Patent ID: 7848670

Claim:
A developing device comprising: an image carrier configured to hold thereon a latent image; a developer carrier configured to hold thereon a liquid developing agent including charged toner and a carrier liquid and to develop the latent image with the liquid developing agent at a developing area where the developer carrier faces the image carrier; a biasing unit disposed upstream of the developing area in a rotating direction of the developer carrier and configured to apply bias voltages to a surface of the liquid developing agent held on the developer carrier, the bias voltages including a first bias voltage for moving the charged toner from a surface layer to a deep layer of the liquid developing agent held on the developer carrier, and a second bias voltage for moving the charged toner from the deep layer to the surface layer of the liquid developing agent; a controller configured to cause the biasing unit to selectively apply one of the first bias voltage and the second bias voltage to the surface of the liquid developing agent held on the developer carrier; and a cleaning member disposed downstream of the developing area in the rotating direction of the developer carrier and configured to remove the liquid developing agent remaining on the developer carrier.