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:
Jul. 31, 2007
Filed:
Jun. 30, 2005
Kohta Fujimori, Kanagawa-ken, JP;
Shin Hasegawa, Chiba-ken, JP;
Noboru Sawayama, Tokyo-to, JP;
Shinji Kato, Kanagawa-ken, JP;
Hitoshi Ishibashi, Kanagawa-ken, JP;
Kayoko Tanaka, Chiba-ken, JP;
Yushi Hirayama, Tokyo-to, JP;
Takashi Enami, Kanagawa-ken, JP;
Shinji Kobayashi, Kanagawa-ken, JP;
Kazumi Kobayashi, Tokyo-to, JP;
Fukutoshi Uchida, Kanagawa-ken, JP;
Naoto Watanabe, Chiba-ken, JP;
Kohta Fujimori, Kanagawa-ken, JP;
Shin Hasegawa, Chiba-ken, JP;
Noboru Sawayama, Tokyo-to, JP;
Shinji Kato, Kanagawa-ken, JP;
Hitoshi Ishibashi, Kanagawa-ken, JP;
Kayoko Tanaka, Chiba-ken, JP;
Yushi Hirayama, Tokyo-to, JP;
Takashi Enami, Kanagawa-ken, JP;
Shinji Kobayashi, Kanagawa-ken, JP;
Kazumi Kobayashi, Tokyo-to, JP;
Fukutoshi Uchida, Kanagawa-ken, JP;
Naoto Watanabe, Chiba-ken, JP;
Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus includes an image forming mechanism and a control device. The image forming mechanism performs an image forming operation under predetermined image forming conditions, and includes an image carrying member for forming an electrostatic latent image thereon, a development device for developing the electrostatic latent image into a toner image, and a transfer device for transferring the toner image to a recording medium. The control device controls an amount of toner replenished to the development device, sets a developer mixing time for evenly mixing developer in the development device, causes the development device to mix the developer for the set developer mixing time, causes the image forming mechanism to form toner image patterns, detects the toner image patterns, and determines the predetermined image forming conditions based on the detection of the toner image patterns. An image forming method is also described.