Patent ID: 9128441
Filing Date: 2015-09-08
Classification: G03G

Abstract:
1. An image forming apparatus comprising: a photoconductive photoconductive element; a charging device configured to uniformly charge a photoconductive surface of the photoconductive element; an image writing device configured to write an image in the charged photoconductive element by means of light to form an electrostatic latent image; a developing device configured to visualize the formed electrostatic latent image as a toner image; a transfer device configured to transfer the toner image to a sheet recording medium; a fixing device configured to fix the transferred toner image onto the sheet recording medium; and a surface information detecting device configured to detect surface information of a fixing member of the fixing device, the surface information of the fixing member being information related to at least a depth or a width of a scratch of the fixing member, wherein the surface information detecting device radiates a plurality of optical spots on a surface of the fixing member in a direction crossing a conveying direction, receives and detects a reflected light of each optical spot, and detects the surface information of the fixing member based on a plurality of detection results of the reflective lights, the scratch is in the conveying direction, the surface information of the fixing member is information related at least one of a scratch level and a scratch position of the scratch, the surface information of the fixing member is information related to the scratch level and the scratch position of the scratch, the surface information detecting device specifies the scratch position by differentiating a plurality of detection results in an alignment direction of the optical spots, and the surface information detecting device determines the scratch level based on a detection result of the scratch position and detection results at least two positions at which absolute values of differential values which are results of the differentiating operation of a plurality of detection results concentrate near zero.