Cooper & Dunham LLP
Image forming method and apparatus for controlling amount of supplied toner or agitating time
 An image forming apparatus including an image bearing member, a latent image forming device which forms a latent image on the image bearing member, a developing device which develops the latent image using a two-component developer including a toner and a carrier and a toner supplying device which supplies toner into the developing device. A developer agitating device agitates developer in the developing device and a toner-density detecting device detects a toner density of developer in the developing device. A toner-density control device controls the toner density by operating the toner supplying device on the basis of a detected result according to the toner-density detecting device. A memory device stores resultant value of the toner density detected by the toner-density detecting device during image forming operations. The toner-density detecting device detects the toner density in a warm-up operation before starting the image forming operation by the image forming apparatus. The toner-density control device changes an amount of the toner supply which is supplied by the toner supplying device after starting the image forming operation according to a result of a comparison of the detected toner density in the warm-up operation with the detected result stored in the memory device. The toner-density control device changes an amount of the toner supply which is supplied by the toner supplying device after starting the image forming operation according to the resultant value of comparison of a result of a detection. 
Ricoh Company, Ltd.
G
G03G
inventional
Kenzou Hiroshi Mayumi Toshitaka Masaru Haruji Shigeru Takeo Ken
Tatsumi Yoshinaga Oh-Hori Yamaguchi Tanaka Mizuishi Watanabe Suda Amemiya