Sidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP
Image forming apparatus and method thereof
An image forming apparatus is provided which forms images on both a concavo-convex sheet having a concavo-convex surface on which is formed many concavities capable of receiving toner and from which toner can be removed, and a general-purpose sheet which is not specially processed. The image forming apparatus has a first mode for forming an image on a general-purpose sheet, and a second mode for forming an image on a concavo-convex sheet. In the first mode, a general-purpose sheet receives a transferred toner image in the image forming region, and thereafter is guided to a fixing unit, where the toner is fixed on the sheet. In the second mode, a concavo-convex sheet receives a transferred toner image in the image forming region, and thereafter does not pass through the fixing unit but is guided to a convexity cleaning unit, where toner adhered to the convexities of the concavo-convex sheet during transfer is removed.
Minolta Co., Ltd.
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additional additional inventional
Masashi Hiroshi Takaji Masahiko
Yamamoto Mizuno Kurita Matsuura