Image forming apparatus that performs image stabilization control

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• an image bearing member that moves at a specified speed;
• a toner pattern forming section for forming toner patterns of a specified type on the image bearing member under specified image forming conditions;
• a toner pattern detection member for detecting the toner patterns formed on the image bearing member;
• a toner amount varying section for varying a target amount of toner to adhere to the toner patterns;
• and
• a control section that calculates a toner adherence amount from detection results of the toner pattern detection member and that performs image stabilization control to adjust the image forming conditions based on the calculation result,
• wherein for the image stabilization control, the control section controls the toner pattern forming section to form stripe toner patterns, each of which comprises lines having a largest dimension that extends in a direction perpendicular to a moving direction of the image bearing member.

An image stabilization method performed in an image forming apparatus, said method comprising:

• forming toner patterns of a specified type on an image bearing member under specified image forming conditions while the image bearing member is moving at a specified speed;
• detecting the toner patterns formed on the image bearing member;
• varying a target amount of toner to adhere to the toner patterns;
• and
• calculating a toner adherence amount and a toner adherence position from detection results of the toner patterns and adjusting the image forming conditions based on the calculation result,
• wherein in order to adjust the image forming conditions, detection results of the same toner patterns are used both to calculate the toner adherence amount and to calculate the toner adherence position.

An image stabilization method performed in an image forming apparatus, said method comprising:

• forming stripe toner patterns on an image bearing member under specified image forming conditions while the image bearing member is moving at a specified speed such that each of the stripe toner patterns comprises lines having a largest dimension that extends in a direction perpendicular to a moving direction of the image bearing member;
• detecting the toner patterns formed on the image bearing member;
• varying a target amount of toner to adhere to the toner patterns;
• and
• calculating a toner adherence amount from detection results of the toner patterns and adjusting the image forming conditions based on the calculation result.