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:
Feb. 18, 2014
Filed:
Mar. 08, 2012
Susumu Miyazaki, Osaka, JP;
Izumi Kinoshita, Hyogo, JP;
Motohiro Kawanabe, Hyogo, JP;
Takeshi Shikama, Osaka, JP;
Takuhei Yokoyama, Osaka, JP;
Tatsuya Miyadera, Osaka, JP;
Susumu Miyazaki, Osaka, JP;
Izumi Kinoshita, Hyogo, JP;
Motohiro Kawanabe, Hyogo, JP;
Takeshi Shikama, Osaka, JP;
Takuhei Yokoyama, Osaka, JP;
Tatsuya Miyadera, Osaka, JP;
Ricoh Company, Limited, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus performs pseudo gradation processing using dithering, and includes an image carrier; a plurality of light-emitting element arrays arranged in a main-scanning direction and including a plurality of light-emitting elements; an image forming unit performing lighting control of the arrays and forming a pattern image on the image carrier; a detecting unit detecting a density of the pattern image; a position detecting unit detecting a position in the main-scanning direction of the detecting unit with respect to the light-emitting element arrays; a determining unit that, based on the detected position, determines whether the detecting unit is positioned at a proper detection position with respect to the pattern image on which noise has no effect; and an operation control unit that, when the detecting unit is positioned at the proper detection position, performs an image density detection operation on the pattern image using the detecting unit.