Image-quality stabilizer for use in an electrophotographic apparatus

An image-quality stabilizer for use in an electrophotographic apparatus including a photoreceptor, and image forming means for performing an image-forming operation using said photoreceptor,

• said image-quality stabilizer comprising:
• toner detecting means for detecting an amount of toner forming a reference toner image on said photoreceptor;
• a first timer for detecting time that said photoreceptor is inactive;
• and
• image-quality adjusting means for controlling said image forming means at predetermined intervals according to a value detected by said toner detecting means so as to cause the amount of toner forming the reference toner image to be equal to a predetermined reference value, and for controlling said image forming means according to a value detected by said first timer so as to maintain a predetermined relationship.

An image-quality stabilizer for use in an electrophotographic apparatus including a photoreceptor, and image forming means for forming an image using said photoreceptor, said image-quality stabilizer comprising:

• toner detecting means for detecting an amount of toner forming a reference toner image on said photoreceptor;
• a first timer for counting time that said photoreceptor is inactive;
• and
• a second timer for counting time that said photoreceptor is active;
• image-quality adjusting means for controlling said image forming means according to the time counted by said second timer by taking account of surface-potential lowering characteristics of said photoreceptor relating to fatigue of said photoreceptor, controlling said image forming means according to the time counted by said first timer by taking account of surface-potential recovery characteristics, and controlling said image forming means at predetermined intervals according to a value detected by said toner detecting means so as to cause the amount of toner forming the reference toner image to be equal to a predetermined reference value.

An image-quality stabilizer comprising:

• image forming means for forming an image using a photoreceptor;
• reference latent image forming means for forming on said photoreceptor a reference latent image for image-quality adjusting;
• detecting means for detecting an amount of charges forming the reference latent image formed on said photoreceptor;
• a first timer for counting time that said photoreceptor is inactive;
• image-quality adjusting means for controlling said reference latent image forming means so as to form the reference latent image on said photoreceptor and controlling said detecting means so as to detect the amount of charges forming the reference latent image formed on said photoreceptor, the controlling being carried out using a rotation of said photoreceptor performed after an image formation by said image forming means, and for controlling, so as to maintain a predetermined relationship, said image forming means in accordance with (a) a value detected by said detecting means and (b) an inactive time, of said photoreceptor, counted by said first timer.

An image-quality stabilizer for use in an electrophotographic apparatus including a photoreceptor and image forming means for performing an image-forming operation using said photoreceptor,

• said image-quality stabilizer comprising:
• charge detecting means for detecting an amount of charges forming a reference latent image on said photoreceptor;
• a first timer for detecting time that said photoreceptor is inactive;
• and
• image-quality adjusting means for controlling said image forming means at predetermined intervals according to a value detected by said charge detecting means so as to cause the amount of charges forming the reference latent image to be equal to a predetermined reference value, and for controlling said image forming means according to the time counted by said first timer so as to maintain a predetermined relationship.

An image-quality stabilizer for use in an electrophotographic apparatus including a photoreceptor and image forming means for performing an image-forming operation using said photoreceptor,

• said image-quality stabilizer comprising:
• charge detecting means for detecting an amount of charges forming a reference latent image on said photoreceptor;
• a first timer for detecting time that said photoreceptor is inactive;
• a second timer for detecting time that said photoreceptor is active;
• and
• image-quality adjusting means for controlling said image forming means according to a value detected by said charge detecting means by taking account of surface-potential lowering characteristics of said photoreceptor relating to fatigue of said photoreceptor, controlling said image forming means according to the time counted by said first timer by taking account of surface-potential recovery characteristics of said photoreceptor, and controlling said image forming means at predetermined intervals according to a value detected by said charge detecting means so as to cause the amount of charges forming a reference latent image on said photoreceptor to be equal to a predetermined reference value.

An image-quality stabilizer for use in an electrophotographic apparatus including a photoreceptor and image forming means for performing an image-forming operation using said photoreceptor,

• said image-quality stabilizer comprising:
• toner detecting means for detecting an amount of toner forming a reference toner image on said photoreceptor;
• a first timer for detecting time that said photoreceptor is inactive;
• a second timer for detecting an accumulated time of image-forming operations;
• and
• image-quality adjusting means for controlling said image forming means according to a value detected by said toner detecting means so as to cause an amount of toner forming the reference toner image to be equal to a predetermined reference value when the accumulated time counted by said second timer reaches a predetermined time, and controlling said image forming means according to time that said photoreceptor is inactive if the time counted by said first timer reaches a predetermined time.

An image-quality stabilizer for use in an electrophotographic apparatus including a photoreceptor and image forming means for performing an image-forming operation using said photoreceptor,

• said image-quality stabilizer comprising:
• charge detecting means for detecting an amount of charges forming a reference latent image on said photoreceptor;
• a first timer for detecting time that said photoreceptor is inactive;
• a second timer for detecting an accumulated time of image-forming operations;
• and
• image-quality adjusting means for controlling said image forming means according to a value detected by said charge detecting means so as to cause an amount of charges forming the reference latent image to be equal to a predetermined reference value when the accumulated time counted by said second timer reaches a predetermined time, and controlling said image forming means according to the time that said photoreceptor is inactive if the time counted by said first timer reaches a predetermined time.

A method of controlling image quality with an image-quality stabilizer in an electrophotographic apparatus including a photoreceptor and image forming means, comprising the steps of:

• forming a reference toner image on said photoreceptor during a rotation of said photoreceptor performed after an image-forming operation;
• detecting means for detecting an amount of toner forming the reference toner image;
• controlling said image forming means so as to cause a detected amount of toner on said photoreceptor to be equal to a predetermined reference value every port-rotation of said photoreceptor;
• detecting time that said photoreceptor is inactive if said photoreceptor is left unused after the image forming operation;
• and
• controlling said image forming means according to the detected time so as to maintain a predetermined relationship.

A method of controlling image quality with an image-quality stabilizer in an electrophotographic apparatus including a photoreceptor and image forming means, comprising the steps of:

• forming a reference toner image on said photoreceptor at predetermined intervals;
• detecting an amount of toner forming the reference toner image;
• controlling said image forming means so as to cause a detected amount of toner on said photoreceptor to be equal to a predetermined reference value;
• detecting time that said photoreceptor is inactive if said photoreceptor is left unused after the image forming operation;
• and
• controlling said image forming means according to the detected time so as to maintain a predetermined relationship.

A method of controlling image quality with an image-quality stabilizer in an electrophotographic apparatus including a photoreceptor and image forming means, comprising the steps of:

• detecting time that said photoreceptor is active;
• controlling said image forming means according to the detected time by taking account of surface-potential lowering characteristics of said photoreceptor relating to fatigue of said photoreceptor;
• detecting time that said photoreceptor is inactive;
• controlling said image forming means according to the detected time that said photoreceptor is inactive by taking account of surface-potential recovery characteristics;
• forming a reference toner image on said photoreceptor at predetermined intervals;
• detecting an amount of toner forming the reference toner image on said photoreceptor;
• and
• controlling said image forming means at predetermined intervals so as to cause the detected amount of toner to be equal to a predetermined reference value.

A method of controlling image quality with an image-quality stabilizer in an electrophotographic apparatus including a photoreceptor and image forming means, comprising the steps of:

• forming a reference latent image on said photoreceptor during a rotation of said photoreceptor performed after an image-forming operation;
• detecting an amount of charges forming the reference latent image on said photoreceptor;
• controlling said image forming means so as to cause a detected amount of charges to be equal to a predetermined reference value every post-rotation of said photoreceptor;
• detecting time that said photoreceptor is inactive if said photoreceptor is inactive after the image forming operation;
• and
• controlling said image forming means according to the detected time that said photoreceptor is inactive so as to maintain a predetermined relationship.

A method of controlling image quality with an image-quality stabilizer in an electrophotographic apparatus including a photoreceptor and image forming means, comprising the steps of:

• forming a reference latent image on said photoreceptor at predetermined intervals;
• detecting an amount of charges forming the reference latent image on said photoreceptor;
• controlling said image forming means so as to cause a detected amount of charges to be equal to a predetermined reference value;
• detecting time that said photoreceptor is inactive if said photoreceptor is left unused after the image forming operation;
• and
• controlling said image forming means according to the detected time that said photoreceptor is inactive so as to maintain a predetermined relationship.

A method of controlling image quality with an image-quality stabilizer in an electrophotographic apparatus including a photoreceptor and image forming means, comprising the steps of:

• detecting time that said photoreceptor is active;
• controlling said image forming means according to the detected time by taking account of surface-potential lowering characteristics of said photoreceptor relating to fatigue of said photoreceptor;
• detecting time that said photoreceptor is inactive;
• controlling said image forming means according to the detected time that said photoreceptor is inactive by taking account of surface-potential recovery characteristics of said photoreceptor;
• forming a reference latent image on a photoreceptor at predetermined intervals;
• detecting an amount of charges forming the reference latent image on said photoreceptor;
• controlling said image forming means at predetermined intervals so as to cause a detected amount of charges to be equal to a predetermined reference value.

A method of controlling image quality with an image-quality stabilizer in an electrophotographic apparatus including a photoreceptor and image forming means, comprising the steps of:

• detecting an accumulated time of image forming operations;
• forming a reference toner image on said photoreceptor when the accumulated time reaches a predetermined time;
• detecting an amount of toner forming the toner image;
• controlling said image forming means so as to cause the detected toner amount to be equal to a predetermined reference value;
• detecting time that said photoreceptor is inactive;
• and
• controlling said image forming means according to the detected time that said photoreceptor is inactive.

A method of controlling image quality with an image-quality stabilizer in an electrophotographic apparatus including a photoreceptor and image forming means, comprising the steps of:

• detecting an accumulated time of image forming operations;
• forming a reference latent image on said photoreceptor when the accumulated time reaches a predetermined time;
• detecting an amount of charges forming the reference latent image;
• controlling said image forming means so as to cause the detected amount of charges to be equal to a predetermined reference value;
• detecting time that said photoreceptor is inactive;
• and
• controlling said image forming means according to the detected time that said photoreceptor is inactive.