Patent ID: 7548704
Filing Date: 2009-06-16
Classification: G03G

Abstract:
1. An image forming apparatus, comprising: at least one image bearing member configured to bear an image in an image forming area for an image forming operation and a plurality of image adjustment patterns in a non-image forming area for an image adjustment operation; an intermediate transfer member disposed so as to be held in contact with the at least one image bearing member for a primary transfer and configured to receive a plurality of image adjustment patterns formed on the at least one image bearing member; a secondary transfer member disposed so as to be held in contact with the intermediate transfer member for a secondary transfer and configured to transfer the image onto a recording medium during the image forming operation, the secondary transfer member configured to separate from the intermediate transfer member when the plurality of image adjustment patterns are transferred onto the intermediate transfer member during the image adjustment operation; and at least one optical sensor configured to detect respective amounts of toner adhered to the plurality of image adjustment patterns so that the image forming apparatus conducts image forming process control by controlling toner density of each of the plurality of image adjustment patterns based on detected amounts of toner, wherein when output values of the respective amounts of toner fall outside a given range and an interval between the output values of adjacent image bearing members of the at least one image bearing member is substantially equal to a distance between the two adjacent image bearing members for the primary transfer, it is determined that the output values of the respective amounts of toner detected by the at least one optical sensor are affected by an impact caused due to a separation of the secondary transfer member from the intermediate transfer member and the output values of the respective amounts of toner are ignored as image adjustment input information.