Patent US5548378A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
US5548378A
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Image operating apparatus providing image stabilization control
Assignee: Canon Inc
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Filing: 1993-12-27
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Granted: 1996-08-20
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Expires: 2013-12-27
Abstract
Abstract An image forming apparatus comprises: an image forming unit to form an image onto a recording medium; a measuring unit to measure a density of the image formed on the recording medium; a controller to execute an image stabilizing control to decide image forming conditions of the image forming unit on the basis of the image density measured by the measuring unit; a heater to heat a load by supplying a current to the image forming apparatus; and a detector to detect a temperature of the load which is heated by the heater, wherein the controller controls the execution of the image stabilizing control in accordance with an output of the detector at the start of the power supply to the apparatus. When the detected temperature of the load is less than a predetermined value, the image stabilizing control is executed. When it is equal to or higher than the predetermined value, the image stabilizing control is not performed. When the image stabilizing control is executed, the control means allows the image forming unit to form a sample image and the image forming conditions are controlled on the basis of the state of the sample image.
Inventors
- 👤 Takao Ogata
- 👤 Koji Amemiya
- 👤 Tatsuo Takeuchi
- 👤 Takashi Hasegawa
- 👤 Rie Saito
- 👤 Nobuatsu Sasanuma
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 20:26
CPC Classifications
G; G03; G03G; G03G15/00; G03G15/01; G03G15/50; G03G15/5033; G03G15/5041; G03G2215/00; G03G2215/00025; G03G2215/00029; G03G2215/00033; G03G2215/00037; G03G2215/00042
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 43
Claim 1
Independent Claim
227 words
An image forming apparatus comprising: image forming means for forming an image onto a recording medium; a control circuit for controlling operation of said image forming apparatus; a power supply switch for supplying power to said image forming means and to said control circuit when said power supply switch is turned on; a switch, responsive to a position of a door attached to a housing of said image forming apparatus, for permitting power to be supplied to the control circuit regardless of the position of the door, and for cutting off the supply of power to said image forming means when said door is open; measuring means for measuring a density of the image formed on the recording medium; heating means for heating a load by a power supply to the image forming apparatus; detecting means for detecting a temperature of the load which is heated by the heating means, wherein the control circuit executes an image stabilizing control to determine image forming conditions of the image forming means on the basis of the image density measured by the measuring means, and wherein said control circuit controls execution of the image stabilizing control in accordance with an output of the detecting means either when said power supply switch supplies power to said image forming means or when said switch responds to a closed position of the door.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
227 words
An image forming apparatus comprising: image forming means for forming an image onto a recording medium; a control circuit for controlling operation of said image forming apparatus; a power supply switch for supplying power to said image forming means and to said control circuit when said power supply switch is turned on; a switch, responsive to a position of a door attached to a housing of said image forming apparatus, for permitting power to be supplied to the control circuit regardless of the position of the door, and for cutting off the supply of power to said image forming means when said door is open; measuring means for measuring a density of the image formed on the recording medium; heating means for heating a load by a power supply to the image forming apparatus; detecting means for detecting a temperature of the load which is heated by the heating means, wherein the control circuit executes an image stabilizing control to determine image forming conditions of the image forming means on the basis of the image density measured by the measuring means, and wherein said control circuit controls execution of the image stabilizing control in accordance with an output of the detecting means either when said power supply switch supplies power to said image forming means or when said switch responds to a closed position of the door.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
51 words
An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control means executes the image stabilizing control when the temperature detected by the detecting means is less than a predetermined value, and said control means doesn't execute the image stabilizing control when said temperature is equal to or higher than the predetermined value.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
27 words
An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the image stabilizing control is executed, said control means allows the image forming means to form a specific image.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
22 words
An apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said image forming means has generating means for generating data indicative of said specific image.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
257 words
A color image forming apparatus comprising: image forming means for forming a color image onto a recording medium by using coloring agents of a plurality of colors; a control circuit for controlling operation of said image forming apparatus; a power supply switch for supplying power to said image forming means and to said control circuit when said power supply switch is turned on; a switch, responsive to a position of a door attached to a housing of said image forming apparatus, for permitting power to be supplied to said control circuit regardless of the position of said door, and for cutting off the supply of power to said image forming means when said door is in an open state; measuring means for measuring a density of an image of each color which is formed on the recording medium; heating means for heating a load by a power supply to the image forming apparatus; detecting means for detecting a temperature of the load which is heated by the heating means, wherein said control circuit executes an image stabilizing control to determine image forming conditions of each color of said image forming means on the basis of the density of the image of each color which has been measured by said measuring means, and wherein said control circuit controls execution of the image stabilizing control in accordance with an output of said detecting means either when said power supply switch supplies power to said image forming means or when said switch responds to a closed position of the door.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
257 words
A color image forming apparatus comprising: image forming means for forming a color image onto a recording medium by using coloring agents of a plurality of colors; a control circuit for controlling operation of said image forming apparatus; a power supply switch for supplying power to said image forming means and to said control circuit when said power supply switch is turned on; a switch, responsive to a position of a door attached to a housing of said image forming apparatus, for permitting power to be supplied to said control circuit regardless of the position of said door, and for cutting off the supply of power to said image forming means when said door is in an open state; measuring means for measuring a density of an image of each color which is formed on the recording medium; heating means for heating a load by a power supply to the image forming apparatus; detecting means for detecting a temperature of the load which is heated by the heating means, wherein said control circuit executes an image stabilizing control to determine image forming conditions of each color of said image forming means on the basis of the density of the image of each color which has been measured by said measuring means, and wherein said control circuit controls execution of the image stabilizing control in accordance with an output of said detecting means either when said power supply switch supplies power to said image forming means or when said switch responds to a closed position of the door.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
26 words
An apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said image forming means sequentially forms the image by depositing respective coloring agents in accordance with a predetermined order.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
51 words
An apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the control means executes the image stabilizing control when the temperature detected by the detecting means is less than a predetermined value, and said control means doesn't execute the image stabilizing control when said temperature is equal to or higher than the predetermined value.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
187 words
An image forming apparatus comprising: image forming means for forming an image onto a recording medium; measuring means for measuring a density of the image formed on the recording medium; heating means for heating a load of a portion of said image forming means to a predetermined temperature by power supplied to said image forming apparatus; heat control means for controlling said heating means so that the temperature of said load is reduced to save power consumption of said image forming apparatus when said image forming apparatus does not form the image; key input means for inputting an instruction to reheat said load at the predetermined temperature when the temperature of said load is reduced by said heat control means; detecting means for detecting the temperature of said load; and control means for executing an image stabilizing control to determine image forming conditions of said image forming means according to the density measured by said measuring means, wherein said control means controls execution of the image stabilizing control according to an output provided by said detection means when the instruction is inputted by said key input means.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
187 words
An image forming apparatus comprising: image forming means for forming an image onto a recording medium; measuring means for measuring a density of the image formed on the recording medium; heating means for heating a load of a portion of said image forming means to a predetermined temperature by power supplied to said image forming apparatus; heat control means for controlling said heating means so that the temperature of said load is reduced to save power consumption of said image forming apparatus when said image forming apparatus does not form the image; key input means for inputting an instruction to reheat said load at the predetermined temperature when the temperature of said load is reduced by said heat control means; detecting means for detecting the temperature of said load; and control means for executing an image stabilizing control to determine image forming conditions of said image forming means according to the density measured by said measuring means, wherein said control means controls execution of the image stabilizing control according to an output provided by said detection means when the instruction is inputted by said key input means.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
38 words
An image forming apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said control means controls said heat control means so that the temperature of said load is reduced when an image forming operation is not executed for a predetermined time.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
46 words
An image forming apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said heat control means controls said heating means so that the temperature of said load is reduced when the temperature of said load is the predetermined temperature and the instruction is inputted by said key input means.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
54 words
An image forming apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the control means executes image stabilizing control when the temperature detected by the detection means is less than a predetermined value, and wherein said control means does not execute the image stabilizing control when said temperature is equal to or higher than the predetermined value.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
37 words
An image apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said control means further controls execution of the image stabilizing control according to an output provided by said detection means when power is supplied to said image forming apparatus.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
31 words
An image forming apparatus according to claim 8, wherein in the case the image stabilizing control is executed, said control means allows the image forming means to form a specific image.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
24 words
An image forming apparatus according to claim 13, wherein said image forming means has generating means for generating data indicative of said specific image.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
223 words
An image forming apparatus comprising: image forming means for forming a color image on a recording medium by using at least one coloring agent of a plurality of coloring agents; measuring means for measuring a density of an image of each coloring agent which is formed on the recording medium; heating means for heating a load of a portion of said image forming means at a predetermined temperature by power supplied to said image forming apparatus; heat control means for controlling said heating means so that the temperature of said load is reduced to save power consumption of said image forming apparatus when said image forming apparatus does not form the image; key input means for inputting a command to reheat said load to the predetermined temperature when the temperature of said load is reduced by said heat control means; detection means for detecting the temperature of said load; and control means for executing an image stabilizing control to determine image forming conditions of the image of each coloring agent of said image forming means according to the density of the image of each coloring agent measured by said measuring means, wherein said control means controls execution of the image stabilizing control according to an output provided by said detection means when the command to reheat is inputted by said key input means.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
223 words
An image forming apparatus comprising: image forming means for forming a color image on a recording medium by using at least one coloring agent of a plurality of coloring agents; measuring means for measuring a density of an image of each coloring agent which is formed on the recording medium; heating means for heating a load of a portion of said image forming means at a predetermined temperature by power supplied to said image forming apparatus; heat control means for controlling said heating means so that the temperature of said load is reduced to save power consumption of said image forming apparatus when said image forming apparatus does not form the image; key input means for inputting a command to reheat said load to the predetermined temperature when the temperature of said load is reduced by said heat control means; detection means for detecting the temperature of said load; and control means for executing an image stabilizing control to determine image forming conditions of the image of each coloring agent of said image forming means according to the density of the image of each coloring agent measured by said measuring means, wherein said control means controls execution of the image stabilizing control according to an output provided by said detection means when the command to reheat is inputted by said key input means.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
38 words
An image forming apparatus according to claim 15, wherein said control means controls said heat control means so that the temperature of said load is reduced when an image forming operation is not executed for a predetermined time.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
46 words
An image forming apparatus according to claim 15, wherein said heat control means controls said heating means so that the temperature of said load is reduced when the temperature of said load is the predetermined temperature and the instruction is inputted by said key input means.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
27 words
An image forming apparatus according to claim 15, wherein said image forming means sequentially forms the images from respective coloring agents in accordance with a predetermined order.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
54 words
An image forming apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the control means executes the image stabilizing control when the temperature detected by said detecting means is less than a predetermined value, and said control means does not execute the image stabilizing control when said temperature is equal to or higher than the predetermined value.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
170 words
An image forming apparatus comprising: image forming means for forming an image onto a recording medium; a switch, responsive to a position of a door attached to a housing of said image forming apparatus, for cutting off a supply of power to said image forming means when said door is open; a control circuit for controlling operation of said image forming apparatus; measuring means for measuring a density of the image formed on the recording medium; heating means for heating a load by a power supply to the image forming apparatus; detecting means for detecting a temperature of the load which is heated by the heating means, wherein the control circuit executes an image stabilizing control to determine image forming conditions of the image forming means on the basis of the image density measured by the measuring means, and wherein said control circuit controls execution of the image stabilizing control in accordance with an output of the detecting means when said switch responds to a closed position of the door.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
170 words
An image forming apparatus comprising: image forming means for forming an image onto a recording medium; a switch, responsive to a position of a door attached to a housing of said image forming apparatus, for cutting off a supply of power to said image forming means when said door is open; a control circuit for controlling operation of said image forming apparatus; measuring means for measuring a density of the image formed on the recording medium; heating means for heating a load by a power supply to the image forming apparatus; detecting means for detecting a temperature of the load which is heated by the heating means, wherein the control circuit executes an image stabilizing control to determine image forming conditions of the image forming means on the basis of the image density measured by the measuring means, and wherein said control circuit controls execution of the image stabilizing control in accordance with an output of the detecting means when said switch responds to a closed position of the door.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
52 words
An apparatus according to claim 20, wherein the control circuit executes the image stabilizing control when the temperature detected by the detecting means is less than a predetermined value, and said control circuit does not execute the image stabilizing control when said temperature is equal to or higher than the predetermined value.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
87 words
An apparatus according to claim 20, wherein said control circuit performs said image stabilizing control operation in which said image forming means is caused to form a pattern image onto a photosensitive member on the basis of a digital image signal having a predetermined density level, said measuring means is caused to measure density of said pattern image and a contrast voltage of a latent image to be formed onto the photosensitive member is determined on the basis of the result of measurement by said measuring means.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
200 words
A color image forming apparatus comprising: image forming means for forming a color image onto a recording medium by using coloring agents of a plurality of colors; a control circuit for controlling operation of said image forming apparatus; a switch, responsive to a position of a door attached to a housing of said image forming apparatus for cutting off a supply of power to said image forming means when said door is in an open state; measuring means for measuring a density of an image of each color which is formed on the recording medium; heating means for heating a load by a power supply to the image forming apparatus; detecting means for detecting a temperature of the load which is heated by the heating means, wherein the control circuit executes an image stabilizing control to determine image forming conditions of each color of said image forming means on the basis of the density of the image of each color which has been measured by the measuring means, and wherein said control circuit controls execution of the image stabilizing control in accordance with an output of said detecting means when said switch responds to a closed position of the door.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
200 words
A color image forming apparatus comprising: image forming means for forming a color image onto a recording medium by using coloring agents of a plurality of colors; a control circuit for controlling operation of said image forming apparatus; a switch, responsive to a position of a door attached to a housing of said image forming apparatus for cutting off a supply of power to said image forming means when said door is in an open state; measuring means for measuring a density of an image of each color which is formed on the recording medium; heating means for heating a load by a power supply to the image forming apparatus; detecting means for detecting a temperature of the load which is heated by the heating means, wherein the control circuit executes an image stabilizing control to determine image forming conditions of each color of said image forming means on the basis of the density of the image of each color which has been measured by the measuring means, and wherein said control circuit controls execution of the image stabilizing control in accordance with an output of said detecting means when said switch responds to a closed position of the door.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
26 words
An apparatus according to claim 23, wherein said image forming means sequentially forms the image by depositing respective coloring agents in accordance with a predetermined order.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
52 words
An apparatus according to claim 23, wherein the control circuit executes the image stabilizing control when the temperature detected by the detecting means is less than a predetermined value, and said control means does not execute the image stabilizing control when said temperature is equal to or higher than the predetermined value.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
27 words
An apparatus according to claim 23, wherein said measuring means further comprises a common sensor for measuring the density of the pattern image of each coloring agent.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
101 words
An apparatus according to claim 23, wherein said control circuit performs said image stabilizing control operation in which said image forming means is caused to form a pattern image of each coloring agent onto a photosensitive member on the basis of a digital image signal having a predetermined density level of each color, said measuring means is caused to measure density of the pattern image of each coloring agent and a contrast voltage of a latent image of each color, to be formed onto the photosensitive member, is determined on the basis of the result of measurement by said measuring means.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
204 words
An image forming apparatus comprising: image forming means for forming an image onto a recording medium; a power supply switch for supplying power to said image forming means when said power supply switch is turned on; a switch, responsive to a position of a door attached to a housing of said image forming apparatus, for cutting off the supply of power to said image forming means when said door is open; a control circuit for controlling operation of said image forming apparatus; measuring means for measuring a density of the image formed on the recording medium; heating means for heating a load by a power supply to the image forming apparatus; detecting means for detecting a temperature of the load which is heated by the heating means, wherein the control circuit executes an image stabilizing control to determine image forming conditions of the image forming means on the basis of the image density measured by the measuring means, and wherein said control circuit controls execution of the image stabilizing control in accordance with an output of the detecting means either when said power supply switch supplies power to said image forming means or when said switch responds to a closed position of the door.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
204 words
An image forming apparatus comprising: image forming means for forming an image onto a recording medium; a power supply switch for supplying power to said image forming means when said power supply switch is turned on; a switch, responsive to a position of a door attached to a housing of said image forming apparatus, for cutting off the supply of power to said image forming means when said door is open; a control circuit for controlling operation of said image forming apparatus; measuring means for measuring a density of the image formed on the recording medium; heating means for heating a load by a power supply to the image forming apparatus; detecting means for detecting a temperature of the load which is heated by the heating means, wherein the control circuit executes an image stabilizing control to determine image forming conditions of the image forming means on the basis of the image density measured by the measuring means, and wherein said control circuit controls execution of the image stabilizing control in accordance with an output of the detecting means either when said power supply switch supplies power to said image forming means or when said switch responds to a closed position of the door.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
52 words
An apparatus according to claim 28, wherein the control circuit executes the image stabilizing control when the temperature detected by the detecting means is less than a predetermined value, and said control circuit does not execute the image stabilizing control when said temperature is equal to or higher than the predetermined value.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
27 words
An apparatus according to claim 28, wherein when the image stabilizing control is executed, said control circuit allows the image forming means to form a specific image.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
22 words
An apparatus according to claim 30, wherein said image forming means has generating means for generating data indicative of said specific image.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
226 words
A color image forming apparatus comprising: image forming means for forming an image onto a recording medium by using coloring agents of a plurality of colors; a power supply switch for supplying power to said image forming means when said power supply switch is turned on; a switch, responsive to a position of a door attached to a housing of said image forming apparatus, for cutting off the supply of power to said image forming means when said door is open; a control circuit for controlling operation of said image forming apparatus; measuring means for measuring a density of the image formed on the recording medium; heating means for heating a load by a power supply to the image forming apparatus; detecting means for detecting a temperature of the load which is heated by the heating means, wherein the control circuit executes an image stabilizing control to determine image forming conditions of each color of said image forming means on the basis of the image density of the image of each color which has been measured by the measuring means, and wherein said control circuit controls execution of the image stabilizing control in accordance with an output of the detecting means either when said power supply switch supplies power to said image forming means or when said switch responds to a closed position of the door.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
226 words
A color image forming apparatus comprising: image forming means for forming an image onto a recording medium by using coloring agents of a plurality of colors; a power supply switch for supplying power to said image forming means when said power supply switch is turned on; a switch, responsive to a position of a door attached to a housing of said image forming apparatus, for cutting off the supply of power to said image forming means when said door is open; a control circuit for controlling operation of said image forming apparatus; measuring means for measuring a density of the image formed on the recording medium; heating means for heating a load by a power supply to the image forming apparatus; detecting means for detecting a temperature of the load which is heated by the heating means, wherein the control circuit executes an image stabilizing control to determine image forming conditions of each color of said image forming means on the basis of the image density of the image of each color which has been measured by the measuring means, and wherein said control circuit controls execution of the image stabilizing control in accordance with an output of the detecting means either when said power supply switch supplies power to said image forming means or when said switch responds to a closed position of the door.
Claim 41
Dependent Claim
26 words
An apparatus according to claim 32, wherein said image forming means sequentially forms the image by depositing respective coloring agents in accordance with a predetermined order.
Claim 42
Dependent Claim
52 words
An apparatus according to claim 32, wherein the control circuit executes the image stabilizing control when the temperature detected by the detecting means is less than a predetermined value, and said control circuit does not execute the image stabilizing control when said temperature is equal to or higher than the predetermined value.
Claim 43
Dependent Claim
27 words
An apparatus according to claim 32, wherein said measuring means further comprises a common sensor for measuring a density of a pattern image of each coloring agent.
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| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1999-08-20 | 2000-02-19 | 2000-08-20 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2003-08-20 | 2004-02-19 | 2004-08-20 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2007-08-20 | 2008-02-19 | 2008-08-20 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |