JPH08292661A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To stabilize and enhance the quality of a color toner image by enlarging an excellent transfer area. CONSTITUTION: When the color toner images 105 superposed on an intermediate transfer body 106 are transferred on a transfer material 110 in a lump, bias whose polarity is reverse to the bias impressed when color toner is superposed on the transfer body 106 is impressed on a transfer means 107. Then, the color toner images are transferred by adjusting the depth of the potential of the latent image of a photoreceptor 101 by an exposure means 103 according to the layer thickness of the toner superposed on the transfer body 106.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for forming an image by using an electrophotographic process, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus suitable for forming a color electrophotographic process by using electrostatic transfer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various apparatuses have been proposed as image forming apparatuses using a color electrophotographic process.

In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 214174/1990, in a device for color-overlapping on an intermediate transfer member and transferring it to a transfer material at once, a portion where the photoconductor is transferred to the intermediate transfer body and a portion where the intermediate transfer body is transferred to the transfer material. It has been proposed to simplify the apparatus by making the transfer device the same as that of the conventional transfer device, which has conventionally required two positions.

Further, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-20771, it is proposed that an image is formed on the photoconductor by adjusting the exposure intensity in an apparatus for performing color transfer on the photoconductor and batch transfer to a transfer material. Has been done.

Further, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-118807, the amount of toner adhering to the photoconductor and the intermediate transfer member is read by a sensor and a transfer voltage is set based on the output of the sensor in order to achieve good transfer in any temperature and humidity environment. A method of setting each color is proposed.

[0006]

However, the prior art has the following problems.

In the conventional image forming apparatus, as shown in FIG. 2, when the toner 105 superposed on the intermediate transfer body or the photosensitive body which is the image carrier 220 is collectively transferred onto the transfer material 110, the transfer material is transferred. The potential of the transfer electrode (for example, the potential of the transfer member 107) arranged on the surface opposite to the surface on which the toner 105 was transferred on 110 was the same in the transfer nip. When transferring a color image, there is a state where the thickness of the toner layer and the toner charge amount are different in the transfer nip as shown in FIG. 2, but the transfer is performed so that the toner 105 is transferred to the transfer material 110 in all the states. It is necessary to set the bias applied to the member 107. However, if the potentials of the transfer electrodes are the same as in the prior art described above, the good transfer region differs depending on the toner layer thickness, that is, the number of transferred toner colors. Therefore, as shown in FIG. not exist. Further, the transfer material 110 and the transfer member 10
The good range changes due to the fluctuation of the resistance value of No. 7 and the fluctuation of the toner charge amount over time. Therefore, it is necessary to perform bias control by using a toner amount detecting unit, a toner charge amount detecting unit, or the like as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-118807, and there are problems in cost increase and sensor detection accuracy of the sensor.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of such conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to achieve high quality regardless of fluctuations in the resistance value of the transfer material 110 and the transfer member 107, the toner charge amount, and the like. And to provide an image forming apparatus having excellent durability.

[0009]

An image forming apparatus according to the present invention is configured so that when a color toner image formed on an image carrier is transferred to a transfer material at the same time, the image carrier is transferred to the transfer material. It is characterized in that potential changing means for changing the potential of the transfer electrode arranged on the opposite side based on the toner information formed on the image carrier is provided.

[0010]

According to the present invention, the electric potential of the transfer electrode arranged on the surface opposite to the surface on which the toner is transferred is changed based on the toner information formed on the image carrier. It has a potential varying means, and the potential varying means is used for the operation shown in FIG.
The potential differences A, B, and C shown in are added according to the state of the toner. This will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a model diagram of the potentials of the toner layer stacked on the image carrier and the transfer electrode on the back surface of the transfer material. Since the electric potential of the transfer electrode 120 is changed to A, B, and C as described above, the electric field applied to the toner layer 105 becomes substantially the same or very close regardless of the thickness of the toner layer 105. Therefore, when the good transfer area is shown with the voltage applied to the image carrier 220 as a parameter, the good area is widened as compared with FIG. 3 as shown in FIG. Therefore, the transfer material 1
Even if the resistance value of the transfer member 107 or the transfer member 107 fluctuates or the toner charge amount changes with time, transfer failure is less likely to occur.

According to the fourth aspect of the invention, since the potential changing means is the exposing means for forming a latent image on the photoconductor, the potential can be changed even for a high resolution image.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, since the potential changing means is operated when the color toner is sequentially superposed on the belt-shaped second photosensitive member which is the intermediate transfer member, the potential of only the portion to be transferred is deepened. It is possible to reduce the scattering and spread of dots and improve the resolution of the image.

According to the sixth aspect of the invention, in addition to the fifth aspect, the potential varying means is operated even during the batch transfer, so that the good transfer area at the batch transfer can be widened and the transferability can be improved.

According to the invention described in claim 7, since the toner information is substituted by the image data which is known in advance, the data for the potential changing means can be easily created, and the conventional sensor is unnecessary.

[0015]

【Example】

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of an image forming apparatus of the present invention.

First, the operation of the apparatus will be described. Charging means 1
Reference numeral 02 designates the photosensitive member 101 at a certain potential (for example, -700).
V) is charged. In this embodiment, the contact charger for applying a DC voltage to the roller is used, but a scorotron charger may be used. The 600 dpi (do) formed according to the image data by the exposure unit 103 which is a laser scanning optical system.
electrostatic latent image with a resolution of t per inch (for example, −
100 V) is formed. Next, the negatively-chargeable yellow toner is reversely developed by the one-component contact type yellow developing device 104Y that can be separated and contacted, and visualized on the photoconductor 101. The visualized yellow toner is used for the intermediate transfer member 10.
6 is a bias applied to the transfer member 107 (for example, +
It is transcribed by the action of 1500 V). When the transfer is completed, the untransferred toner on the photoconductor 101 is collected by a cleaner 108 which contacts a blade to clean the toner, and then the photoconductor potential is reset by a discharge lamp as a discharge unit 109. The same operation is performed by the magenta developing device 104M,
By repeating the processes for the cyan developing device 104C and the black developing device 104Bk, the toners of the respective colors are superposed on the intermediate transfer member 106 to form a full-color image. The full-color image on the intermediate transfer member 106 is collectively transferred onto the transfer material 110 conveyed to the transfer position by a paper feeding unit (not shown). At this time, the transfer member 107 is applied with a voltage (for example, -1500 V) having a polarity opposite to the voltage applied previously. Further, in the exposure means 103, different electrostatic latent images are formed on the uniformly charged photoconductor 101 by changing the exposure intensity or the exposure time according to the toner layer thickness on the intermediate transfer body 106 (for example, −100V, -400V, -7
00V). At this time, a bias is applied to the developing device 104 so that the toner 105 is not developed on the formed electrostatic latent image (for example, +100 V), or the developing device 104 is separated from the photoconductor 101. The transfer residual toner 105 on the intermediate transfer body 106 that is not transferred to the transfer material 110 is collected by the intermediate transfer body cleaner 111. However, the intermediate transfer member cleaner 111 is configured to be in contact with the transfer material 110 at the time of batch transfer of the color toner image and to be separated from the transfer material 110 at other times.

The transfer material 110 to which the toner 105 has transferred is
It is fixed by a fixing device (not shown) and discharged to the outside of the apparatus.

Next, the potential when the toner 105 is collectively transferred onto the transfer material 110 will be described.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the potential during batch transfer in this embodiment. Note that, in FIG. 6, the toner and the transfer material are illustrated separately from each other, as in the other drawings, but they are in contact with each other for the purpose of making the movement of the toner easy to visually understand. In FIG. 6, −1500 V is applied to the transfer member 107.
Is applied, the same potential surface is formed regardless of the thickness of the toner layer 105. On the other hand, on the transfer electrode surface (the surface of the photoconductor 101 in this example) arranged on the surface opposite to the surface on which the toner 105 is transferred to the transfer material 110, an exposure unit is formed according to the toner layer thickness on the intermediate transfer body 106. The latent images of different potentials are formed by 103. Specifically, it is set to -700V in a portion without a toner layer or in a portion having only one color, -400V in a portion where two colors and three colors overlap, and to -100V in a portion where four colors overlap.

Next, a method of detecting toner information on the intermediate transfer member 106 will be described. The toner layer thickness is the intermediate transfer member 1
It is possible to cope with this by providing a surface potential sensor for the resolution of the image so as to be opposed to 06 and detecting the surface potential on the toner, or by providing a reflective sensor to detect the toner density. However, since there is a limit to the above method in a system with high resolution, the information corresponding to the toner layer thickness was created by the following method. First, image data for each color when a latent image is formed for visualization is stored in a memory and the number of visualized toner colors in each pixel is grasped. In this embodiment, the toner particle size is the same for all color toners, so that the number of visualized toner colors and the toner layer thickness can be substantially matched. Therefore, the data stored in the memory was used as the latent image forming data at the time of batch transfer. If the particle size is different for each toner color, or if the toner particle size is the same but the charge amount is significantly different, use the table that converts the visualized color, toner layer thickness, and charge amount to store the data stored in the memory. It may be processed and used as data for latent image formation at the time of batch transfer.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the relationship between the voltage applied to the transfer member 107 and the transfer efficiency at the time of batch transfer in this example. As shown in FIG. 6, since the potential of the latent image on the photoconductor 101 is changed depending on the thickness of the toner 105 layer, the good transfer areas of 1 color, 2 colors, 3 colors and 4 colors overlap.

The reason why the good transfer areas of the four colors do not completely overlap is that the potentials of the portions where the two colors overlap and the portions where the three colors overlap in FIG. 6 are set to the same potential. Things are possible. In the past, as shown in FIG. 3, there was only an extremely narrow good region, and therefore, there was no choice but to control the bias so as to be in the good region depending on the environment or the toner charge amount, or to compromise the print quality. However, in this embodiment, since the favorable bias range is widened, even if the resistance values of the intermediate transfer member 106, the transfer member 107, and the transfer material 110 change depending on the environment, or the toner charge amount changes with time, the transfer member 107 does not change. The applied bias does not require complicated bias control, and high-quality images can be obtained by simple bias control such that a lower limit voltage is set by a constant voltage power supply, a constant current power supply, or a constant current power supply.

In this example, the photoconductor 10 at the time of batch transfer
The electrostatic latent image on 1 is set to three types of potentials (-100, -400,
-700V), but the intermediate transfer member 106 and the transfer member 10
In a system in which the resistance value of 7 does not fluctuate much, two types (for example, -100, -700V) may be used. On the contrary, in a system in which the resistance values thereof largely fluctuate or the toner charge amount easily fluctuates, four types (for example, -10
0, -400, -700, -1000V), it is preferable that the good transfer region in FIG. 7 is almost completely matched regardless of the toner layer thickness. In this case, the potential at which the charging unit 102 uniformly charges the photoconductor 101 when the image is collectively transferred from the intermediate transfer body 106 to the transfer material 110 is increased (for example, −
(1000 V) It is preferable that the electrostatic latent image has a sufficient potential difference.

The intermediate transfer member 106 used in the present invention has a medium surface resistance (10 ⁵ to 10 ¹¹ Ω) by dispersing or coating a conductive material such as carbon on a substrate such as polycarbonate or polyethylene terephthalate. ) Used film material. The length of the intermediate transfer member 106 is, of course, longer than the maximum transfer material length supported by the apparatus, and is preferably an integral multiple of the peripheral length of the photosensitive member 101.

(Embodiment 2) FIG. 8 is a schematic sectional view of another embodiment of the image forming apparatus of the present invention. A major difference from Example 1 is that a color toner image is superposed on the photoconductor 101 and two photoconductors are used.

The operation of the apparatus will be described. Non-contact charging means 1
A scoroton of 12 uniformly charges the photoconductor 101 to a certain potential (for example, -700V). 600 dpi (do formed by the exposure unit 103 according to the image data)
electrostatic latent image with a resolution of t per inch (for example, −
At 100 V), the yellow developing device 104Y first reverse-develops the negatively chargeable yellow toner to visualize the image on the photoconductor 101. The magenta toner is visualized by the magenta developing device 104M on the latent image formed by the charging means 102 after the yellow toner is visualized and by the exposing means 103 according to the image data.
Similarly, cyan toner and black toner are also visualized to form a full-color image on the photoconductor 101. Photoconductor 10
The full-color image on 1 is collectively transferred onto the transfer material 110 conveyed to a transfer position by a sheet feeding unit (not shown) by the action of the potential on the second photoconductor 201 described below. The second photoconductor 201 is a positive charging type, and is uniformly charged (for example, +1 by a second charging unit 202 that applies a DC voltage to the roller).
500 V). In the second exposure unit 203, the photoconductor 1
By changing the exposure intensity or the exposure time according to the toner layer thickness on 01, different electrostatic latent images are formed on the uniformly charged second photoconductor 201 (for example, + 900V, +12).
00V, + 1500V). The toner 105 remaining on the photoconductor 101 without being transferred to the transfer material 110 is the cleaner 1
Recovered at 08. The cleaner 108 is the photoreceptor 10.
When the toner 105 is overlaid on top of the transfer material 110, the transfer material 110 is removed.
Contact at the time of batch transfer. The transfer material 110 to which the toner 105 has been transferred is fixed by a fixing device (not shown) and discharged to the outside of the apparatus.

Next, the potential when the toner 105 is collectively transferred to the transfer material 110 will be described.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining the potential during batch transfer in this embodiment. The potential of the surface of the photoconductor 101 on which the toner 105 is present is −100 V, which is the same potential surface. On the other hand, the transfer electrode surface (the second photoconductor surface 201 in this example) arranged on the surface opposite to the surface on which the toner 105 is transferred to the transfer material 110 is subjected to the second exposure according to the toner layer thickness on the photoconductor 101. Means 2
With 03, latent images of different potentials are formed. Specifically, in the part without the toner layer or the part with only one color, +
900V, + 1200V in the area where two colors and three colors overlap,
It was set to + 1500V in the portion where the four colors overlap.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the relationship between the surface potential and the transfer efficiency when the second photoconductor 201 is charged by the second charging means 202 during the batch transfer in this example. Second
Since the electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor 201 is changed depending on the thickness of the toner 105 layer, the good transfer regions of 1 color, 2 colors, 3 colors and 4 colors overlap. According to the present exemplary embodiment, since the favorable bias range is widened, the second charging unit 202 does not need complicated bias control even if the resistance value of the transfer material 110 changes due to the environment or the toner charge amount changes with time. High-quality images can now be obtained by simple bias control such as setting the lower limit voltage with a constant voltage power supply, a constant current power supply, or a constant current power supply.

(Embodiment 3) FIG. 11 is a schematic sectional view of another embodiment of the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

The difference from the first and second embodiments is that the toner 10 is applied not only when it is collectively transferred to the transfer material 110 but also when the color image is superposed on the belt-shaped second photosensitive member 211 which is an intermediate transfer member.
That is, the potential on the side where 5 is transferred is changed according to the toner information.

First, the operation of the apparatus will be described. Charging means 1
Reference numeral 02 designates the photosensitive member 101 at a certain potential (for example, -700).
V) is charged. 600 dpi (dot per in) formed according to the image data by the exposure means 103.
The electrostatic latent image (for example, −100 V) having the resolution of ch) is first subjected to reversal development of the negatively chargeable yellow toner by the yellow developing device 104Y and visualized on the photoconductor 101. The visualized yellow toner is transferred onto the belt-shaped second photosensitive member 211, which is an intermediate transfer member, by the action of the following potential. FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining the potential when the yellow toner is transferred to the belt-shaped second photoconductor 211.
The belt-shaped second photosensitive member 211 is a positive charging type photosensitive member, and is uniformly charged (for example, +1500 V) by the second non-contact charging unit 212 whose bias polarity can be switched.
The potential on the belt-shaped second photoconductor 211 facing the position where the yellow toner is developed on the photoconductor 101 is set to +1500.
V, the potential at other positions to +100 V
To form a latent image. Since the electric field acts only on the position where the toner 105 is desired to be attached, the intermediate transfer member 10 in the first embodiment.
Sharp dots were formed as compared to the image on 6. The untransferred toner on the photoconductor 101 is collected by the cleaner 108, and then the photoconductor potential is reset by the charge removing unit 109. By repeating the same operation for the magenta developing unit 104M, the cyan developing unit 104C, and the black developing unit 104Bk, the toners of the respective colors are superposed on the belt-shaped second photosensitive member 211 which is an intermediate transfer member, and a full-color image is formed. . The full-color image on the belt-shaped second photoconductor 211 is collectively transferred onto the transfer material 110 conveyed to the transfer position by a sheet feeding unit (not shown) by the action of the potential shown below. The surface potential on the belt-shaped second photosensitive member 211 is set to a potential having a polarity opposite to that of the previous potential by the second non-contact charging means 212 (for example, -1500V). Also,
In the exposure means 103, different electrostatic latent images are formed on the uniformly charged photoconductor 101 by changing the exposure intensity or the exposure time according to the toner layer thickness on the belt-shaped second photoconductor 212 (for example, −100V). , -400V, -700
V) At this time, a bias is applied to the developing device 104 so that the toner 105 is not developed on the formed electrostatic latent image (for example, +100 V), or the developing device 104 is separated from the photoconductor 101. The untransferred toner 105 on the belt-shaped second photoconductor 211, which is not transferred to the transfer material 110, is collected by an intermediate transfer member cleaner 111 which is in contact with the transfer material 110 at the time of batch transfer, and is otherwise apart. The transfer material 110 to which the toner 105 is transferred is fixed by a fixing device (not shown) and is discharged to the outside of the apparatus.

Next, the potential when the toner 105 is collectively transferred to the transfer material 110 will be described.

FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining the potential during batch transfer in this embodiment. The surface potential on the belt-shaped second photoconductor 211 is -1500V, and the same potential surface is formed regardless of the thickness of the toner layer 105. On the other hand, on the transfer electrode surface (the surface of the photosensitive member 101 in this example) arranged on the surface opposite to the surface on which the toner 105 is transferred to the transfer material 110, depending on the thickness of the toner layer on the belt-shaped second photosensitive member 211. The exposure means 103 forms latent images of different potentials. Specifically, at a portion without a toner layer or a portion having only one color, -700V, 2
It was set to −400V in the portion where the three colors overlap, and −100V in the portion where the four colors overlap.

FIG. 14 shows a case where the belt-shaped second photosensitive member 211 is transferred to the second non-contact charging means 212 during the batch transfer in this embodiment.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the relationship between the surface potential and the transfer efficiency when charged by. Since the latent image on the photoconductor 101 is changed according to the toner layer thickness, the good transfer areas of 1 color, 2 colors, 3 colors and 4 colors overlap. According to the present exemplary embodiment, since the favorable bias range is widened, the second non-contact charging unit 212 does not change even if the resistance value of the transfer material 110 changes depending on the environment or the toner charge amount changes with time.
Does not require complicated bias control, and high-quality images can be obtained by simple bias control such as setting the lower limit voltage with a constant voltage power supply, a constant current power supply, or a constant current power supply.

The present invention has been described above with reference to the three embodiments, but the gist of the invention is to change the potential of the surface opposite to the surface on which the toner is transferred, based on the toner information formed on the image carrier. However, the embodiment is not limited to these examples. In this embodiment, the exposure means for forming an electrostatic latent image on the uniformly charged photoconductor is used as the potential varying means, but in a system where the resolution is not so high, the electrodes provided according to the resolution are used and the potential for each electrode is changed. May be controlled.

[0037]

The present invention described above has the following effects.

According to the first, second, and third aspects of the invention, the potential of the transfer electrode arranged on the surface opposite to the surface to which the toner is transferred is changed based on the toner information formed on the image carrier. Since it has potential changing means, the bias range for good transfer can be expanded, and highly efficient transferability can be secured even if the resistance value of the transfer material or transfer member fluctuates or the toner charge amount changes over time. It is possible to provide a high-quality image forming apparatus.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the potential changing means is the exposing means for forming a latent image on the photoconductor, the resolution of the potential in the potential changing means can be easily enhanced and a high quality image forming apparatus can be provided.

According to the fifth aspect of the invention, when the color image is superposed on the belt-shaped second photosensitive member which is the intermediate transfer member, the potential varying means is operated so that the scattering and spreading of dots are reduced and the quality is further improved. An image forming apparatus can be provided.

According to the sixth aspect of the invention, in addition to the fifth aspect, since the potential varying means is operated during the collective transfer as well, the good transfer area during the collective transfer can be widened and the image forming apparatus is highly reliable. Can be provided.

According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, since the toner information is substituted by the image information which is known in advance, the toner layer thickness detecting means and the like are not required, and a compact and low-cost image forming apparatus can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a transfer nip.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a relationship between a transfer voltage and a transfer efficiency in the image forming apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a potential during transfer according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the relationship between transfer voltage and transfer efficiency according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration and a potential during batch transfer in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the relationship between transfer voltage and transfer efficiency in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic sectional view of an image forming apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a configuration and potential at the time of batch transfer in the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the relationship between the charging potential of the second photoconductor and the transfer efficiency in the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the image forming apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a configuration and a potential during sequential transfer according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a configuration and potential during batch transfer in the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing the relationship between the second photoconductor potential and the transfer efficiency in the third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 Photoreceptor 102 Charging Means 103 Exposure Means 104 Developing Device 104Y Yellow Developing Device 104M Magenta Developing Device 104C Cyan Developing Device 104Bk Black Developing Device 105 Toner 106 Intermediate Transfer Body 107 Transfer Member 108 Cleaner 109 Electrification Means 110 Transfer Material 111 Intermediate Transfer Body Cleaner 112 non-contact charging means 120 transfer electrode 201 second photoconductor 202 second charging means 203 second exposure means 211 belt-shaped second photoconductor 212 second non-contact charging means 220 image carrier

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus for collectively transferring a color toner image formed on an image carrier on a transfer material,
Image forming, characterized in that potential changing means for changing the potential of the transfer electrode arranged on the side opposite to the image carrier with respect to the transfer material based on toner information formed on the image carrier is provided. apparatus. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image carrier is an intermediate transfer member. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image carrier is a photoconductor. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the potential varying unit is an exposing unit that forms an electrostatic latent image on the uniformly charged photoconductor. 5. A charging unit for uniformly charging a photoconductor, an exposing unit for forming an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor based on image information, a developing unit for visualizing the electrostatic latent image, and a belt-like unit. A second charging unit that uniformly charges the second photoconductor and a second exposure unit that forms an electrostatic latent image on the second photoconductor, and the visualized color toner image is formed on the photoconductor. An image forming apparatus, wherein the potential of the second photoconductor is changed by the second exposure means in accordance with toner information on the photoconductor when sequentially transferred to the second photoconductor. 6. When the color toner images superposed on the second photoconductor are collectively transferred to the transfer material, the potential of the photoconductor is adjusted by the exposure means according to the toner information on the second photoconductor. The image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the image forming apparatus is changed. 7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the toner information is created based on image information.