Image forming apparatus, optical writing process control method, and optical writing process control program

A method of controlling light intensity of a plurality of light sources useable in an image forming apparatus, each one of the light sources switchable between an activated condition and a deactivated condition according to image data, the image forming apparatus including:

• a light intensity controller to control light intensity of each one of the light sources;
• an optical writing unit including a deflector to deflect a plurality of light beams output from the plurality of light sources in a main scanning direction;
• a controller to set a given number of light sources to the activated condition according to image forming line speed of the light scanning unit to optically write a latent image on an image bearing member;
• and
• an image forming unit to develop the latent image written on the image bearing member as a visible image to be formed on a recording medium,
• the method comprising the steps of:
• establishing one or more mutually exclusive image areas and one or more image-non-writing areas on the image bearing member;
• emitting light beams from a given number of light sources onto the one or more image areas established on the image bearing member based on the supplied image data;
• and
• executing light intensity control for all of the light sources by emitting light beams from all of the light sources at one or more of the one or more blank areas established on the image bearing member.

A computer-readable medium storing a program for controlling light intensity of an image forming apparatus, the program comprising instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to execute a method of controlling light intensity of the plurality of light sources, the image forming apparatus including:

• a plurality of light sources, each of the light sources switchable between an activated condition and a deactivated condition according to image data,
• a light intensity controller to control light intensity of each one of the light sources;
• an optical writing unit including a deflector to deflect a plurality of light beams output from the plurality of light sources in a main scanning direction;
• a controller to set a given number of light sources to the activated condition according to an image forming line speed of the light scanning unit to optically write a latent image on an image bearing member;
• and
• an image forming unit to develop the latent image written on the image bearing member as a visible image to be formed on a recording medium,
• the method comprising the steps of:
• establishing one or more mutually exclusive image areas and one or more image-non-writing areas on the image bearing member;
• emitting light beams from a given number of light sources onto the one or more image areas established on the image bearing member based on the supplied image data;
• and
• executing a light intensity control for all of the light sources by emitting light beams from all of the light sources at one or more of the one or more blank areas established on the image bearing member.