Image forming apparatus

Claim 2

An image forming apparatus comprising: discharging means for discharging an electric charge on a surface of a photosensitive member upon test image formation; developing means for forming a toner image on the surface of the photosensitive member with a toner, said developing means includes a developing electrode to which at least two kinds of biases having different voltages and a same polarity as a toner charge polarity are applied upon test image formation, so that at least two test toner images having different densities are formed on the surface of the photosensitive member that has been discharged by said discharging means; detecting means for detecting the density of each of the test toner images; and control means for controlling the voltage value of a developing bias to be applied to the developing electrode during normal image formation based on the detected values of the test toner images.

Claim 3

An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said discharging means includes light irradiating means.

Claim 4

An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said developing means applies to the developing electrode a developing bias having a polarity opposite the toner charge polarity during the normal image formation.

Claim 5

An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the detected density value is determined plural times by the detecting means.

Claim 6

An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the photosensitive member is formed of organic materials.

Claim 7

An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: image forming means for forming an electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photosensitive member, said image forming means including charging means for charging the surface of the photosensitive member and image exposure means for exposing the charged surface of the photosensitive member with an image of an original, wherein the discharging means is positioned between the exposure means and the developing means.

Claim 8

An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein the control means is operated when the image forming apparatus is powered on.

Claim 9

An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 7 wherein the control means is operated upon every passage of a predetermined period after the operation of the control means when the image forming apparatus is powered on.

Claim 10

An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 7 wherein the control means is operated every time a predetermined number of sheets have been copied after the operation of the control means when the image forming apparatus is powered on.

Claim 11

An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 7 wherein the control means is operated every time the photosensitive member undergoes a predetermined number of rotations after the operation of the control means when the image forming apparatus is powered on.

Claim 12

An image forming apparatus comprising: charging means for charging a surface of a photosensitive member; exposure means for exposing the charged surface of the photosensitive member with an image of an original to form an electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photosensitive member; discharging means for discharging the electric charge on the surface of the photosensitive member when the exposure means is not operated; developing means having a developing electrode for forming a toner image on the surface of the photosensitive member with a toner; applying means for applying to the developing electrode a first developing bias having a polarity opposite that of a toner charge polarity when the exposure means is operated and applying to the developing electrode a second developing bias having a polarity which is the same as that of the toner charge polarity when the exposure means is not operated, said second developing bias having a voltage which is applied on at least two levels so that at least two test toner images having different densities are formed on the surface of the photosensitive member; detecting means for detecting the density of each of the test toner images; and determining means for determining a voltage value of the first developing bias by use of the detected values of the test toner images.

Claim 13

An image forming apparatus comprising: charging means for charging a surface of a photosensitive member; exposure means for exposing the charged surface of the photosensitive member with an image of an original to form an electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photosensitive member; discharging means for discharging the electric charge on the surface of the photosensitive member when the exposure means is not operated; developing means having a developing electrode for forming a toner image on the surface of the photosensitive member with a toner; applying means for applying to the developing electrode a first developing bias having a polarity opposite that of a toner charge polarity when the exposure means is operated and applying to the developing electrode a second developing bias having a polarity which is the same as that of the toner charge polarity when the exposure means is not operated, said second developing bias having a voltage which is applied on at least two levels so that at least two test toner images having different densities are formed on the surface of the photosensitive member; detecting means for detecting the density of each of the test toner images; and determining means for determining a voltage value of the first developing bias by use of the detected values of the test toner images.

Claim 14

An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 11 wherein the detected density value is determined plural times by the detecting means.

Claim 15

An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 11 wherein the photosensitive member is formed of organic materials.

Claim 16

In an image forming apparatus comprising a developing device having a developing electrode for developing, with a toner, an electrostatic latent image formed on a photosensitive member by image forming means, an image stabilization method that is performed when the electrostatic latent image is not formed on the photosensitive member, which comprises the following steps of: discharging an electric charge on a surface of the photosensitive member; applying a first developing bias having a polarity which is the same as a toner charge polarity to the developing electrode while changing a bias voltage on a least two levels, so that at least two test toner images having different densities are formed on the surface of the photosensitive member that is discharged by said discharging means; detecting the density of each of the test toner images; and controlling a voltage value of a second developing bias applied to the developing electrode when the electrostatic latent image is formed during image formation based on the detected values of the test toner images.

Claim 17

In an image forming apparatus comprising a developing device having a developing electrode for developing, with a toner, an electrostatic latent image formed on a photosensitive member by image forming means, an image stabilization method that is performed when the electrostatic latent image is not formed on the photosensitive member, which comprises the following steps of: discharging an electric charge on a surface of the photosensitive member; applying a first developing bias having a polarity which is the same as a toner charge polarity to the developing electrode while changing a bias voltage on a least two levels, so that at least two test toner images having different densities are formed on the surface of the photosensitive member that is discharged by said discharging means; detecting the density of each of the test toner images; and controlling a voltage value of a second developing bias applied to the developing electrode when the electrostatic latent image is formed during image formation based on the detected values of the test toner images.

Claim 18

An image forming apparatus comprising: charging means for charging a surface of a photosensitive member at a predetermined potential; exposure means for exposing the charged surface of the photosensitive member with at least two different light amounts to form at least two test electrostatic latent images; a developing unit for developing said test electrostatic latent images with a developer accommodated therein to form test toner images; detecting means for detecting a density of each of the test toner images; calculating means for calculating a sensitivity characteristics value of the photosensitive member based on the detected values of the test toner images; storing means for storing a reference light amount of exposure and a reference sensitivity characteristics value of the photosensitive member; and control means for controlling the amount of exposure light based on the reference light amount and the sensitivity characteristics value of the photosensitive member respectively stored in said storing means, and the sensitivity characteristics value of the photosensitive member calculated by said calculating means.

Claim 19

An image forming apparatus comprising: charging means for charging a surface of a photosensitive member at a predetermined potential; exposure means for exposing the charged surface of the photosensitive member with at least two different light amounts to form at least two test electrostatic latent images; a developing unit for developing said test electrostatic latent images with a developer accommodated therein to form test toner images; detecting means for detecting a density of each of the test toner images; calculating means for calculating a sensitivity characteristics value of the photosensitive member based on the detected values of the test toner images; storing means for storing a reference light amount of exposure and a reference sensitivity characteristics value of the photosensitive member; and control means for controlling the amount of exposure light based on the reference light amount and the sensitivity characteristics value of the photosensitive member respectively stored in said storing means, and the sensitivity characteristics value of the photosensitive member calculated by said calculating means.

Claim 20

An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 15 wherein the reference sensitivity characteristics value is stored in the storing means when the photosensitive member is manufactured.

Claim 21

An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 15 wherein the reference sensitivity characteristics value is calculated based on the detected values of the test toner images when a new photosensitive member is first used.

Claim 22

An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 15 wherein the sensitivity characteristics value is calculated after every passage of a predetermined period, and the sensitivity characteristics value calculated at an end of one predetermined period is used as the reference sensitivity characteristics value with respect to the sensitivity characteristics value calculated at an end of a next predetermined period.

Claim 23

An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 15 wherein the photosensitive member is formed of organic materials.

Claim 24

An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 15 wherein the detected density value is determined plural times by the detecting means.

Claim 25

An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 15 further comprising: second detecting means for detecting a density of the developer in the developing unit; and second control means for controlling the toner density of the developer based on a value detected by the second detecting means.

Claim 28

An image forming apparatus comprising: charging means for charging a surface of a photosensitive member at a predetermined potential; original image forming means for forming an original electrostatic latent image by exposing the charged surface of the photosensitive member with an image light corresponding to the original; test image forming means for forming a test electrostatic latent image by exposing the charged surface of the photosensitive member with a predetermined light amount; a developing unit for developing said test electrostatic latent image with a developer accommodated therein to form a test toner image; first detecting means for detecting a density of the test toner image on the surface of the photosensitive member; second detecting means for detecting a density of the developer in the developing unit; first control means for controlling the image light amount based on the density of the test toner image; and second control means for controlling the density of the developer based on the value detected by the second detecting means.

Claim 29

An image forming apparatus comprising: charging means for charging a surface of a photosensitive member at a predetermined potential; original image forming means for forming an original electrostatic latent image by exposing the charged surface of the photosensitive member with an image light corresponding to the original; test image forming means for forming a test electrostatic latent image by exposing the charged surface of the photosensitive member with a predetermined light amount; a developing unit for developing said test electrostatic latent image with a developer accommodated therein to form a test toner image; first detecting means for detecting a density of the test toner image on the surface of the photosensitive member; second detecting means for detecting a density of the developer in the developing unit; first control means for controlling the image light amount based on the density of the test toner image; and second control means for controlling the density of the developer based on the value detected by the second detecting means.

Claim 30

An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 23 wherein said original image forming means includes an illumination lamp for irradiating light on the charged surface of the photosensitive member.

Claim 31

An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 23 wherein the developer accommodated in the developing unit is composed of a toner and a carrier, and said second detecting means includes a magnetic sensor for detecting a density of the toner supplied to the developing unit in order to maintain the toner density at a predetermined value.

Claim 32

An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said control means controls the voltage value of the developing bias based on residual electric potentials calculated by the following equation: ##EQU1## where: Vr2 is a residual electric potential, Vb1 and Vb2 are bias voltages having the same polarity as the toner charge polarity and applied to the developing electrode, and M1 and M2 are toner amounts of the test toner images respectively formed under the bias voltages of Vb1 and Vb2.