| US 7,525,560 B2 | ||
| Image forming apparatus and control method thereof | ||
| Takeo Yamamoto, Abiko (Japan) | ||
| Assigned to Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo (Japan) | ||
| Filed on Mar. 09, 2006, as Appl. No. 11/370,926. | ||
| Claims priority of application No. 2005-069800 (JP), filed on Mar. 11, 2005; and application No. 2006-048981 (JP), filed on Feb. 24, 2006. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2006/0203071 A1, Sep. 14, 2006 | ||
| Int. Cl. B41J 2/385 (2006.01); G06K 15/00 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 347—131 [358/3.1] | 10 Claims |
| 1. An image forming apparatus, comprising:
an image carrier;
an exposure unit configured to emit light for exposure onto said image carrier according to image data;
a discrimination unit configured to discriminate a low density area in which density levels of all items of image data in
such low density area are less than a predetermined density; and
a control unit configured to control a light emitting intensity of said exposure unit for each pixel in the low density area
discriminated by said discrimination unit,
wherein in a pixel area of N×M pixels (N and M are integers) in the low density area, said control unit determines a pixel
of interest in the pixel area, sets a density level of the pixel of interest to a density level based on the density levels
of all pixels included in the pixel area, sets a light emitting intensity for the pixel of interest to a first light emitting
intensity which is more than a predetermined intensity, and sets light emitting intensities for pixels other than the pixel
of interest to light emitting intensities which are less than the predetermined intensity.
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