Recording medium and image forming apparatus for forming image thereon

A recording medium including:

• an optical polarizing material whose polarizing axis is controlled by an applied electric field;
• and
• a layer including the optical polarizing material, and a spacer for maintaining a constant spacing between first and second substrates sandwiching the layer, said spacer being provided independently of the optical polarizing material,
• said recording medium being formed in a form of a sheet having bending elasticity which is bendable,
• an image being recorded on said recording medium by applying a predetermined electrostatic charge image composed of electrostatic charges on a surface of said recording medium and by controlling the polarizing axis of the optical polarizing material by an electric field formed by the charges of the electrostatic charge image, by which reflectance or transmittance of incident light is controlled,
• the image being formed by a plurality of pixels into which the optical polarizing material is partitioned, and
• the spacer being formed in a form of a wall so as to part each pixel.

A recording medium, including:

• an optical polarizing material whose polarizing axis is controlled by an applied electric field;
• and
• a layer including the optical polarizing material, and a spacer for maintaining a constant spacing between first and second substrates sandwiching the layer, said spacer being provided independently of the optical polarizing material,
• said recording medium being formed in a form of a sheet having bending elasticity which is bendable,
• an image being recorded on said recording medium by applying a predetermined electrostatic charge image composed of electrostatic charges on a surface of said recording medium and by controlling the polarizing axis of the optical polarizing material by an electric field formed by the charges of the electrostatic charge image, by which reflectance or transmittance of incident light is controlled, and
• wherein the spacer is a spherical spacer.

A recording medium including:

• an optical polarizing material whose polarizing axis is controlled by an applied electric field;
• and
• a layer including the optical polarizing material, and a spacer for maintaining a constant spacing between first and second substrates sandwiching the layer, said spacer being provided independently of the optical polarizing material,
• said recording medium being formed in a form of a sheet having bending elasticity which is bendable,
• an image being recorded on said recording medium by applying a predetermined electrostatic charge image composed of electrostatic charges on a surface of said recording medium and by controlling the polarizing axis of the opticil polarizing material by an electric field formed by the charges of the electrostatic charge image, by which reflectance or transmittance of incident light is controlled, and
• a second optical polarizing material, which is provided via the optical polarizing material with respect to the surface on which the charges are applied so that different images are recorded on the optical polarizing material and the second optical polarizing material.

An image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium including an optical polarizing material whose polarizing axis is controlled by an applied electric field, a layer including the optical polarizing material, and a spacer for maintaining a constant spacing between first and second substrates sandwiching the layer, said spacer being provided independently of the optical polarizing material, the recording medium being formed in a form of a sheet having bending elasticity which is bendable, an image being recorded on the recording medium by applying a predetermined electrostatic charge image composed of electrostatic charges on a surface of the recording medium and by controlling the polarizing axis of the optical polarizing material by an electric field formed by the charges of the electrostatic charge image, by which reflectance or transmittance of incident light is controlled,

• said image forming apparatus comprising:
• an image carrier;
• electrostatic charge image forming means for generating an electrostatic charge image in accordance with image data on a surface of the image carrier;
• and
• transport means for transporting the recording medium onto the surface of the image carrier so as to form an image in accordance with the electrostatic charge image on the recording medium.

An image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium, including an optical polarizing material whose polarizing axis is controlled by an applied electric field, a layer including the optical polarizing material, and a spacer for maintaining a constant spacing between first and second substrates sandwiching the layer, said spacer being provided independently of the optical polarizing material, the recording medium being formed in a form of a sheet having bending elasticity which is bendable, an image being recorded on the recording medium by applying a predetermined electrostatic charge image composed of electrostatic charges on a surface of the recording medium and by controlling the polarizing axis of the optical polarizing material by an electric field formed by the charges of the electrostatic charge image, by which reflectance or transmittance of incident light is controlled,

• said image forming apparatus comprising:
• an image carrier;
• electrostatic charge image forming means for generating an electrostatic charge image in accordance with image data on a surface of the image carrier;
• and
• transport means for transporting the recording medium onto the surface of the image carrier so as to form an image in accordance with the electrostatic charge image on the recording medium,
• developing means, provided so as to face the image carrier, for visualizing the electrostatic charge image by a developer of at least one color,
• said image forming apparatus being provided with a first printing mode in which an image is formed on a recording medium using an image visualized on the image carrier by the developer, and
• a second printing mode in which an image is formed on the recording medium including the optical polarizing material from the electrostatic charge image formed on the image carrier, and
• wherein, when forming an image on the recording medium in the second printing mode, a strength of an electric field applied to the recording medium, other than a component due to the electrostatic charge image is controlled to be weaker than a strength of an electric field at least in the first printing mode.

An image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium including an optical polarizing material whose polarizing axis is controlled by an applied electric field, a layer including the optical polarizing material, and a spacer for maintaining a constant spacing between first and second substrates sandwiching the layer, said spacer being provided independently of the optical polarizing material, the recording medium being formed in a form of a sheet having bending elasticity which is bendable, an image being recorded on the recording medium by applying a predetermined electrostatic charge image composed of electrostatic charges on a surface of the recording medium and by controlling the polarizing axis of the optical polarizing material by an electric field formed by the charges of the electrostatic charge image, by which reflectance of transmittance of incident light is controlled,

• said image forming apparatus comprising:
• a charged particle source for outputting charged particles including ions or electrons;
• a counter electrode facing the charged particle source;
• electrostatic charge image forming means, provided on a facing region of the counter electrode and the charged particle source, including a plurality of a passage sections of the charged particles outputted from the charged particle source, for forming an electrostatic charge image on a surface of the recording medium transported onto a surface of the counter electrode by controlling passage of the charged particles through the plurality of passage sections by application of a potential in accordance with image data to an electrode provided on each of the plurality of passage sections;
• and
• developing means for visualizing the electrostatic charge image by a developer of at least one color,
• said image forming apparatus being provided with a first printing mode in which an image is formed on a recording medium using the developer, and
• a second printing mode in which an image is formed on the recording medium including the optical polarizing material from the electrostatic charge image.

An image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium, including an optical polarizing material whose polarizing axis is controlled by an applied electric field, a layer including the optical polarizing material, and a spacer for maintaining a constant spacing between first and second substrates sandwiching the layer, said spacer being provided independently of the optical polarizing material, the recording medium being formed in a form of a sheet having bending elasticity which is bendable, an image being recorded on the recording medium by applying a predetermined electrostatic charge image composed of electrostatic charges on a surface of the recording medium and by controlling the polarizing axis of the optical polarizing material by an electric field formed by the charges of the electrostatic charge image, by which reflectance or transmittance of incident light is controlled,

• said image forming apparatus comprising:
• a charged particle source for outputting charged particles including ions or electrons;
• a counter electrode facing the charged particle source;
• electrostatic charge image forming means, provided on a facing region of the counter electrode and the charged particle source, including a plurality of passage sections of the charged particles outputted from the charged particle source, for forming an electrostatic charge image on a surface of the recording medium transported onto a surface of the counter electrode by controlling passage of the charged particles through the plurality of passage sections by application of a potential in accordance with image data to an electrode provided on each of the plurality of passage sections;
• and
• developing means for visualizing the electrostatic charge image by a developer of at least one color,
• said image forming apparatus being provided with a first printing mode in which an image is formed on a recording medium using the developer, and
• a second printing mode in which an image is formed on the recording medium including the optical polarizing material from the electrostatic charge image, and
• wherein, when forming an image on the recording medium in the second printing mode, a strength of an electric field applied to the recording medium, other than a component due to the electrostatic charge image is controlled to be weaker than a strength of an electric field at least in the first printing mode.