Image forming apparatus, image forming method, and computer program product which adjusts a density value of a special toner

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9857751-B2
Application number	US-201515113944-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 29, 2015
Priority date	Jan 31, 2014
Publication date	Jan 2, 2018
Grant date	Jan 2, 2018

Abstract

An image forming apparatus includes: an image forming unit that forms, on a recording medium, an image including a special image based on special image data specifying a density value of a special toner that gives a special effect and a color image based on color image data specifying a density value of a color toner; a determining unit that determines whether the image is to be observed from an image formation surface or the image is to be observed from a surface opposite to the image formation surface through the recording medium; and an adjusting unit that performs adjustment to reduce the density value of the special image data based on a result of determination made by the determining unit.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An image forming apparatus comprising:
an image forming unit, including a plurality of photoconductive surfaces and different types of toner, that forms, on a recording medium, an image including a special image based on special image data specifying a density value of a special toner which is a clear toner that gives a special effect and a color image based on color image data specifying a density value of a color toner;
a determining unit, including circuitry, that determines whether the image is to be observed from an image formation surface or the image is to be observed from a surface opposite to the image formation surface through the recording medium; and
an adjusting unit, including circuitry, that performs adjustment to reduce the density value of the special image data based on a result of determination made by the determining unit.

2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the adjusting unit performs the adjustment to reduce the density value of the special image data by a first rate, based on the result of determination made by the determining unit.

3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an accepting unit, implemented using circuitry, that accepts input of specification information specifying an observation surface of the image on the recording medium, wherein
the determining unit determines that the image is to be observed from the image formation surface when the observation surface specified by the specification information is a front side and that the image is to be observed from the surface opposite to the image formation surface when the observation surface specified by the specification information is a back side.

4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a detecting unit, implemented using a sensor, that detects whether the recording medium is transparent or non-transparent, wherein
the determining unit determines that the image is to be observed from the surface opposite to the image formation surface when a detection result obtained by the detecting unit indicates the recording medium is transparent and that the image is to be observed from the image formation surface when the detection result indicates the recording medium is non-transparent.

5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4 , further comprising:
an accepting unit, implemented using circuitry, that accepts specification of mirror-image printing for performing mirror-image conversion on the image and printing the image, wherein
the determining unit determines that the image is to be observed from the surface opposite to the image formation surface when the detection result indicates the recording medium is transparent and when the specification of mirror-image printing is accepted and that the image is to be observed from the image formation surface when the detection result indicates the recording medium is non-transparent or when no specification of mirror-image printing is accepted.

6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the image forming unit forms the color image and the special image on the recording medium in a superimposed manner in this order, and
the adjusting unit performs adjustment to reduce the density value of the special image data when the image is determined to be observed from the surface opposite to the image formation surface through the recording medium.

7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the image forming unit forms the special image and the color image on the recording medium in a superimposed manner in this order, and
the adjusting unit performs adjustment to reduce the density value of the special image data when the image is determined to be observed from the image formation surface.

8. An image forming method performed by an image forming apparatus including an image forming unit, including a plurality of photoconductive surfaces and different types of toner, that forms, on a recording medium, an image including a special image based on special image data specifying a density value of a special toner that includes clear toner that gives a special effect and a color image based on color image data specifying a density value of a color toner, the image forming method comprising:
determining whether the image is to be observed from an image formation surface or the image is to be observed from a surface opposite to the image formation surface through the recording medium; and
performing adjustment to reduce the density value of the special image data corresponding to the clear toner based on a result of determination made at the determining.

9. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium containing an information processing program, the program causing a computer connected to an image forming unit, including a plurality of photoconductive surfaces and different types of toner, that forms, on a recording medium, an image including a special image based on special image data specifying a density value of a special toner that includes clear toner that gives a special effect and a color image based on color image data specifying a density value of a color toner to perform:
determining whether the image is to be observed from an image formation surface or the image is to be observed from a surface opposite to the image formation surface through the recording medium; and
performing adjustment to reduce the density value of the special image data corresponding to the clear toner based on a result of determination made at the determining.

Assignees

• Itoh Takanori
• Ricoh Co Ltd

Inventors

• Itoh Takanori

Classifications

• G03G15/6585 Primary

  by using non-standard toners, e.g. transparent toner, gloss adding devices · CPC title

• G03G15/01

  for producing multicoloured copies · CPC title

• G03G2215/0129

  horizontal medium transport path at the secondary transfer · CPC title

• G03G15/5029

  by measuring the copy material characteristics, e.g. weight, thickness · CPC title

• G03G2215/00497

  Overhead Transparency, i.e. OHP · CPC title