Patent ID: 7483658

Claim:
An image forming apparatus, comprising: an image carrying member; a charging device configured to evenly charge a surface of the image carrying member; an exposure device configured to write a latent image on the surface of the image carrying member; a development device including a development unit configured to develop the latent image into a visible image, a toner cartridge laterally juxtaposed to and detachable from the development unit and configured to supply toner to the development unit, and a control mechanism configured to control supply of toner from the toner cartridge to the development unit and discharge of the toner from the development unit to the toner cartridge, the development device performing an accelerated movement at an acceleration of approximately 1 m/s 2 or more and below 10 m/s 2 in directions of supplying and discharging the toner for a predetermined time period; a transfer device configured to transfer the visible image to a recording medium directly or via an intermediate transfer member; a cleaning device configured to clean the toner remaining on the image carrying member; and a fixing device configured to fix the visible image on the recording medium.