Image forming apparatus having scan position correction

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• an exposing unit for performing exposure by scanning beams onto a photosensitive belt to form electrostatic latent images;
• a developing unit for forming toner images by supplying toner to the electrostatic latent images formed by said exposing unit;
• a printing unit for applying print images based on said toner images onto a print paper;
• a sensor for detecting a first distance between a particular position of said print paper and a first of said print images, and for detecting respective distances between said print images;
• a controller for calculating positional errors by comparing said first distance and said respective distances with established reference positions and controlling exposure performed by said exposing unit through correcting the positions of the beams based on the calculated positional error.

A method for forming an image comprising:

• exposing a photosensitive belt through scanning beams to form electrostatic latent images on an image area of said photosensitive belt;
• supplying toner to the electrostatic latent images formed by said exposing unit to develop toner images;
• detecting a first distance between a particular position of said image area on said photosensitive belt and a first of said toner images, and detecting respective distances between said toner images;
• comparing said first distance and said respective distances with predetermined reference positions and providing a result;
• calculating a positional error based on the result provided in said comparing step;
• and
• correcting a position of the beam based on the calculated positional error.

A method for forming a print image to be printed onto print paper comprising:

• exposing a photosensitive belt through scanning beams to form electrostatic latent images;
• supplying toner to the electrostatic latent images formed by said exposing unit to develop toner images;
• printing print images based on the toner images onto a print paper;
• detecting a first distance between a particular position of said print paper and a first of said print images of the print paper and detecting respective distances between said print images;
• comparing said first distance and said respective distances with predetermined reference positions and providing a result;
• calculating a positional error based on the result provided in said comparing step;
• and
• correcting a position of the beam based on the calculated positional error.