Image forming apparatus and image forming method

An image forming apparatus, comprising:

• a developing device comprising a developing roller configured to develop an electrostatic latent image with a toner supplied from at least one toner cartridge having a storage medium configured to store temperature information regarding melting of a contained toner;
• a temperature sensor that detects an ambient temperature of an atmosphere including the developing device;
• and
• a controller configured to drive the developing roller of the developing device based on the ambient temperature detected by the temperature sensor and the temperature information stored in the storage medium, wherein
• the image forming apparatus comprises a plurality of toner cartridges, the toner includes a first group including a black toner, a second group including a plurality of chromatic toners excluding the black, and a third group including a decolorable toner,
• the image forming apparatus further comprises a plurality of the developing devices and a plurality of the temperature sensors corresponding to a plurality of the toner cartridges, and
• the controller is further configured to
• drive the developing roller corresponding to the toner cartridge containing the toner of the first group based on the temperature information stored in the storage medium of the toner cartridge containing the toner of the first group and the ambient temperature,
• drive all of the developing rollers corresponding to the plurality of the toner cartridges containing the toners of the second group based on each of the temperature information stored in the storage medium of the plurality of the toner cartridges containing the toners of the second group and the ambient temperature, and
• drive the developing roller corresponding to the toner cartridge containing the toner of the third group based on the temperature information stored in the storage medium of the toner cartridge containing the toner of the third group and the ambient temperature.

An image forming method in an image forming apparatus including a developing device configured to develop an electrostatic latent image with a toner supplied from at least one toner cartridge having a storage medium configured to store temperature information regarding melting of the contained toner, the method comprising:

• detecting an ambient temperature of an atmosphere including the developing device by a temperature sensor;
• reading the temperature information from the storage medium of the toner cartridge by a reader;
• driving the developing device based on the detected ambient temperature and the read temperature information;
• determining whether the ambient temperature falls within any one of a plurality of temperature ranges in accordance with a difference from a reference temperature indicated by the temperature information stored,
• driving the developing device according to the temperature range, and
• increasing a frequency of driving the developing device as the difference of the temperature range decreases.

A development control system, comprising:

• a developing device configured to develop an electrostatic latent image with a toner supplied from at least one toner cartridge having a storage medium configured to store temperature information regarding melting of a contained toner;
• a temperature sensor that detects an ambient temperature of an atmosphere including the developing device;
• a controller configured to drive the developing device based on the ambient temperature detected by the temperature sensor and the temperature information stored in the storage medium;
• wherein
• the controller is further configured to determine whether the ambient temperature falls within any one of a plurality of temperature ranges in accordance with a difference from a reference temperature indicated by the temperature information, drive the developing device according to the temperature range, and increase a frequency of driving the developing device as the difference of the temperature range decreases.