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:
Apr. 29, 2008
Filed:
Apr. 16, 2007
Yasushi Takeuchi, Toride, JP;
Yuichi Ikeda, Abiko, JP;
Jun Tomine, Abiko, JP;
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member; a toner image forming section for forming toner images on the image bearing member, whereby the toner image forming section forms a detection patch on the image bearing member; a transfer member for contacting the image bearing member to form a transfer nip portion, and electrically transferring the toner image to the recording material in the transfer nip portion; a detector for detecting the detection patch; a controller for variably controlling a toner image forming condition based on the detection result of the detector; and a toner removing section for forming a cleaning electric field to remove toner adhering to the transfer member when the inter-toner image area passes through the transfer nip portion. The electric field electrostatically moves the toner adhering to the transfer member to the image bearing member. A length of time of the electric field formed after the detection patch has passed through the transfer nip portion in a time period when the inter-toner image area on which the detection patch is formed passes through the transfer nip portion, is longer than a length of time of the electric field formed in a time period when the inter-toner image area on which the detection patch is not formed passes through the transfer nip portion.