Image forming apparatus
View Patent ↗According to one embodiment, an image forming apparatus having an image forming function to form an image on a recording medium, and an image erasing function to erase an image formed on a recording medium is provided. The image forming apparatus has an erasing unit which erases the image formed on the recording medium under an erasing condition changeable in accordance with whether or not erasable coloring material used in the image formed on the recording medium is predetermined coloring material, when the image erasing function is performed.
1. An image forming apparatus having an image forming function to form an image on a recording medium, and an image erasing function to erase an image formed on a recording medium, the image forming apparatus comprising:
an image forming unit configured to form the image on the recording medium using erasable coloring material, when the image forming function is performed; and
an erasing unit configured to erase the image formed on the recording medium under an erasing condition changeable in accordance with whether or not erasable coloring material used in the image formed on the recording medium is predetermined coloring material, when the image erasing function is performed.
2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the erasing unit includes a heating unit which heats the image formed on the recording medium at a fixing temperature, to fix the image on the recording medium, when the image forming function is performed, and heats the image formed on the recording medium at a first erasing temperature that is the erasing condition or at a second erasing temperature higher than the first erasing temperature, to erase the image formed on the recording medium, when the image erasing function is performed.
3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising a sensor configured to obtain information for judging whether or not the erasable coloring material used in the image formed on the recording medium is the predetermined coloring material, when the image erasing function is performed.
4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3 , further comprising a control unit configured to judge whether or not the erasable coloring material used in the image formed on the recording medium is the predetermined coloring material, based on the information obtained by the sensor, to control the heating unit so that a heating temperature of the heating unit becomes the first erasing temperature when judges that the erasable coloring material is the predetermined coloring material and to control the heating unit so that the heating temperature of the heating unit becomes the second erasing temperature when judges that the erasable coloring material is not the predetermined coloring material.
5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4 , further comprising a reading unit configured to read the image of the recording medium after erasing process by the erasing unit, wherein the control unit judges whether or not the image of the recording medium has been erased, based on a reading result of the reading unit, and when the control unit judges that the image of the recording medium has not been erased, the control unit controls the erasing unit so as to perform erasing processing again.
6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the control unit controls the erasing unit so as to change an erasing temperature that is the erasing condition and perform the erasing processing again when the control unit judges that the image of the recording medium has not been erased.
7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the control unit controls the erasing unit so as to change the erasing temperature that is the erasing condition to a higher temperature and perform the erasing processing again when the control unit judges that the image of the recording medium has not been erased.
8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 7 , further comprising an operation panel configured to accept selection of whether or not to perform the erasing processing again, when the control unit judges that the image of the recording medium has not been erased; wherein when the operation panel accepts the selection of performing the erasing processing again, the control unit controls the erasing unit so as to perform the erasing processing again.
9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the image forming unit has a cartridge which is detachably mounted on the image forming apparatus and houses the erasable coloring material, and the sensor detects that the cartridge is a predetermined cartridge.
10. The image forming apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the sensor detects information relating to an apparatus that has formed the image from the recording medium on which the image has been formed.