Patent ID: 7013095
Filing Date: 2006-03-14
Classification: G03G

Abstract:
1. An image forming apparatus, comprising: an image bearing member including a surface layer; electrostatic image forming means for forming an electrostatic image on said surface layer; developing means, containing at least toner and a carrier, for developing the electrostatic image; density measuring means for measuring a density of the developed electrostatic image; layer thickness measuring means for measuring a thickness of the surface layer; and adjusting means for adjusting toner content in said developing means, wherein said adjusting means adjusts the toner content on the basis of the thickness of said surface layer measured by said layer thickness measuring means, wherein said electrostatic image forming means includes means for electrically charging the surface layer, wherein said layer thickness measuring means measures the thickness of the surface layer by measuring a current passing through said image bearing member via said electrostatic image forming means, wherein the electrostatic image to be formed at the time of a toner content adjustment is formed in a non-image area of said image bearing member and developed by said developing means which is supplied with a voltage so that a first voltage is applied to the non-image area and a second voltage is applied to an image forming area, and wherein an amount of change in density of the developed electrostatic image to an amount of change in a toner concentration at the time of applying the first voltage is larger than an amount of change in density of the developed electrostatic image to an amount of change in a toner concentration at the time of applying the second voltage.