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:
Sep. 02, 2008
Filed:
Oct. 01, 2003
Mitsuhiko Sato, Chiba, JP;
Shokyo Koh, Ibaraki, JP;
Takashi Fujimori, Ibaraki, JP;
Hidenori Sunada, Ibaraki, JP;
Mitsuhiko Sato, Chiba, JP;
Shokyo Koh, Ibaraki, JP;
Takashi Fujimori, Ibaraki, JP;
Hidenori Sunada, Ibaraki, JP;
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, , JP;
Abstract
There is provided an image forming apparatus which is capable of reducing a period of time required for obtaining an image output, in the case of changing the image forming operation from a monochromatic image formation to a color image formation during execution of the image forming operation. A plurality of image forming units form images and overlap images the formed images onto a transfer material. A preparation for image formation is started in a first mode in which image formation is carried out by the plurality of image forming units while image formation is being carried out in a second mode in which image formation is carried out by at least one of the image forming units. The image formation is carried out in the first mode after the image formation in the second mode is completed.