Image forming apparatus operable in modes having different color gamuts

• US 10,642,209 B2
• Filed: 07/09/2018
• Issued: 05/05/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Kudo, Yoshiki, Shimomura, Masaki, Uchiyama, Akihiko
• Primary Examiner(s): Beatty, Robert B
• Application Number:
  US16/030,081
• Publication Number:
  US 20190018355A1
• Time in Patent Office: 666 Days
• Field of Search: 399 28, 399 39, 399 49
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/01 for producing multicoloured copies colour correction in photography G03C; colour correction in printing plate production
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/0131 for transferring a pattern to a second base
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/5058 using a test patch
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/556 for toner consumption, e.g. pixel counting, toner coverage detection or toner density measurement
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 2215/00042 Optical detection
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 2215/00059 on intermediate image carrying member, e.g. transfer belt
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 2215/00063 Colour

Abstract

An image forming apparatus includes a developing roller configured to develop an electrostatic latent image on a photosensitive drum to form a toner image; a belt onto which the toner image is transferred; a detection unit configured to detect a density of an image for detection formed on the belt; and a controller configured to perform hue adjustment based on a detection result of the detection unit. The image forming apparatus performs image formation in a second mode using a color gamut different from a color gamut in a first mode, and the controller obtains a lookup table, which indicates a correlation between image data to be used and input image data in the second mode, based on the detection result in the first mode and a correlation of density between the first mode and the second mode.

Claims

1. An image forming apparatus, comprising:

a photosensitive drum;

an exposure unit configured to expose the photosensitive drum to form an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum;

a developing roller configured to develop the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum which has been formed by the exposure unit with toner to form a toner image on the photosensitive drum;

a belt, the toner image formed on the photosensitive drum being transferred onto the belt or a recording material carried by the belt;

a detection unit configured to detect reflected light representing a density of an image for detection formed on the belt; and

a controller configured to perform adjustment of a correlation between input image data and image data to be used for the input image data based on a result of detecting the reflected light representing the density of the image for detection by the detection unit,

wherein the image forming apparatus is operable so as to perform image formation in a second mode using a color gamut different from a color gamut in a first mode, a circumferential speed difference between a circumferential speed of the developing roller and a circumferential speed of the photosensitive drum in the second mode being set to be greater than the circumferential speed difference in the first mode, and

wherein the controller is configured to perform the adjustment of the correlation between the input image data and the image data to be used for the input image data in the second mode (i) based on the result of detecting the reflected light representing the density of the image for detection by the detection unit in the first mode and (ii) a correlation of density between the first mode and the second mode.

2. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller performs the adjustment of the correlation based on the result of detecting the reflected light representing the density of the image for detection and a parameter for controlling a supply amount of toner to be supplied from the developing roller to the photosensitive drum.

3. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to obtain image data for a current photosensitive drum and a current developing roller and a density ratio between a density obtained in the first mode and a density obtained in the second mode based on data on the density obtained in each of the first mode and the second mode under a predetermined condition, a current use amount of toner, and a degree of use of the current photosensitive drum, and to perform the adjustment of the correlation based on a detection result obtained by the detection unit in the first mode and the density ratio.

4. An image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the data on the density obtained in each of the first mode and the second mode under the predetermined condition includes:

a first density ratio between a density in the first mode and a density in the second mode which have been obtained through use of a new photosensitive drum and a new developing roller;

a second density ratio between a density in the first mode and a density in the second mode which have been obtained through use of the new photosensitive drum and a developing roller subjected to image formation on a predetermined number of recording materials;

a third density ratio between a density in the first mode and a density in the second mode which have been obtained through use of a photosensitive drum exhibiting a high degree of use and the new developing roller; and

a fourth density ratio between a density in the first mode and a density in the second mode which have been obtained through use of the photosensitive drum exhibiting a high degree of use and the developing roller subjected to the image formation on the predetermined number of recording materials.

5. An image forming apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a cartridge including the photosensitive drum, the developing roller, and a nonvolatile memory,

wherein the nonvolatile memory is configured to store data on the current use amount of the toner and data on the degree of use of the current photosensitive drum.

6. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the density becomes higher as the circumferential speed difference increases.

7. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the density becomes lower as use of the photosensitive drum progresses.

8. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the density becomes higher as use of the developing roller progresses until a predetermined use amount of the developing roller is reached, and the density maintains a constant level after the predetermined use amount is reached.

9. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to obtain the correlation for a low density equal to or lower than a predetermined density based on the correlation obtained with a density higher than the predetermined density in the second mode.

10. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second mode includes a wide color gamut print mode using a color gamut wider than the color gamut in the first mode.

11. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second mode includes a toner save print mode in which a consumption amount of toner is less than a consumption amount of toner in the first mode.