Patent ID: 6229970
Filing Date: 2001-05-08
Classification: G03G

Abstract:
An image forming apparatus comprising:a photosensitive member;a charging means for charging said photosensitive member;an exposing means for exposing a light including image information to said photosensitive member;a developing means for supplying a toner to an electrostatic latent image formed on said photosensitive member, said developing means being held by a cartridge removably mountable on a main body of said image forming apparatus, said cartridge including a memory for memorizing an amount of use of the cartridge, wherein a charging amount of the toner caused by friction in said cartridge when the amount of use of said cartridge is in an initial state is smaller than that when the amount of use of said cartridge is not in an initial state;a judging means for comparing the amount of use of said cartridge with a predetermined value showing a condition that the amount of use of said cartridge is in the initial state; anda control means for controlling operating parameters relating to at least one of said charging means, said exposing means, and said developing means, in accordance with a compared result of said judging means, so as to prevent thinning of an image line width until the amount of use of said cartridge reaches the predetermined value,wherein said control means changes the operating parameters until the amount of use of said cartridge reaches the predetermined value, and sets the operating parameters constant after the amount of use of said cartridge reaches the predetermined value.