Image forming apparatus and method of controlling the same
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorHiroshi Kawaguchi
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Abstract
This invention provides an image forming apparatus capable of more reliably detecting patches formed on a recording medium while suppressing an increase in the consumption of printing media and toners. In an image forming apparatus which detects the density or color of each patch of a patch array fixed on a recording medium that is conveyed and corrects an image formation condition based on the detection result, the patches are formed as the patch array so that the conveyance-direction length of each patch gradually increases in an order of detection by the patch detection unit, and the conveyance-direction length of each patch gradually increases according to increasing of a detection position variation amount of a patch in the order of detection by the patch detection unit.
Claims8
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- patch formation unit configured to form, on a recording medium, a patch array including a plurality of patches formed by toner images;
- fixing unit configured to fix, to the recording medium, the patch array formed on the recording medium;
- patch detection unit configured to detect a density or color of each patch of the patch array fixed on the recording medium that is conveyed;
- and
- correction unit configured to correct an image formation condition based on the detected density or color of the each patch,
- wherein said patch formation unit forms the patches as the patch array so that the conveyance-direction length of each patch gradually increases in an order of detection by said patch detection unit, and wherein the conveyance-direction length of each patch gradually increases according to increasing, from an ideal position, of a detection position variation amount of a patch in the order of detection by said patch detection unit.
A method of controlling an image forming apparatus, comprising the steps of:
- forming, on a recording medium, a patch array including a plurality of patches by toner images;
- fixing, to the recording medium, the patch array formed on the recording medium;
- causing patch detection unit to detect a density or color of each patch of the patch array fixed on the recording medium that is conveyed;
- and
- correcting an image formation condition based on the detected density or color of the each patch,
- wherein in the patch forming step, the patches are formed as the patch array so that the conveyance-direction length of each patch gradually increases in an order of detection by said patch detection unit, and wherein the conveyance-direction length of each patch gradually increases according to increasing of a detection position variation amount of a patch in the order of detection by the patch detection unit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.