Patent ID: 8416452

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: an image output unit that outputs an image; and an image processing unit that converts an input image signal to an output image signal and outputs the image signal to the image output unit, the image output unit comprising: an image carrier that carries at least a latent image; a plurality of developer containers containing mutually different color developers used for developing the latent image carried on the image carrier; and a transport member for repeated operations of attachment of the developer contained in one of the plurality of developer containers, transport of the attached developer to the image carrier, and removal of remaining developer, and the image processing unit comprising a change unit that changes a color conversion characteristic of an image signal in correspondence with color mixture of the mutually different color developers and a number of times of image output, the image forming apparatus further comprising: an integration unit that integrates at least one of the number of times of image output, output image data, an amount of the developer supplied from a developer cartridge to a developer container, a number of times of attachment to and removal of developer from the transport member, and a developer supply period, to produce an integrated value; and an output controller that, when the integrated value is smaller than a reference value, controls the image output unit to output an image corresponding to a difference between the reference value and the integrated value.