# US 10,481,539 B2 · Image forming apparatus

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- Number: US 10,481,539 B2
- Document ID: US10481539B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 16/239,923
- Filed: 2019-01-04
- Published: 2019-05-09
- Granted: 2019-11-19
- Earliest claimed: 2016-02-19
- Assignees: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
- Applicants: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
- Inventors: Yuichiro Hirata; Daisuke Baba
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10481539B2

## CPC

- G03G 15/556: {for toner consumption, e.g. pixel counting, toner coverage detection or toner density measurement}
- G03G: ELECTROGRAPHY; ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHY; MAGNETOGRAPHY

## Abstract

Disclosed is an image forming apparatus that is capable of performing a first image forming mode that performs image formation at a first peripheral speed ratio representing a ratio of a peripheral speed of a developer bearing member to a peripheral speed of an image bearing member and a second image forming mode that performs the image formation at a second peripheral speed ratio different from the first peripheral speed ratio, and that detects an amount of a developer consumed in the image formation, based on an estimate of the amount of the developer consumed by one pixel and the number of pixels at a part at which the developer is consumed. The estimate of the amount of the developer consumed by the one pixel in the first image forming mode is different from that in the second image forming mode.

## Claims

### Claim 1

An image forming apparatus comprising:
an image bearing member;
an exposure unit configured to form an electrostatic latent image on the image bearing member by emitting light to the image bearing member based on image information;
a developer bearing member configured to develop the electrostatic latent image with a developer;
a control portion; and
an alerting device configured to alert an alarm concerning a residual amount of the toner,
wherein the control portion makes the alerting device to alert an alarm concerning a residual amount of the toner based on image information input from an external device,
wherein the image forming apparatus is capable of operating
in a first mode in which the image forming apparatus performs image formation at a first peripheral speed ratio representing a ratio of a peripheral speed of the developer bearing member to a peripheral speed of the image bearing member, and
in a second mode in which the image forming apparatus performs image formation at a second peripheral speed ratio, which is greater than the first peripheral speed ratio,
wherein the alert by the alerting device is issued earlier as an operation frequency of the second mode becomes higher than an operation frequency of the first mode.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,
wherein a percentage of toner consumption of the second mode to the toner consumption of the first mode becomes larger as an image density determined based on an image density signal input from the external device becomes higher.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:
a measuring device configured to measure optical density,
wherein the control portion corrects the percentage based on a measurement result of the measuring device.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the exposure unit is a scanner unit.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the external device is a personal computer communicably connected to the image formation apparatus.