IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING METHOD

摘要

An image forming apparatus includes a latent image bearing member, a charging unit, a charging power source, a latent image writing unit, a development unit, a transfer unit, a toner detector, and a controller. The controller causes a background fog pattern to be formed on a surface of the latent image bearing member. In addition to the background fog pattern, the controller causes a latent image to be developed to form a toner image used for position identification on the surface of the latent image bearing member. The controller identifies a time when the toner image used for position identification has entered a detection range of the toner detector based on a change in outputs of the toner detector to determine a time when each of sections of the background fog pattern enters the detection range based on the identified time.

主权项

1. An image forming apparatus comprising:
a latent image bearing member; a charging unit to charge a surface of the latent image bearing member; a charging power source to output a charging bias to be supplied to the charging unit; a latent image writing unit to write a latent image on the surface of the latent image bearing member charged by the charging unit; a development unit to develop the latent image to form a toner image; a transfer unit to transfer the toner image on the surface of the latent image bearing member to a transfer member; a toner detector to detect a toner adhesion amount on the surface of the latent image bearing member or a surface of the transfer member; and a controller to gradually change a background potential serving as a potential difference between a background area of the latent image bearing member and a development member of the development unit while causing the latent image bearing member to rotate to form a background fog pattern, including only a blank area corresponding to the background area, on the surface of the latent image bearing member, and to adjust the charging bias from the charging power source based on a detection of the toner adhesion amount by the toner detector for each of sections of the background fog pattern in a direction of movement of the latent image bearing member, the controller developing a latent image to form a toner image used for position identification on the surface of the latent image bearing member in addition to the background fog pattern, and identifying a time when the toner image used for position identification has entered a detection range of the toner detector based on a change in outputs of the toner detector to determine a time when each of the sections enters the detection range based on the identified time.