Patent ID: 7279667
Filing Date: 2007-10-09
Classification: G03G

Abstract:
1. An image forming apparatus comprising: an exposure unit that forms an electrostatic latent image by projecting light onto a surface of an charged photosensitive member; a developing unit that visualizes the electrostatic latent image formed by the exposure unit with developer; and a transferring unit that transfers a visualized image of the developer to an image recording medium; wherein the exposure unit comprises: a light emitting unit that generates the light projected onto the surface of the photosensitive member; a detecting unit that detects a quantity of light emitted from the light emitting unit; a reference voltage generating portion that generates a reference voltage set in accordance with a targeted value of the quantity of light emitted from the light emitting unit; an emitted-light quantity control circuit that controls the quantity of light emitted from the light emitting unit so that a detection voltage detected by the detecting unit becomes equal to a value of the reference voltage generated by the reference voltage generating portion; and a reference voltage control portion that controls the reference voltage generating portion so as to change the reference voltage at a predetermined rate in stages from a present reference voltage to a new reference voltage, the new reference voltage being based on a density of the image of the developer obtained after being changed when the density is changed.