Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.

Konica Minolta, Inc.

Eri Kusano

Naotoshi Kawai

Tomohiro Kato

Kuniaki Kashiwakura

Noritoshi Hagimoto

Hokuto Hatano

Tomoyuki Imura

In an image forming apparatus, the charging bias supply circuit generates a second charging bias voltage that causes no positive discharge between the charging unit and the photoreceptor drum, during a recovery mode, the charging unit charges the surface of the photoreceptor drum upon application of the second charging bias voltage during the recovery mode, and the cleaning unit rubs the surface of the photoreceptor drum charged by the second charging bias voltage, during the recovery mode.

Image forming apparatus with a charging bias supply circuit

An image forming apparatus selects a screen from a plurality of screens corresponding respectively to a plurality of gradation values and each including a pattern in which a first region to which toner is to adhere and a second region to which toner is not to adhere are defined, and forms a toner image on media. The apparatus includes a storage device for storing a minimum formable distance between first regions or second regions adjacent to each other, and a controller calculating a distance between the first regions or second regions adjacent to each other in the screen and, when the distance of the region of a screen that corresponds to a gradation value of an input image and has a first pattern is smaller than the minimum formable distance, selecting a screen corresponding to the gradation value of the input image and having a second pattern.

Electrophotographic image forming apparatus that selects a screen from a plurality of screens based on distance between toner adhesion or non-adhesion regions

A first screen group and a second screen group are stored in an image forming apparatus. In the first screen group, the first region expands with increasing gradation value based on a first rule. In the second screen group, the first region expands with increasing gradation value based on an independent second rule different from the first rule. A screen selector relocates a first portion and a second portion such that the first portion and the second portion are joined by a second region that is not a toner adhesion control target, when the first portion and the second portion are adjacent as a result of the selection of the screen in each unit region of the input image. The first portion includes the screen included in the first screen group, and the second portion includes the screen included in the second screen group.

Image forming apparatus in which intermediate gradation reproducibility is enhanced

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Toyokawa, Japan

Eri Kusano