Patent ID: 8326193

Claim:
An image forming apparatus, comprising: an image bearing member for carrying a toner image; a transfer member forming a nip with said image bearing member to transfer the toner image from said image bearing member onto a transfer material at said nip; and a charging member for effecting electric discharge toward said image bearing member, said charging member being disposed at such a position as is opposed to a side of the transfer material which receives the toner image, and on an upstream side of said nip with respect to a feeding direction of the transfer material, wherein said image forming apparatus is operable in a marginless printing mode in which the toner image formed on said image bearing member is larger than a size of the transfer material, and the toner image is transferred as far as edges of the transfer material, and wherein when said image forming apparatus operates in the marginless printing mode, said charging member effects the electric discharge toward the toner existing in an area of the image bearing member which corresponds to an area which is outside the edge of the transfer material at the nip to electrically charge the toner in the outside area to a polarity opposite a regular polarity.