Patent ID: 9519245
Filing Date: 2016-12-13
CPC Classification: G03G

Claim Text:
1. An image forming apparatus, comprising: an image bearer configured to bear a toner image on a surface of the image bearer; a nip forming device configured to contact the image bearer to form a transfer nip between the nip forming device and the image bearer and interpose a recording medium therebetween to transfer the toner image from the image bearer onto the recording medium in the transfer nip, the recording medium corresponding to at least one of three desired thickness groups; a contact-and-separation device, including a stepping motor and an eccentric cam the contact-and-separation device configured a thickness information retrieving device configured to obtain information on a thickness of the recording medium; a controller configured to control the stepping motor based on the information on the thickness of the recording medium such that in a case in which a thickness of a preceding recording medium and a thickness of a successive recording medium are in different thickness groups in continuous printing in which a plurality of recording media is printed out continuously, the controller is configured to control the stepping motor to adjust a space between the image bearer and the nip forming device when the preceding recording medium exits the transfer nip to one of the at least three desired sizes corresponding to the thickness group of the successive recording medium that enters the transfer nip; and the controller is configured to control the stepping motor to move the eccentric cam from a first cam position of the at least three cam positions to a second or third cam position before a trailing edge of the recording medium exits the transfer nip based on the information on the thickness of the recording medium.