Patent ID: 7174112
Filing Date: 2007-02-06
Classification: G03G

Abstract:
1. An image forming apparatus comprising: a rotatable latent image bearing member for bearing a latent image; charging means contacting with said latent image bearing member and being provided with a voltage applied thereto for charging said latent image bearing member; cleaning means contacting with said latent image bearing member and being adapted to clean said latent image bearing member; and transfer means contacting with said latent image bearing member and being provided with a transfer voltage for transferring, to a transfer medium, a developer image developed with a developer in an image forming area, wherein said charging means, when in contact with an area constituting a non-image forming area of said latent image bearing member, is provided with an AC voltage for charging the non-image forming area having a peak-to-peak voltage larger than a peak-to-peak voltage of a charging AC voltage applied to said charging means for charging an area constituting the image forming area, wherein when an area of said latent image bearing member, charged by said AC voltage for charging the non-image forming area applied to said charging means, comes into contact with the transfer means, a DC voltage of a polarity opposite to a normal charging polarity of said latent image bearing member is applied to said transfer means, and wherein the transfer voltage is determined based on the DC voltage.