JP2011027831A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus optimum for controlling calibration processing. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus executes calibration, for maintaining quality for image formation. At every color/monochrome printing, a color/monochrome information determining means determines color/monochrome information, which shows the operating time of a developing unit and the number of sheets of paper printed. The color/monochrome information storage means stores the history of color/monochrome information determined by the color/monochrome information determining means. Further, based on the history of the color/monochrome information stored in the color/monochrome information storage means, a calibration control means controls conditions for calibration. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus capable of setting calibration conditions based on a situation in which the image forming apparatus is used.

  A printing apparatus having a color printing function is required to continuously output the above-described color image in the same hue regardless of aging of parts, the amount of toner used, the number of printed sheets, and the like. For this reason, color adjustment work (calibration) is performed for a certain period of time at a certain period of time when printing ends, during printing (when one sheet of printing is completed in printing of multiple pages), or when the power is turned on. Had to run. Here, the following patent documents are known as calibration techniques.

JP 2002-229296 A

  The above-described prior art does not consider the timing of calibration based on the situation in which the image forming apparatus is used (frequency of color printing). Therefore, in the above prior art, calibration is executed at a constant cycle regardless of the frequency of color printing.

  As described above, since the calibration is for adjusting the color tone at the time of color printing, it is not necessary to frequently execute the calibration if the frequency of color printing is low. For example, in a general office, the number of monochrome prints is relatively larger than the number of color prints. In such a situation, it is not necessary to frequently execute the calibration. Therefore, there has been a request from a user who does not frequently perform color printing to spend time for the calibration.

  The present invention for achieving the above object is premised on an image forming apparatus that executes a calibration process, which is a process for maintaining the quality of image formation. The image forming apparatus of the present invention includes color / monochrome information determining means, color / monochrome information storage means, and calibration processing control means.

  The color / monochrome information determining means determines the color / monochrome information that is the operation time of the developing unit or the number of printed sheets for each color printing and monochrome printing. The color / monochrome information storage means stores the history of the color / monochrome information determined by the color / monochrome information determination means.

  Further, the calibration processing control means controls the conditions for establishing the calibration processing based on the history of the color / monochrome information stored in the color / monochrome information storage means.

  In the above configuration, the relative value between the integrated value of the operating time of the color developing unit and the integrated value of the operating time of the monochrome developing unit is obtained from the color printing and the color / monochrome information for each monochrome printing stored in the color / monochrome storing means. The apparatus further includes a relative value calculating means for calculating a value or calculating a relative value between an integrated value of the number of sheets printed in color and a total number of printed sheets.

  And a condition setting means for setting a condition for executing calibration based on the relative value calculated by the relative value calculating means, and the calibration processing control means performs calibration based on the condition set by the condition setting means. A configuration for executing processing can be employed.

  According to this configuration, it is possible to set the calibration conditions based on the relative values at which color printing and monochrome printing are executed.

  In the above configuration, when the calibration process is executed, the calibration process control unit adopts a configuration that deletes the history of the color / monochrome information stored in the color / monochrome information storage unit. Thus, it is possible to set the calibration conditions based on the frequency of color printing up to now and monochrome printing.

  The image forming apparatus of the present invention can set calibration conditions based on relative values of color printing and monochrome printing. Therefore, in a situation where color printing is not so much used, the use of the image forming apparatus of the present invention eliminates the need for time for calibration processing for color printing that is used only occasionally.

1 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a reading unit of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an operation unit of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of control system hardware of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a functional block diagram of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a flowchart of calibration condition setting processing of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the screen displayed on an operation part. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a table stored in a storage unit of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. 5 is a flowchart of calibration processing of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a flowchart of calibration condition setting processing of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

<Image forming device>
The basic copy function process in the image forming apparatus will be described below. An image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention corresponds to a multifunction peripheral, a digital copier, a printer, or the like that includes a printer, a copy, a scanner, a fax, and the like, and includes a copy function, a scanner function, a facsimile function, a printer function, and the like. Function as an image forming apparatus.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a multifunction machine. However, details of each part not directly related to the present invention are omitted. As an example, the operation of the image forming apparatus when copying a document using a multifunction machine will be briefly described.

  For example, when a user prints a document using the multifunction peripheral 100, the document is placed on the document table 103 or the mounting table 105 shown in FIG. 1 and printed on the operation unit 200 provided near the document table 103. The instructions are given. When the instruction is given, printing is performed by operating the following units (drive units).

  That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the multifunction peripheral 100 according to the present embodiment includes a main body 101 and a platen cover 102 attached above the main body 101. A document table 103 is provided on the upper surface of the main body 101, and the document table 103 is opened and closed by a platen cover 102. The platen cover 102 is provided with an automatic document feeder 104, a placing table 105, and a sheet discharging table 109.

  A reading unit 110 is provided below the document table 103, and details thereof are shown in FIG. The reading unit 110 includes a first light source 111 that illuminates the document table 103 in the main scanning direction, a slit 116 that selectively passes light from the document table, and a mirror 112 that guides light from the document table. The moving carriage 117, the second moving carriage 118 including mirrors 113A and 113B that reflect the reflected light from the first moving carriage 117 again, and the lens group 119 that optically corrects the light guided by the mirror, An image sensor 115 that receives light corrected by the lens group 119, and an image data generation unit 114 that converts the light received by the image sensor 115 into an electrical signal and performs correction / correction as necessary. Yes.

  When reading a document on the automatic document feeder 104, the light source 111 moves to a position where the reading position P can be irradiated and emits light. Light from the light source 111 is reflected by a document that passes through the document table 103 and passes the reading position P, and is guided to the image sensor 115 by the slit 116, mirrors 112, 113 A, and 113 B, and the lens group 119. The image sensor 115 converts the received light into an electrical signal and transmits it to the image data generation unit 114. The light received by the image sensor 115 is input to the image data generator 114 as analog electrical signals of R (red), G (green), and B (blue), where analog-to-digital conversion is performed. Digitized. Further, the image data generation unit 114 uses the sequentially converted digital signal as unit data, and corrects and corrects the unit data to generate image data including a plurality of unit data.

  When the reading unit 110 reads a document placed on the document table 103, the first carriage 117 moves in the sub-scanning direction while emitting the light source 111, and the optical path length from the light source 111 to the image sensor 115. In order to maintain a constant value, the second moving carriage 118 moves in the direction of the image sensor 115 at half the speed of the first moving carriage 117.

  The image sensor 115 converts the light from the document placed on the document table 103 into an electric signal based on the light guided to the mirrors 112, 113A, and 113B, and based on this, the image data generation unit 114 outputs the image data. Is generated.

  A printing unit 120 that prints image data is provided below the reading unit 110 of the main body 101. An image that can be printed by the printing unit 120 is transmitted together with an image formation instruction from the network 151 via the image generated by the image data generation unit 114 as described above or the communication cable 150 connected to the multifunction device 100. There is also a case.

  As a printing method performed by the printing unit 120, an electrophotographic method is used. That is, the photosensitive drum 121 is uniformly charged by the charger 122, and then the photosensitive drum 121 is irradiated by the laser 123 to form a latent image on the photosensitive drum 121, and toner is attached to the latent image by the developing device 124. In this method, a visual image is formed and the visible image is transferred onto a sheet by a transfer roller.

  In an image forming apparatus corresponding to a full-color image, the developing device (rotary developing device) 124 is rotated in the circumferential direction around a rotation axis configured in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. A developing unit storing toner is disposed at a position facing the photosensitive drum 121. In this state, the latent image on the photosensitive drum 121 is developed with toner stored in the developing device 124 and transferred to the intermediate transfer member (intermediate transfer belt) 125A. The developing unit 124 includes four developing units 124 (Y), (C), (M), and yellow (Y), cyan (C), magenta (M), and black (K) toners. (K). The developing device 124 corresponds to a developing unit 511 described later.

  By repeating the transfer to the intermediate transfer belt 125A for each color, a full color image is formed on the intermediate transfer belt 125A.

  The paper on which the visible image is printed is placed on a paper feed tray such as the manual feed tray 131 and the paper feed cassettes 132, 133, and 134.

  When the printing unit 120 performs printing, one sheet of paper is pulled out from any one of the paper feed trays using the pickup roller 135, and the pulled-out paper is transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 125 </ b> A by the transport roller 137 or the registration roller 138. Feed between rollers 125B. When pulling out the paper, the paper placed on the manual feed tray 131 may be pulled out by using the manual feed tray pickup roller 136.

  When the visible image on the intermediate transfer belt 125A is transferred onto the sheet fed between the intermediate transfer belt 125A and the transfer roller 125B, the printing unit 120 fixes the visible image on the conveyance belt 126 with a fixing device. Send paper to 127. The fixing device 127 includes a heating roller 128 with a built-in heater and a pressure roller 129 pressed against the heating roller 128 with a predetermined pressure. When the sheet passes between the heating roller 128 and the pressure roller 129, the visible image is fixed to the sheet by heat and the pressing force to the sheet. The printing unit 120 discharges the sheet that has passed through the fixing device 127 to the discharge tray 130.

  The basic copy function processing in the multifunction peripheral 100 has been described above. Note that the multifunction peripheral 100 operates other units such as the facsimile transmission / reception function, the print function, the scan function, the post-processing function by appropriately operating the above-described units (the reading unit 110 and the printing unit 120) appropriately. Provides memory functions and the like to the user.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the appearance of the operation unit 200 provided in the multifunction peripheral 100. The user uses the operation unit 200 to input setting conditions for providing the functions as described above. The touch panel 301, the touch pen 302, and the operation key 303 provided in the operation unit 200 are used when setting conditions are input and execution of each function is started.

  Next, the configuration of the control system hardware of the multifunction machine 100 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of control system hardware in the multifunction peripheral 100. However, details of each part not directly related to the present invention are omitted.

  The control circuit of the MFP 100 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 401, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 402, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 403, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 404, and a driver 405 corresponding to each drive unit. They are connected by a bus 406. The CPU 401 uses, for example, the RAM 403 as a work area, executes a program stored in the ROM 402, the HDD 404, and the like, and exchanges data and instructions from the driver 405 and the operation unit 200 based on the execution result. The operation of each drive unit shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is controlled.

(Embodiment 1)
<Calibration frequency setting process>
Next, frequency setting processing for executing calibration of the image forming apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of the MFP 100 according to the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the above processing of the MFP 100 according to the present invention. In addition, the alphabet "S" attached | subjected before the number in a flowchart means a step.

  First, the display receiving means 500 displays an initial screen 700 (here, a copy setting screen) on the touch panel 301 (FIG. 6: S101). The initial screen 700 displays a display 701 indicating that copying is possible and various setting items 710 (including a “color setting” item 720 and a “printing” item 730) for setting the copy function. Yes.

  When a user who desires color printing on the initial screen 700 presses a “color setting” item 720, the display receiving unit 500 changes the background color of the “color setting” item 720 from white to gray. When the user presses the “print” item 730 (FIG. 6: S102 YES), the display receiving unit 500 receives the color printing setting conditions and notifies the printing unit 510 that printing is performed under the set conditions. In response to this, the printing unit 510 starts printing under the above conditions (FIG. 6: S103).

  As described above, when the “print” item 730 is pressed, the display receiving unit 500 indicates that color printing is started and measures (counts) the operation time of the developing unit 511 provided in the printing unit 510. The color / monochrome information determining means 520 is notified of the start.

  As described above, the color / monochrome information determination unit 520 notified of the start of the operation time of the developing unit 511 monitors the developing unit 511 and waits until the developing unit 511 operates. When the developing unit 511 is activated, the color / monochrome information determining unit 520 starts measuring the operating time of the developing unit 511 (FIG. 6: S104).

  Next, when the predetermined printing process by the printing unit 510 is finished (FIG. 6: S105 YES) and the developing unit 511 is stopped, the color / monochrome information determining unit 520 finishes measuring the operating time of the developing unit 511. (FIG. 6: S106).

  As described above, when the color / monochrome information determining unit 520 finishes measuring the operation time of the developing unit 511, whether the print content notified from the display receiving unit 500 is color printing or monochrome printing. (FIG. 6: S107), and the measured operation time of the developing unit 511 is determined as color / monochrome information.

  Here, the color / monochrome information is information on the operation time of the developing unit 511 and information on the number of printed sheets described later, which are determined for each color printing and monochrome printing.

  Next, the color / monochrome information determining unit 520 stores the operation time of the developing unit 511 in a color / monochrome information storage unit 530 described later so that the color printing or monochrome printing can be recognized.

  In this embodiment, since the display accepting unit 500 notifies that color printing is being performed, the color / monochrome information determining unit 520 determines the operating time of the developing unit 511 in the monochrome / monochrome information storage unit 530. The information is stored in the information storage unit 531 and the color information storage unit 532 (FIG. 6: S107 (color) → S108).

  Here, the developing unit 511 includes a monochrome developing unit and a color developing unit. Since the monochrome developing unit operates in either color printing or monochrome printing, when the display accepting unit notifies that the color printing is performed, the measured developing unit is used. A configuration is adopted in which the operation time 511 is stored not only in the color information storage means but also in the monochrome information storage means 531.

  On the other hand, when the display accepting unit notifies that monochrome printing is performed, the color / monochrome information determining unit 520 stores the measured operating time of the developing unit 511 in the monochrome information storage unit 531 (FIG. 6). : S107 (monochrome) → S109).

  Here, the operating time of the developing unit 511 stored in the monochrome information storage unit 531 is referred to as a monochrome developing unit operating time, and the operating time of the developing unit 511 stored in the color information storage unit 532 is referred to as a color developing unit operating time. .

  Further, the monochrome information storage unit 531 stores the monochrome development unit operation time measured during a predetermined period, and the color information history storage unit 532 also stores the color development unit operation time measured during the predetermined period. To do. The predetermined period can be set to an arbitrary period by the user. In addition, a configuration may be adopted in which the operation time determined by the color / monochrome information determining unit 520 is stored in a period from the previous calibration to the current time.

  As described above, when the color / monochrome information determination unit 520 stores the operation time of the development unit 511 in each storage unit, the relative value calculation unit 540 is notified that the operation time of the development unit 511 is stored. . In response to this, the relative value calculation means 540 acquires the monochrome developing unit operating time from the monochrome information storage means 531. At this time, the relative value calculation unit 540 acquires all the monochrome development unit operation times stored in the predetermined period from the monochrome information storage unit 531.

  Further, the relative value calculation unit 540 acquires the color developing unit operating time from the color information storage unit 531. At this time, as when the monochrome developing unit operating time is acquired, the relative value calculating unit 540 acquires all the color developing unit operating times stored in the predetermined period from the color information storage unit 531.

  Next, the relative value calculation unit 540 calculates the integrated value of the monochrome developing unit operating time by adding all the operating times of the acquired monochrome developing unit. Further, the relative value calculating means 540 calculates the integrated value of the color developing unit operating time by adding all the operating times of the acquired color developing unit.

  Next, the relative value calculating means 540 calculates a relative value between the calculated integrated value of the monochrome developing unit operating time and the integrated value of the color developing unit operating time (FIG. 6: S110). For example, the relative value calculating means 540 calculates the relative value by dividing the integrated value of the color developing unit operating time by the integrated value of the monochrome developing unit operating time.

  When the relative value calculating means 540 calculates the relative value of the integrated value of the monochrome developing unit operating time and the integrated value of the color developing unit operating time, the relative value calculating means 540 notifies the condition setting means 545 of the calculated relative value. In response to this, the condition setting unit 545 first refers to the calibration table 800 of the calibration table storage unit 550.

  As shown in FIG. 8A, the calibration table 800 has a predetermined value as a boundary value and the relative value (the value obtained by dividing the integrated value of the color developing unit operating time by the integrated value of the monochrome developing unit operating time). ) And a calibration condition 820 (indicating a condition for executing calibration) are stored in association with each other.

  In this embodiment, 20% and 50% are used as the boundary values as the relative values, the calibration frequency is low when the calculated relative value is 20% or less, and the calibration is performed when the relative value exceeds 20% and is less than 50%. The frequency is medium, and the calibration frequency is high when the frequency is 50% or more. The boundary value can be set to an arbitrary numerical value.

  Further, in FIG. 8A, the calibration condition 820 is set to “temperature change threshold” 830 (described later). As another calibration condition 820, for example, “operation time” 840 (corresponding to the operation time of the developing unit 511) shown in FIG. 8B may be used, or as shown in FIG. 8C. , “Temperature change threshold” 830 and “Operating time” 840 may be combined.

  Referring to the calibration table 800, the condition setting unit 545 acquires the calibration condition 820 associated with the calibration frequency item 810 corresponding to the acquired relative value.

Then, the condition setting unit 545 stores the acquired calibration condition 820 in the calibration condition storage unit 551 as a setting condition when executing the calibration process of the multifunction peripheral 100 (FIG. 6: S111). Needless to say, the condition setting unit 545 deletes the previous calibration condition when the calibration condition storage unit 551 stores a condition different from the previous calibration condition.
<Calibration process>
As described above, when the condition setting unit 545 stores the calibration condition in the calibration condition storage unit 551, the condition setting unit 545 notifies the calibration processing control unit 560 that the calibration condition has been set.

  In response to this, the calibration processing control means 560 refers to the condition storage means 551 and acquires the calibration conditions (FIG. 9: S201). Then, the calibration processing control unit 560 monitors, for example, the temperature of the printing unit 510 (FIG. 9: S202), and executes the calibration processing when the acquired calibration condition is satisfied (FIG. 9: S203 YES). The calibration processing means is controlled (FIG. 9: S204).

  For example, when the temperature change threshold “4 ° C.” is stored in the calibration condition storage unit 551 as the calibration condition, the calibration processing control unit 560 acquires the condition from the calibration condition storage unit 551 and prints it. The means 510 waits until the calibration condition is satisfied. The calibration processing control unit 560 monitors temperature information from the temperature sensor 562 provided in the printing unit 510, and performs calibration to the calibration processing unit 561 when the temperature change of the printing unit 510 exceeds the above “4 ° C.”. Let it run.

  If the acquired calibration condition is the driving time, the calibration processing control unit 560 monitors the color / monochrome information storage unit 530, and if the driving time condition is satisfied, the calibration processing control unit 560 executes the calibration process. The processing means will be controlled.

  Also, a well-known calibration is used as the calibration executed by the calibration processing means 561. For example, the calibration processing unit 561 performs the following processing.

  Here, as in the present invention, in the case of the multifunction device 100 having the color mode, full-color visible using four color toners of yellow (Y), cyan (C), magenta (M), and black (K). Form an image. The performance of these toners, developing units, photosensitive drums, and the like slightly changes due to various causes such as time since manufacture, temperature, and usage frequency. Therefore, adjustment is necessary so that a desired full-color visible image can be formed at regular intervals.

  Therefore, the calibration processing unit 561 forms a check image on the intermediate transfer body 125A in the same procedure as in normal full-color printing, and inspects it using a color sensor or density sensor (not shown). The information of the inspection result is fed back so that a full color having the same color tone can be reproduced indefinitely (this series of color adjustment operations is called calibration).

  When the calibration process is completed, the calibration process control unit 560 erases the color / monochrome information (the operation time of the developing unit 511 in this embodiment) stored in the color / monochrome information history storage unit (FIG. 9). : S205).

(Embodiment 2)
In the first embodiment, a configuration in which the color / monochrome information determination unit 520 measures the operation time of the printing unit 511 is employed. On the other hand, the second embodiment is different in that the color / monochrome information determining unit 520 counts the number of sheets to be printed in color or monochrome. With reference to the drawings, a multifunction peripheral 100 according to the second embodiment will be described. In the following, a description will be given from a state in which the “print” item 730 is pressed on the initial screen 700 and printing is started by the printing unit 510.

  As described above, when the “print” item 730 is pressed, the display accepting unit 500 indicates that color printing is started and that the printing unit 510 starts counting the number of print sheets to be printed. / The monochrome information determination means 520 is notified.

  Then, the color / monochrome information determining unit 520 monitors the printing unit 510 and starts counting the number of print sheets to be printed (FIG. 10: S304).

  Next, when the predetermined printing process by the printing unit 510 ends (FIG. 10: S305 YES), the color / monochrome information determination unit 520 ends counting the number of print sheets (FIG. 10: S306).

Then, the color / monochrome information determination unit 520 determines whether the print content notified from the display reception unit 500 is color printing or monochrome printing (FIG. 10: S307), and counts the number of print sheets counted. Are determined as color / monochrome information.
Then, the color / monochrome information determining unit 520 stores the counted number of print sheets in the storage unit so that the distinction between color printing and monochrome printing can be recognized.

  In this embodiment, since it is notified that the color printing is performed from the display receiving unit 500, the color / monochrome information determining unit 520 stores the counted number of printed sheets in the color information storage unit 532 (FIG. 10: S307 ( Color) → S108).

  On the other hand, when the notification indicating that monochrome printing is performed from the display accepting unit, the color / monochrome information determining unit 520 stores the counted number of printed sheets in the monochrome information storage unit 531 (FIG. 10: S307 (monochrome). ) → S309).

  Next, the relative value calculation unit 540 calculates the integrated value of the count value of the monochrome print sheet and the integrated value of the count value of the color print sheet. The relative value calculation means 540 calculates a relative value between the total number of printed sheets and the integrated value of the number of color prints based on the calculated integrated value (FIG. 10: S310). For example, the relative value calculating means 540 calculates the total number of printed sheets by adding the integrated value of the count values of the monochrome printed sheets and the integrated value of the count values of the color printed sheets, and integrates the count values of the color printed sheets. The relative value is calculated by dividing the value by the total number of printed sheets.

  As described above, when the relative value is calculated, the condition setting means 545 sets the calibration condition as in the first embodiment (FIG. 10: S311 → END).

(Other)
In this embodiment, in the case of color printing, the color / monochrome information (development unit operation time) measured by the color / monochrome information determining unit 520 is stored in the color information storage unit 532 and the monochrome information storage unit 531, and monochrome printing is performed. In this case, the information was stored in the monochrome information storage unit 531. Then, for example, the relative value was calculated by dividing the integrated value of the developing unit operating time stored in the color information storage unit 532 by the integrated value of the developing unit operating time stored in the monochrome information storage unit 531.

  On the other hand, in the case of color printing, the color / monochrome information measured by the color / monochrome information determining unit 520 is stored in the color information storage unit 532, and in the case of monochrome printing, it is stored in the monochrome information storage unit 531. Then, the integrated value of the developing unit operation time stored in the color information storage unit 532, the integrated value of the developing unit operation time stored in the color information storage unit 532, and the development unit stored in the monochrome information storage unit 531. You may employ | adopt the structure which calculates the said relative value by dividing by the sum with the integration value of operation time.

  By using the present invention, it is possible to determine the calibration conditions based on the relative values of monochrome printing and color printing.

  This makes it possible to set the optimal calibration processing frequency without frequently performing calibration processing for color printing that is performed less frequently. Therefore, the image forming apparatus according to the present invention is useful for a copying machine, a printer, a scanner, a multifunction machine, and the like, and has a great industrial applicability.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 MFP 500 Display reception means 510 Printing means 511 Development unit means 530 Color / monochrome information storage means 531 Monochrome information storage means 532 Color information storage means 540 Relative value calculation means 545 Condition setting means 550 Calibration table storage means 551 Calibration conditions Storage unit 560 Calibration processing control unit 561 Calibration processing unit 562 Temperature sensor

Claims (3)

In an image forming apparatus that executes a calibration process that is a process for maintaining quality related to image formation,
Color / monochrome information determining means for determining color / monochrome information, which is the operation time of the developing unit or the number of printed sheets, for each color printing and monochrome printing;
Color / monochrome information storage means for storing a history of color / monochrome information determined by the color / monochrome information determination means;
An image forming apparatus comprising calibration processing control means for controlling conditions for establishing the calibration processing based on a history of the color / monochrome information stored in the color / monochrome information storage means. From the color printing and color / monochrome information for each monochrome printing stored in the color / monochrome storage means, a relative value between the integrated value of the operating time of the color developing unit and the integrated value of the operating time of the monochrome developing unit is calculated. Or a relative value calculating means for calculating a relative value between the total number of sheets printed in color and the total number of printed sheets;
Based on the relative value calculated by the relative value calculation means, further comprising a condition setting means for setting a condition for executing the calibration process,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the calibration process control unit executes a calibration process based on a condition set by the condition setting unit.   3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the calibration process is executed, the calibration process control unit deletes the history of the color / monochrome information stored in the color / monochrome information storage unit.

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