Image forming apparatus

A method of executing a cleaning operation in an image forming apparatus that includes (a) a rotatable image bearing member, (b) a charging member for electrically charging the image bearing member while contacting the image bearing member at a charging position by being supplied with a charging voltage, (c) an electrostatic image forming unit for forming an electrostatic image on the electrically charged image bearing member, (d) a developing device including a developing member for forming a toner image by being supplied with a developing voltage to supply a toner charged to a normal polarity to the electrostatic image on the image bearing member at a developing position, (e) a transfer member for electrostatically transferring the toner image from the image bearing member onto a toner image receiving member at a transfer portion by being supplied with a transfer voltage, (f) a discharging unit for discharging the image bearing member at a discharging position downstream of the transfer position and upstream of the charging position with respect to a rotational direction of the image bearing member, and (g) a controller for executing the cleaning operation during non-image formation, the method comprising:

• a transfer step of transferring an opposite polarity toner deposited on the charging member and charged to an opposite polarity opposite to the normal polarity from the charging member onto the image bearing member at the charging position;
• a discharging step of discharging, by the discharging unit at the discharging position, a region of the image bearing member where the opposite polarity toner is deposited;
• a polarity inversion step of inverting the opposite polarity toner deposited on said image bearing member into a normal polarity toner charged to the normal polarity by passing the region discharged by the discharging step through the charging position in a state in which the charging voltage is applied to the charging member;
• and
• a collecting step of collecting the normal polarity toner by transferring the normal polarity toner from the image bearing member onto the developing member at the developing position.