Positional error correction for color image forming apparatus

Abstract

An image forming apparatus includes a transport mechanism transporting a recording medium on a belt which is transported at a constant speed in a transport direction, a plurality of electrostatic recording units arranged in the transport direction of the recording medium and transferring toner images of different colors, a positional error detecting part using the toner image of a reference color transferred by one of the electrostatic recording units as a reference image, and relatively detecting positional error information related to positional errors of the toner images of remaining colors transferred by the remaining electrostatic recording units with respect to the reference image, and a positional error correcting part relatively correcting the positional errors of the toner images transferred by the remaining electrostatic recording units based on the positional error information. The positional error detecting part includes a part for controlling the electrostatic recording units to transfer at least two resist marks on the belt at a scan starting end and a scan terminating end of the belt in a main scan direction which is perpendicular to the transport direction of the recording medium, with respect to each of the colors, and a second part, including a sensor detecting the resist marks, for detecting positional error quantities of the resist marks of each of the remaining colors with respect to the resist marks of the reference color based on detection times of the resist marks of reference color and the remaining colors.