Patent ID: 8086152

Claim:
A developing device comprising: a toner bearing member that includes regularly arranged projection sections and depressed sections for bearing toner, and that develops a latent image borne on an image bearing member with the toner borne on the projection sections and the depressed sections, wherein the latent image is developed in a state in which a projection section covering ratio at which toner contacting the projection sections covers the projection sections is smaller than a depressed section covering ratio at which toner contacting the depressed sections covers the depressed sections; and a regulation member for regulating an amount of toner borne on the projection sections and the depressed sections, wherein after the regulation member has regulated the amount of toner so that the projection section covering ratio is smaller than the depressed section covering ratio, the toner bearing member develops the latent image in a state in which the projection section covering ratio is smaller than the depressed section covering ratio, the toner bearing member is a rotatable toner bearing roller that includes the projection sections and the depressed sections for bearing toner whose volume mean particle size is smaller than a depth of the depressed sections in reference to the projection sections, the regulation member is a regulation blade for regulating the amount of toner borne on the projection sections and the depressed sections by coming into contact with the toner bearing roller at a contact section so that a longitudinal direction of the regulation member runs along a rotation-axis direction of the toner bearing roller, and is disposed so that a leading edge of the regulation blade in a lateral direction and a thickness direction faces an upstream side of the toner bearing member in a rotating direction, and a distance from the leading edge to the projection sections in the case where the leading edge faces the projection sections among the projection sections and the depressed sections is smaller than the volume mean particle size.