Image Forming Apparatus Having Bearing Body and Cleaning Unit

A method of controlling an image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus including:

• a bearing body;
• an image forming section configured to form an image on the bearing body;
• a detection unit configured to output detection results that correspond to a state of a surface of the bearing body;
• and a cleaning unit configured to clean the bearing body, the cleaning unit being configured to be brought into a first state and a second state different from the first state, the cleaning unit in the first state attaining a first cleaning performance level, the cleaning unit in the second state attaining a second cleaning performance level that is higher than the first cleaning performance level, the method comprising:
• executing a pre-execution condition determination to determine whether a pre-execution condition is satisfied;
• when it is determined that the pre-execution condition is satisfied, bringing the cleaning unit from the first state into the second state and controlling the cleaning unit to clean the bearing body;
• executing an execution condition determination to determine whether an execution condition is satisfied;
• and
• when it is determined that the execution condition is satisfied, executing a pattern acquisition for forming a pattern image on the bearing body by using the image forming section and acquiring characteristics of the pattern image based on detection results that are outputted from the detection unit by detecting the pattern image,
• the pre-execution condition including a condition that a correlation value satisfies a first condition,
• the correlation value being correlated with an amount of deviation in characteristics of images formed by the image forming section,
• the execution condition including a condition that the correlation value satisfies a second condition,
• the correlation value satisfying the first condition before satisfying the second condition.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a set of program instructions installed on and executed by a computer for controlling an image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus including:

• a bearing body;
• an image forming section configured to form an image on the bearing body;
• a detection unit configured to output detection results that correspond to a state of a surface of the bearing body;
• and a cleaning unit configured to clean the bearing body, the cleaning unit being configured to be brought into a first state and a second state different from the first state, the cleaning unit in the first state attaining a first cleaning performance level, the cleaning unit in the second state attaining a second cleaning performance level that is higher than the first cleaning performance level, the program instructions comprising:
• executing a pre-execution condition determination to determine whether a pre-execution condition is satisfied;
• when it is determined that the pre-execution condition is satisfied, bringing the cleaning unit from the first state into the second state and controlling the cleaning unit to clean the bearing body;
• executing an execution condition determination to determine whether an execution condition is satisfied;
• and
• when it is determined that the execution condition is satisfied, executing a pattern acquisition for forming a pattern image on the bearing body by using the image forming section and acquiring characteristics of the pattern image based on detection results that are outputted from the detection unit by detecting the pattern image,
• the pre-execution condition including a condition that a correlation value satisfies a first condition,
• the correlation value being correlated with an amount of deviation in characteristics of images formed by the image forming section,
• the execution condition including a condition that the correlation value satisfies a second condition,
• the correlation value satisfying the first condition before satisfying the second condition.