The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 08, 2001
Filed:
Oct. 24, 1996
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus includes a photosensitive member, a charging device for charging the photosensitive member, an exposing device for exposing a light including image information to the photosensitive member, and a developing device for supplying a toner to an electrostatic latent image formed on said photosensitive member. The developing means is held by a cartridge removably mountable on a main body of the image forming apparatus. The cartridge includes a memory for memorizing an amount of use of the cartridge, wherein a charging amount of the toner caused by friction in the cartridge when the amount of use of the cartridge is in an initial state is smaller than that when the amount of use of said cartridge is not in an initial state. A judging device compares the amount of use of the cartridge with a predetermined value showing a condition that the amount of use of the cartridge is in the initial state. A control device controls operating parameters relating to at least one of the charging device, the exposing device, and the developing device, in accordance with a compared result of the judging device, so as to prevent thinning of an image line width until the amount of use of the cartridge reaches the predetermined value. The control device changes the operating parameters until the amount of use of the cartridge reaches the predetermined value, and sets the operating parameters to be constant after the amount of use of the cartridge reaches the predetermined value.