Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Yoshihiro Sonohara

Shinya Kobayashi

Tadashi Kasai

Keisuke Kubota

Masakazu Terao

Hiroyuki Shimada

Masami Okamoto

Jun Okamoto

Kenji Nozawa

Naoto Suzuki

Takashi Kagami

Syoichi Kaneko

Kazuo Suno

Yoichi Sakurai

Takashi Suzuki

Teruaki Mitsuya

Masato Iio

Akio Tsujita

Kentarou Matsumoto

Daisuke Hara

Katsuhiro Shinohara

Tadeshi Kasai

In an image forming apparatus, multiple toners are superimposed, formed and layered, on a recording medium and a toner image is made. The toner that superimposed lastly on the recording medium, that is, a top layer of toner, has a toner fixing characteristic value that causes the top layer of toner to be fixed on the recording medium by lower temperature than one or all of the other multiple toners. This provides for a better fixing quality.

Image forming apparatus and method capable of improving fixing quality

An image forming apparatus and method that compute a total amount of toner to be deposited per unit area of a target image in which a first unit area is computed to form a first toner image using a highest total amount of toner, and a second unit area is computed to form a second toner image using a lowest total amount of toner. When the highest total amount of toner computed by a computing unit exceeds a given level, a transfer bias determination unit identifies a transfer bias to transfer a toner image of the target image from an overlapping portion that can effectively transfer the first toner image, and the second toner image.

Image forming apparatus, image forming method, and image forming program

An image glossing apparatus including a recording sheet feeder feeding a recording sheet bearing a toner image; a glossing device including a heater heating a glossing portion of the toner image to gloss the portion; a glossiness information obtaining device obtaining position information on the position of the glossing portion; and a position detector including a tip detector detecting tip of the fed recording sheet, and a distance measuring device measuring the moving distance of the recording sheet after the tip of the recording sheet is detected. The position detector detects the position of a portion of the recording sheet facing the heater based on the information on the tip of the recording sheet and the information on the moving distance of the recording sheet. When the portion of the recording sheet facing the heater is the glossing portion, the heater heats the portion to gloss the glossing portion.

Image glossing apparatus, image glossing method, and recording medium storing image glossing program

An image forming apparatus and method compute a total amount of toner to be deposited per unit area of a target image. When the highest total amount of toner computed exceeds a given level, a heating determination unit, using a processor, determines whether a first heating amount range enabling fusing of the computed highest total amount of toner and a second heating amount range enabling fusing of the computed lowest total amount of toner have an overlapping portion that can effectively fuse a first toner image, a second toner image, and identifies a heating amount to fuse a toner image of the target image from an overlapping portion that can effectively fuse the first toner image, and the second toner image.

A fixing device includes a rotatable first nip formation member, a rotatable second nip formation member, a first heater, a second heater, and a controller. The second nip formation member is provided under the first nip formation member to contact the first nip formation member to form a fixing nip portion between the first nip formation member and the second nip formation member. The first heater heats the first nip formation member. The second heater heats the second nip formation member. The controller supplies a portion of power to the second heater and the remainder of power to the first heater when a plurality of sheets having a sheet weight not greater than about 100 g/mpasses through the fixing nip portion continuously.

Fixing device and image forming apparatus capable of suppressing variation image density

An image forming apparatus which transfers clear toner and at least one of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black color toner onto a recording medium to form an image based on image information and image classification information, the apparatus including a clear priority determiner configured to determine a clear priority based on the image classification information; a toner adherence amount determiner determining amounts of the color toners and the clear toner to be adhered to the recording medium based on the image information and the clear priority; and a toner transferer transferring the color toners and the clear toner onto the recording medium in amounts determined by the toner adherence amount determiner.

Image forming apparatus and image forming method

An image forming system including an image forming device forming on a recording sheet a first chromatic toner image, and a second chromatic toner image having an outermost layer of transparent toner, wherein the transparent toner has lower glass transition temperature than the chromatic toners; a fixing device having a fixing member contacting the recording sheet to heat the toner images to temperature not lower than the glass transition temperature of the chromatic toners so that the toner images are fixed; and a glossing device having a glossing member contacting the recording sheet to heat the toner images to temperature not lower than the glass transition temperature of the transparent toner and lower than the glass transition temperatures of the chromatic toners so that only the transparent toner achieves a rubber state and to cool the heated first and second toner images so that the transparent toner is solidified.

Image forming system, and image forming method

An image glossiness controller has a main component color specifying unit that identifies a prescribed component color and output identification information thereof. A change in amplitude of a convexoconcavity of a toner layer of the prescribed component color is greatest among those of the other component colors when each of the component color toner is formed and fixed alone. Three or more halftone dot signal generators convert clear toner image information into three or more binary clear toner image signals corresponding to three or more component colors per component color pixel using multiple halftone dot characteristics, respectively. Each of the multiple halftone dot characteristics generating three or more binary clear toner image signals has a reversed phase from that generating three or more binary component color image signals.

Controller and halftone dot signal generating method capable of controlling glossiness of image

A fixing device includes a rotatable first nip formation member, a rotatable second nip formation member, and an oil applier. The second nip formation member is provided under the first nip formation member to contact the first nip formation member. The oil applier includes an oil pan, an oil receiver, and an oil filter. The oil pan is provided under the second nip formation member to contain oil in which the second nip formation member is dipped. The oil receiver holds the oil pan. The oil filter is provided between the oil pan and the oil receiver to filter oil overflowing the oil pan.

Fixing device and image forming apparatus capable of effectively circulating and applying oil for fixing

A fixing device includes a rotatable fixing member, a pressing member, a motor, and an oil applier. The pressing member contacts the fixing member. The oil applier includes an application roller and an oil supply mechanism. The application roller applies oil to one of the fixing member and the pressing member. The oil supply mechanism supplies oil to the application roller. The motor is provided independent of other drivers, and supplies a driving force to the application roller to rotate the application roller at an arbitrary speed.

Fixing device and image forming apparatus capable of adjusting amount of oil applied for fixing

In a fixing device, a controller switches a pressing member between a pressure application state to contact the pressing member against a fixing member and a pressure release state to separate the pressing member from the fixing member. The controller starts rotation of the pressing member before the pressing member contacts the fixing member in the pressure application state, when the pressing member switches from the pressure release state to the pressure application state. An oil applier includes an oil pan and an oil regulating member. The oil pan is provided under the pressing member to contain oil in which the pressing member is dipped. The oil regulating member is provided downstream from the oil pan in a direction of rotation of the pressing member to contact the pressing member to regulate an amount of oil adhering to the pressing member.

Fixing device, image forming apparatus, and image fixing method capable of stably applying oil for fixing without adhering oil to sheet

A fixing device includes a fixing member, a pressing member, and an oil applier. In the oil applier, an oil application member applies oil supplied from an oil supply mechanism to one of the fixing member and the pressing member. In the oil supply mechanism, an oil storage member is provided above and adjacent to one of an oil supply member and the oil application member to supply oil overflowing the oil storage member, when oil is put into the oil storage member through an oil inlet, to one of the oil supply member and the oil application member. The oil supply member provided adjacent to the oil storage member supplies oil sent from the oil storage member to the oil application member.

Fixing device and image forming apparatus with improved mechanism for stably applying oil for fixing

An image forming apparatus includes an oil input device and a fixing device including a fixing member, a pressing member, and an oil applier. In the oil applier, an oil application member applies oil supplied from an oil supply mechanism to one of the fixing member and the pressing member. In the oil supply mechanism, an oil supply member provided adjacent to an oil storage member supplies oil sent from the oil storage member to the oil application member. When the fixing device is reattached to the image forming apparatus after the fixing device is detached from the image forming apparatus, oil sent from the oil input device through an oil inlet overflows the oil storage member, and is supplied to one of the oil supply member and the oil application member provided adjacent to the oil storage member before an image forming operation starts.

Image forming apparatus capable of stably applying oil for fixing

In a fixing device in which fixing defects can be suppressed and which can be reduced in size, and an image forming apparatus comprising the fixing device, setting is performed such that the surface temperature of an outer peripheral belt surface serving as a non-heated belt surface of a fixing belt is substantially equal at a heating region inlet at the upstream end of a heating region and a heating region outlet at the downstream end of the heating region such that the temperature difference between the surface temperature of the outer peripheral belt surface at the heating region inlet and the surface temperature of the outer peripheral belt surface at the heating region outlet is no more than 5 [&#xb0; C.].

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Kanagawa, Japan

Yoshihiro Sonohara