Electrophotographic process control device which uses fuzzy logic to control the image density

Claim 2

An electrophotographic image process control device comprising: means for periodically forming a reference image pattern on a photoconductive drum; an image density sensor for measuring a density of an image formed on the photoconductive drum based on sensing the reference image pattern; a scanner for writing read image data representative of a document on said photoconductive drum; and determining means responsive to the image density from said image density sensor and write image data from said scanner for executing a predetermined fuzzy combination operation which uses fuzzy rules registered beforehand, and converting a membership function resulting from said operation to a non-fuzzy value to thereby estimate image density between times when the reference image pattern is periodically formed and to determine a toner supply manipulation value.

Claim 3

A process control device for electrophotographic apparatus, comprising: means for periodically forming a reference image pattern on a photoconductive drum; an image density sensor for measuring a density of an image formed on the photoconductive element; a scanner for writing read image data representative of a document image on said photoconductive element; a neural network responsive to data from sensors including a toner density sensor, a surface electrometer, a drum ammeter, a drum rotation counter, an exposure duration counter, a copy counter, a temperature sensor and a humidity sensor positioned within and in peripheral portions of said electrophotographic equipment for outputting image density data by using image density data from said image density sensor as learning data; and determining means responsive to the image density data from said neural network and write image data from said scanner for performing a predetermined fuzzy combination operation by using fuzzy rules registered beforehand, and converting a membership function resulted from said operation to a non-fuzzy value to thereby estimate image density between times when the reference image pattern is periodically formed and to determine a toner supply manipulation value.

Claim 4

A process control device for electrophotographic apparatus, comprising: means for periodically forming a reference image pattern on a photoconductive drum; an image density sensor for measuring a density of an image formed on the photoconductive element; a scanner for writing read image data representative of a document image on said photoconductive element; a neural network responsive to data from sensors including a toner density sensor, a surface electrometer, a drum ammeter, a drum rotation counter, an exposure duration counter, a copy counter, a temperature sensor and a humidity sensor positioned within and in peripheral portions of said electrophotographic equipment for outputting image density data by using image density data from said image density sensor as learning data; and determining means responsive to the image density data from said neural network and write image data from said scanner for performing a predetermined fuzzy combination operation by using fuzzy rules registered beforehand, and converting a membership function resulted from said operation to a non-fuzzy value to thereby estimate image density between times when the reference image pattern is periodically formed and to determine a toner supply manipulation value.