim 60, further comprising means for detecting a temperature in said apparatus, and wherein said control means corrects an output of said detecting means in accordance with the temperature detected by said temperature detecting means to control said image forming means.
Claim 74
Dependent Claim
24 words
An apparatus according to claim 60, wherein said discriminating means discriminates whether the developer is in the process of wetting, drying or in stabilization.
Claim 75
Dependent Claim
30 words
an apparatus according to claim 60, wherein said image forming means controls the contrast to be given to the recording medium in accordance with the discrimination by said discriminating means.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1992-12-18 | 1993-06-19 | 1993-12-19 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1996-12-18 | 1997-06-19 | 1997-12-19 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2000-12-18 | 2001-06-19 | 2001-12-19 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |