Patent ID: 8923713

Claim:
An image forming apparatus, comprising: a computing unit, using a processor, to compute a total amount of toner to be deposited per unit area of a target image to be formed based on image data, in which a first unit area is computed to form a first toner image using a highest total amount of toner, and a second unit area is computed to form a second toner image using a lowest total amount of toner; a transfer bias determination unit that, using the processor, determines, when the highest total amount of toner computed by the computing unit exceeds a given level, whether a first transfer bias range enabling transfer of the computed highest total amount of toner and a second transfer bias range enabling transfer of the computed lowest total amount of toner have an overlapping portion that can effectively transfer the first toner image, and the second toner image; the transfer bias determination unit determining a transfer bias to transfer a toner image of the target image from the overlapping portion that can effectively transfer the first toner image, and the second toner image; an image forming unit to form the toner image of the target image on a transfer member by forming the first toner image, and the second toner image on the transfer member; a transfer unit to transfer the toner image of target image, formed on the transfer member, to a recording medium using the transfer bias determined by the transfer bias determination unit; and a fusing unit to fuse the toner image of target image, transferred by the transfer unit, on the recording medium.