Image forming apparatus and temperature controller for forming decolorable images
AssigneesKabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorToshiyuki Umetsu
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Abstract
An image forming apparatus according to an embodiment includes an image forming unit configured to form an image on a sheet using a plurality of decolorable color toners, wherein the decolorable color toners each have a preset fixing temperature and a preset decoloring temperature higher than the corresponding preset fixing temperature. The image forming apparatus further comprises a fixing unit configured to heat and apply pressure to the sheet having the image formed thereon to fix the image on the sheet, and a fixing temperature controller configured to control a fixing temperature of the fixing unit to be higher than or equal to a highest temperature among each of the preset fixing temperatures and to be lower than each of the preset decoloring temperatures.
Claims17
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- an image forming unit configured to form an image on a sheet using a plurality of decolorable color toners, wherein the decolorable color toners each have a preset fixing temperature and a preset decoloring temperature higher than the corresponding preset fixing temperature;
- a fixing unit configured to heat and apply pressure to the sheet having the image formed thereon to fix the image on the sheet;
- and
- a fixing temperature controller configured to control a fixing temperature of the fixing unit to be:
- higher than or equal to a highest temperature among each of the preset fixing temperatures,
- lower than each of the preset decoloring temperatures, and
- within a temperature range having a mid-point value lower than a mid-point value of a range between the highest temperature among each of the preset fixing temperatures and the lowest temperature among each of the preset decoloring temperatures.
A method of controlling a fixing temperature in an image forming apparatus having an image forming unit configured to form an image on a sheet using a plurality of decolorable color toners, wherein the decolorable color toners each have a preset fixing temperature and a preset decoloring temperature higher than the corresponding preset fixing temperature, and a fixing unit configured to heat and apply pressure to the sheet having the image formed thereon to fix the image on the sheet, the method comprising:
- determining a highest temperature among each of the preset fixing temperatures and the lowest temperature among each of the preset decoloring temperatures;
- controlling a fixing temperature of the fixing unit to be higher than or equal to a highest temperature among each of the preset fixing temperatures and to be lower than each of the preset decoloring temperatures;
- and
- forming the image on the sheet using the plurality of decolorable color toners in order of the corresponding preset decoloring temperatures so that the decolorable color toner having the highest preset fixing temperature is laminated on the sheet on top of the other decolorable color toners.
A non-transitory computer readable medium for use in an image forming apparatus having an image forming unit configured to form an image on a sheet using a plurality of decolorable color toners, wherein the decolorable color toners each have a preset fixing temperature and a preset decoloring temperature higher than the corresponding preset fixing temperature, a fixing unit configured to heat and apply pressure to the sheet having the image formed thereon to fix the image on the sheet, and a processor, the computer readable medium allowing the processor to execute a process comprising:
- acquiring information for determining the preset fixing temperature and preset decoloring temperature for each of the plurality of decolorable color toners;
- and
- controlling a fixing temperature of the fixing unit to be:
- higher than or equal to a highest temperature among each of the preset fixing temperatures,
- lower than each of the preset decoloring temperatures, and
- within a temperature range having a mid-point value lower than a mid-point value of a range between the highest temperature among each of the preset fixing temperatures and the lowest temperature among each of the preset decoloring temperatures.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.