Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Mitsuhiro Ota

Jiro Ishizuka

Kazuo Kishino

Rie Saito

Daisaku Kamiya

Hideo Kawamoto

Takeshi Menjo

Naohisa Nagata

Shigeo Hata

Takeo Yamamoto

Osamu Soutome

Masaaki Takahashi

Masahiro Inoue

Yuji Sakemi

Yuji Kitano

Ryo Inoue

A document reading apparatus includes an irradiation unit configured to irradiate a document reading position with visible light and infrared light, a reading unit configured to read an image of visible light and an image of infrared light reflected from the document on the document reading position, and an extraction unit configured to extract a transparent toner image on a document based on the visible light image and the infrared light image read by the reading unit.

Document reading apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes a toner image forming device configured to form a toner image on an image conveying member, a detector configured to optically detect a density of the toner image on the image conveying member, a controller configured to control an image forming condition of the toner image forming device based on an output of the detector, a shutter configured to open and close an optical window of the detector, wherein the image forming apparatus is operable in a cleaning mode of the shutter in which an opening and closing movement of the shutter is repeatedly executed.

Image forming apparatus having toner image forming device

An image forming apparatus that can realize an image having adequate image quality, density and color, without provoking excessive consumption of a developer and reduction in productivity. Image formation is performed by forming a latent image on an image carrier based on image information, then developing and transferring the latent image. An image for adjustment on a portion is formed other than a portion on which the latent image is formed on the image carrier. The density of the image for adjustment is detected. Image density is adjusted based on the density of the detected image for adjustment. Image formation control is executed whereby density is adjusted when an image is formed. A printing rate that indicates the percentage of the image formation to a sheet used for image formation is calculated. When the printing rate is determined to be within a set range, the image formation control is executed at a set frequency. On the other hand, when the printing rate is determined to be outside the set range, the set frequency is changed and the image formation control is executed.

Image formation control based on printing rate

An image forming system includes an image forming unit which forms an image as a toner image on a printing medium, a first fixing unit which fixes, on the printing medium, the toner image formed by the image forming unit, a second fixing unit arranged at a position different from the first fixing unit and used when a larger amount of heat is necessary for fixing the toner image on the printing medium, and a changing unit which changes the sequence of image formation by the image forming unit when the second fixing unit is used during image formation.

Image forming system and control method that change sequence of image formation based on fixation method

An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member on which an electrostatic image is formed; a development device which develops the electrostatic image formed on the image bearing member, and forms a toner image; a first transfer device which transfers the toner image on the image bearing member to an intermediate transfer member at a first transfer position; a first cleaning device for cleaning the image bearing member; a second transfer device which transfers the toner image on the intermediate transfer member to a recording material at a second transfer position; a second cleaning device for cleaning the intermediate transfer member; and a determining device which determines, whether the toner on the intermediate transfer member is to be cleaned by the second cleaning device or by the first cleaning device through the image bearing member, based an interval of an image forming process during a continuous image forming process.

Image forming apparatus featuring first and second cleaners operable on the basis of an interval of an image forming process during a continuous image forming process

A charging device including: a first charger which charges a member to be charged, the first charger having conducting particles which come into contact with the member to be charged; a second charger which charges the member to be charged in a same polarity as charging polarity of the first charger on an upstream side of the first charger in a moving direction of the member to be charged; and a controller which controls application of a charging voltage to the first charger, in which the controller turns a charging voltage on or off in an area of the member to be charged which is not subjected to charging by the second charger.

Charging device and image forming apparatus

According to the present invention, in an image-forming apparatus having at least two chargers for charging a rotating image carrier, in accordance with change in bias applied to a second charger disposed on the downstream side in a rotational direction of the image carrier, the bias applied to a first charger disposed on the upstream side is changed. Thereby, the electric power required for the charging is reduced.

Image-forming apparatus including first and second charging members with a target potential charging feature

The invention provides a roll member capable of preventing a sheet of recording paper from wrinkling. A metal compound MmXn and an inorganic fine powder are added to a silicone rubber layer forming the surface layer of the roll member. In the compound formula, M is a cation selected from among ions of Al, Sc, Cr, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn and Ga, and X is an anion selected from among ions of halogens, inorganic acids and organic acids.

Roll member and fusing device using the same

A blade for regulating the amount of a release oil to be supplied is placed so as to abut on a fixing member or on a member for controlling the amount of the release oil to be supplied to the fixing member. The abutting surface of the blade is composed of a silicone rubber layer. Alternatively, the blade includes a plate-shaped elastic body and a silicone rubber layer formed on the tip of the elastic body. A fixing device including the blade and an image-forming apparatus including the fixing device are also disclosed.

Release oil regulating blade, fixing device, and image-forming apparatus

A fixing apparatus includes a rotary member for thermally fixing a nonfixed image to a recording material, and a mold releasing agent applying device for applying a mold releasing agent to the rotary member. The mold releasing agent applying device has a regulating member contacted with the rotary member to regulate an amount of the mold releasing agent supplied to the rotary member. A holding member is disposed at an upstream side of the regulating member in a rotating direction of the rotary member and is adapted to hold the mold releasing agent. A supplying member supplies the mold releasing agent to the holding member, wherein a supplying timing of the mold releasing agent supplied from the supplying member to the holding member is effected periodically after a plurality of fixing process operations.

Fixing apparatus

An image forming apparatus has an image forming device for forming an image on a recording material in response to an image on a document. The apparatus also has a glossiness detection device for detecting from the document the level of glossiness of the document image. The image forming device is controlled based on an output from the glossiness detection device. With this construction, the level of glossiness in response to the document image can be reproduced on the recording material, thus improving the quality of reproduced images.

Image forming apparatus with glossiness detection

A fixing member includes a plurality of elastic layers on a core member, at least one elastic layer L1 among these elastic layers being overlaid on an elastic layer L2 having a surface roughness Rz of 10 .mu.m or more. The fixing member has a high heat conductivity, and the temperature depression of a fixing roller is moderated in a continuous paper feeding process.

Fixing member having an inner elastic layer with a surface roughness

An image forming apparatus includes an unfixed-image forming unit for forming an unfixed image having a plurality of colors on a recording material, and a fixing unit for fixing the unfixed image formed by the unfixed-image forming unit by heating the recording material bearing the image. The fixing unit can fix the unfixed image on the recording material with a first degree of fixing or with a second degree of fixing which is greater than the first degree of fixing depending on whether or not a light-transmitting-property recognition unit recognizes the recording material to have a light-transmitting property, and whether or not a black-monocolor recognition unit recognizes the unfixed image formed by the unfixed-image forming unit as a black monochromatic image. When the image forming apparatus recognizes that the recording material has a light-transmitting property and that the unfixed image is a black monochromatic image, the fixing unit can fix the unfixed image with the first degree of fixing or with the second degree of fixing based on information relating to an image formed by the fixing unit.

Growing community of inventors

Toride, Japan

Mitsuhiro Ota