Apparatus and methods are provided for measuring the dryness of primer on a substrate in an inline priming system. In implementations, the apparatus comprises a plurality of measurement electrodes spaced laterally to extend across and contact a primed surface of a substrate following application of a primer to the substrate as it is fed through the inline priming system. A resistance measurement unit is provided as part of the dryness measuring apparatus to, in use, measure the surface resistance of the primed substrate between different measurement electrodes across the primed surface of a substrate. A controller is provided in the dryness measurement apparatus, the controller arranged to, in use: receive the measured surface resistance value and to generate, based on the measured surface resistance values, a dryness profile indicative of the dryness of the primer at locations across the substrate in the direction of the spacing of the electrodes.

An image forming apparatus includes a latent image forming portion configured to form a latent image on an image bearing member; a developing device including a container configured to store toner and a developing member configured to supply the toner to the latent image formed on the image bearing member to form a toner image; an environment sensor configured to detect environmental information related to an environment in which the developing device is placed; and a controller configured to control switching between a first mode and a second mode, in which a number of prints per unit time is less than that in the first mode. The controller is configured to perform switching from the first mode to the second mode based on an update value obtained by adding or subtracting over time an index value weighted in accordance with the environmental information detected by the environment sensor.

An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit, a storage portion to which a heating unit configured to heat the sheet stored in the storage portion is detachably attached, a conveyance unit, a detection unit configured to detect attachment of the heating unit to the storage portion, and a control unit configured to control the conveyance unit such that a standby time by which conveyance of the sheet fed from the storage portion is stopped is shorter when the detection unit detects the heating unit than when the detection unit does not detect the heating unit.

An image forming apparatus includes: an image holding section; a transfer section that has a transfer member, applies a transfer electric-field to a transfer region between the image holding section and the transfer member, and electrostatically transfers an image held by the image holding section onto a recording medium; contact sections that act as electrodes to ground while being in contact with the recording medium; a humidification section that is provided upstream of the transfer region and humidifies the recording medium; a first control section that performs control without humidification by the humidification section; a second control section that performs control to cause the humidification section to humidify the recording medium; and a selection section that selects the first control section or the second control section depending on a type of the recording medium.

An image forming system includes an image former that forms an image on a sheet, a reader that reads the image formed on the sheet by the image former, and a hardware processor that controls a conveyance speed of the sheet at the reader in accordance with a physical property value of the sheet.

An image forming apparatus includes a heater and a controller. The heater includes a plurality of heater elements arranged in a main scanning direction to fix an image on a sheet passing a nip. The controller is configured to determine image-forming regions and non-image-forming regions among sheet regions of the sheet divided in the main scanning direction and a sub-scanning direction based on image data of the image. The controller is further configured to determine, as heating regions, the image-forming regions and a first part of the non-image-forming regions satisfying a predetermined condition, and determine, as non-heating regions, a second part of the non-image-forming regions not satisfying the predetermined condition. The controller is configured to energize one or more of the heater elements corresponding to the heating regions, selectively at timing when the heating regions pass the nip.

An image forming apparatus includes a heater and a controller. The heater includes a plurality of heater elements arranged in a main scanning direction to fix an image on a sheet passing a nip. The controller is configured to determine image-forming regions and non-image-forming regions among sheet regions of the sheet divided in the main scanning direction and a sub-scanning direction based on image data of the image. The controller is further configured to determine, as heating regions, the image-forming regions and a first part of the non-image-forming regions satisfying a predetermined condition, and determine, as non-heating regions, a second part of the non-image-forming regions not satisfying the predetermined condition. The controller is configured to energize one or more of the heater elements corresponding to the heating regions, selectively at timing when the heating regions pass the nip.

An image forming apparatus including: a latent image forming portion configured to form a latent image on an image bearing member; a developing device including a container configured to store toner, and a developing member configured to supply the toner to the latent image formed on the image bearing member to form a toner image; an environment sensor configured to detect environmental information related to an environment in which the developing device is placed; and a controller configured to control switching between a first mode and a second mode, in which a number of prints per unit time is smaller than in the first mode, wherein the controller is configured to perform switching from the first mode to the second mode based on an update value obtained by adding or subtracting over time an index value weighted in accordance with the environmental information detected by the environment sensor.

In an image forming apparatus, a humidity sensor measures a humidity. A fuser fixes a toner image on a paper sheet. A first sheet detecting sensor is arranged in an upstream side of the fuser in a sheet transportation path, and detects passing timings of front and rear ends of the paper sheet. A second sheet detecting sensor is arranged in a downstream side of the fuser in a sheet transportation path, and detects passing timings of front and rear ends of the paper sheet. An anomaly detecting unit detects anomaly of the humidity sensor on the basis of (a) a ratio or difference between a first sheet length based on the passing timings detected by the first sheet detecting sensor and a second sheet length based on the passing timings detected by the second sheet detecting sensor and (b) a measurement value of the humidity sensor.

In an image forming apparatus, a humidity sensor measures a humidity. A fuser fixes a toner image on a paper sheet. A first sheet detecting sensor is arranged in an upstream side of the fuser in a sheet transportation path, and detects passing timings of front and rear ends of the paper sheet. A second sheet detecting sensor is arranged in a downstream side of the fuser in a sheet transportation path, and detects passing timings of front and rear ends of the paper sheet. An anomaly detecting unit detects anomaly of the humidity sensor on the basis of (a) a ratio or difference between a first sheet length based on the passing timings detected by the first sheet detecting sensor and a second sheet length based on the passing timings detected by the second sheet detecting sensor and (b) a measurement value of the humidity sensor.