Patent ID: 6865359

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: an image carrier configured to form a latent image thereon; a developer carrier configured to deposit thereon a high viscosity, high density developing carrier consisting of a carrier liquid and toner dispersed in said carrier liquid, said developing liquid developing the latent image formed on said image carrier; electric field forming means for forming an electric field between said image carrier and said developer carrier; wherein said electric field forming means forms a background electric field between a background of said image carrier where the latent image is absent and said developer carrier such that said background electric field causes part of residual toner, which is left on said background after development, to remain on said background and attracts the other part of said residual toner toward said developer carrier to thereby remove said other part from said background; and a toner movement ratio, which is a ratio of the toner moved from a region of said developer carrier carrying the developing liquid for developing the background to said background to the toner present in said region before development is selected such that the residual toner attracted toward said developer carrier does not cohere.