US9778593B2
Active / In Force
US
⏱️ 9.1 years remaining
Image forming apparatus
Assignee: Ricoh Co Ltd
•
Filing: 2015-12-16
•
Granted: 2017-10-03
•
Expires: 2035-12-16
Abstract
Abstract An image forming apparatus includes an image forming section that includes a latent image bearer; a charger to charge a surface of the latent image bearer; and a latent image writer to write a latent image on the charged surface of the latent image bearer. The image forming apparatus further includes a developing device to develop the latent image with a developer borne on a developer bearer; and a cyclical changing device including a controller and a write controller, in combination. The cyclical changing device cyclically changes a developing bias to be applied to the developer bearer while cyclically changing a charge intensity of the charger during the image formation by the image forming section. The cyclical changing device cyclically changes the developing bias and the charge intensity, and a latent image write intensity of the latent image writer.
Inventors
- 👤 Shuji Hirai
- 👤 Satoshi Kaneko
- 👤 Terumichi Ochi
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-02 13:43
CPC Classifications
G; G03; G03G; G03G15/00; G03G15/06; G03G15/065; G03G15/02; G03G15/0266; G03G15/04; G03G15/043
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 22
Claim 1
Independent Claim
119 words
An image forming apparatus, comprising: an image forming section including a latent image bearer; a charger to charge a surface of the latent image bearer; and a latent image writer to write a latent image on the charged surface of the latent image bearer; a developing device to develop the latent image with a developer borne on a developer bearer; and a cyclical changing device including a controller and a write controller, in combination, to cyclically change, within a cycle of rotation of the latent image bearer or the developer bearer, a developing bias applied to the developer bearer while cyclically changing a charge intensity of the charger and a latent image write intensity of the latent image writer.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
119 words
An image forming apparatus, comprising: an image forming section including a latent image bearer; a charger to charge a surface of the latent image bearer; and a latent image writer to write a latent image on the charged surface of the latent image bearer; a developing device to develop the latent image with a developer borne on a developer bearer; and a cyclical changing device including a controller and a write controller, in combination, to cyclically change, within a cycle of rotation of the latent image bearer or the developer bearer, a developing bias applied to the developer bearer while cyclically changing a charge intensity of the charger and a latent image write intensity of the latent image writer.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
72 words
The image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the latent image bearer is a photoconductor, the latent image writer writes an electrostatic latent image to the photoconductor by irradiation of the image bearer with light, the latent image write intensity is obtained by detecting a light irradiation amount of the latent image writer, and the cyclical changing device changes the light irradiation amount of the latent image writer cyclically.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
87 words
The image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 2 , wherein: one cycle of a cyclic variation waveform of the light irradiation amount includes a boundary with a predetermined reference value between a light irradiation amount increasing side and a light irradiation amount decreasing side; and the cyclical changing device formulates the light irradiation amount to cyclically change such that a peak value of the waveform of the irradiation amount increasing side is larger than a peak value of the waveform of the irradiation amount decreasing side.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
162 words
The image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein: the cyclical changing device formulates a development variation pattern based on a detection result of an image density variation pattern in a solid toner image in a direction of movement of the surface of the latent image bearer, the solid toner image formed on the latent image bearer without cyclically changing any of three of the developing bias, the charge intensity, and the latent image write intensity; the cyclical changing device formulates a charge variation pattern based on a detection result of an image density variation pattern in a halftone toner image in the direction of movement, the halftone toner image formed by cyclically changing the developing bias alone among the three; and when forming a toner image in response to a command from a user, the cyclical changing device cyclically changes the developing bias based on the development variation pattern and the charge intensity based on the charge variation pattern.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
92 words
The image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 4 , wherein: the cyclical changing device formulates a latent image variation pattern based on a result in which image density variation of a frequency higher than that of a varying frequency component included in the development variation pattern is extracted from the image density variation pattern of the solid toner image; and when forming a toner image in response to a command from a user, the cyclical changing device cyclically changes the latent image write intensity based on the latent image variation pattern.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
73 words
The image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 5 , wherein: the cyclical changing device extracts a cyclic variation component of a predetermined frequency or lower from the image density variation pattern of the solid toner image, to formulate the development variation; and the cyclical changing device extracts a cyclic variation component of a frequency higher than the predetermined frequency from the image density variation pattern, to formulate the latent image variation pattern.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
123 words
The image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 5 , further comprising a rotary attitude sensor to detect a rotary attitude of a rotary member that cyclically changes an image density while rotating, wherein the cyclical changing device obtains a specific timing in one rotary cycle of the rotary member based on a readings from the rotary attitude sensor, formulates each of the development variation pattern, the charge variation pattern, and the latent image variation pattern, respectively, based on the obtained timing by the rotary attitude sensor, and, when forming a toner image based on a command from a user, cyclically changes the developing bias, the charge intensity, and the latent image write intensity based on the readings from the rotary attitude sensor.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
45 words
The image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 7 , further comprising a replacement sensor, wherein the cyclical changing device reformulates the development variation pattern, the charge variation pattern, and the latent image variation pattern when the replacement sensor detects replacement of the rotary member.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
54 words
The image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 5 , further comprising an environment sensor to detect an environment of the apparatus, wherein the cyclical changing device reformulates the development variation pattern, the charge variation pattern, and the latent image variation pattern based on a result of environmental change detected by the environment sensor.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
118 words
The image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the cyclical changing device is further configured to: after formulating the charge variation pattern, while cyclically changing the developing bias according to the development variation pattern, cyclically change the charge intensity in accordance with the charge variation pattern, and form a halftone toner image; formulate the latent image variation pattern based on the detection result of the image density variation pattern in the halftone toner image in the direction of movement of the surface of the latent image bearer; and when forming a toner image based on a command from a user, cyclically change the latent image write intensity in accordance with the latent image variation pattern.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
53 words
The image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the cyclical changing device obtains an image density in each section of an output image based on image information and cyclically changes the latent image write intensity when writing a latent image of an image portion having a predetermined image density alone.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
108 words
An image forming apparatus, comprising: an image forming section including a photoconductor, a charging roller to charge a surface of the photoconductor, and a laser writer to write a latent image on the charged surface of the photoconductor; a developing device to develop the latent image with a developer borne on a development sleeve; a controller; and a write controller, in combination with the controller, to cyclically change, within a cycle of rotation of the photoconductor or the development sleeve, a developing bias applied to the development sleeve while cyclically changing a charge intensity by the charging roller and a latent image write intensity by the laser writer.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
108 words
An image forming apparatus, comprising: an image forming section including a photoconductor, a charging roller to charge a surface of the photoconductor, and a laser writer to write a latent image on the charged surface of the photoconductor; a developing device to develop the latent image with a developer borne on a development sleeve; a controller; and a write controller, in combination with the controller, to cyclically change, within a cycle of rotation of the photoconductor or the development sleeve, a developing bias applied to the development sleeve while cyclically changing a charge intensity by the charging roller and a latent image write intensity by the laser writer.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
168 words
The image forming apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the controller and the write controller, in combination, formulate a development variation pattern based on a detection result of an image density variation pattern in a solid toner image in a direction of movement of the surface of the photoconductor, the solid toner image formed on the photoconductor without cyclically changing any of three of the developing bias, the charge intensity, and the latent image write intensity; the controller and the write controller, in combination, formulate a charge variation pattern based on a detection result of an image density variation pattern in a halftone toner image in the direction of movement, the halftone toner image formed by cyclically changing the developing bias alone among the three; and when forming a toner image in response to a command from a user, the controller and the write controller, in combination, cyclically change the developing bias based on the development variation pattern and the charge intensity based on the charge variation pattern.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
97 words
The image forming apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the controller and the write controller, in combination, formulate a latent image variation pattern based on a result in which image density variation of a frequency higher than that of a varying frequency component included in the development variation pattern is extracted from the image density variation pattern of the solid toner image; and when forming a toner image in response to a command from a user, the controller and the write controller, in combination, change the latent image write intensity based on the latent image variation pattern.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
79 words
The image forming apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the controller and the write controller, in combination, extract a cyclic variation component of a predetermined frequency or lower from the image density variation pattern of the solid toner image, to formulate the development variation; and the controller and the write controller, in combination, extract a cyclic variation component of a frequency higher than the predetermined frequency from the image density variation pattern, to formulate the latent image variation pattern.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
125 words
The image forming apparatus of claim 14 , further comprising a rotary attitude sensor to detect a rotary attitude of a rotary member that cyclically changes an image density while rotating, wherein the controller and the write controller, in combination, obtain a specific timing in one rotary cycle of the rotary member based on a readings from the rotary attitude sensor, formulate each of the development variation pattern, the charge variation pattern, and the latent image variation pattern, respectively, based on the obtained timing by the rotary attitude sensor, and, when forming a toner image based on a command from a user, cyclically change the developing bias, the charge intensity, and the latent image write intensity based on the readings from the rotary attitude sensor.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
47 words
The image forming apparatus of claim 16 , further comprising a replacement sensor, wherein the controller and the write controller, in combination, reformulate the development variation pattern, the charge variation pattern, and the latent image variation pattern when the replacement sensor detects replacement of the rotary member.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
56 words
The image forming apparatus of claim 14 , further comprising an environment sensor to detect an environment of the apparatus, wherein the controller and the write controller, in combination, reformulate the development variation pattern, the charge variation pattern, and the latent image variation pattern based on a result of environmental change detected by the environment sensor.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
120 words
The image forming apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the controller and the write controller, in combination, are further configured to: after formulating the charge variation pattern, while cyclically changing the developing bias according to the development variation pattern, cyclically change the charge intensity in accordance with the charge variation pattern, and form a halftone toner image; formulate the latent image variation pattern based on the detection result of the image density variation pattern in the halftone toner image in the direction of movement of the surface of the latent image bearer; and when forming a toner image based on a command from a user, cyclically change the latent image write intensity in accordance with the latent image variation pattern.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
55 words
The image forming apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the controller and the write controller, in combination, obtain an image density in each section of an output image based on image information and cyclically change the latent image write intensity when writing a latent image of an image portion having a predetermined image density alone.
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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) | 2020-10-02 | 2021-04-03 | 2021-10-03 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2024-10-02 | 2025-04-03 | 2025-10-03 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2028-10-02 | 2029-04-03 | 2029-10-03 | $7700.00 | Pending Window |