What is claimed is:
1. An image forming apparatus comprising:
detecting means for detecting an edge of image data;
image data correcting means for correcting the image data inside the edge detected by said detecting means so as to decrease a density of the image data;
forming means for forming an electrostatic latent image on a photosensitive body on the basis of the corrected image data;
acquiring means for acquiring an instruction value for giving an instruction to correct a density contrast; and
developing means for developing the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive body on the basis of the instruction value acquired by said acquiring means,
wherein a correction condition for image data corrected by said image data correcting means changes in accordance with the instruction value acquired by said acquiring means.
2. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said image data correcting means corrects the image data on the basis of a look-up table.
3. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising binarizing means for binarizing the image data corrected by said correcting means.
4. An image forming apparatus in which a process cartridge formed by integrating process elements including a photosensitive drum into a unit is detachably attachable, comprising:
detecting means for detecting an edge of image data;
image data correcting means for correcting the image data inside the edge detected by said detecting means so as to decrease a density of the image data; and
forming means for forming an electrostatic latent image on a photosensitive body on the basis of the corrected image data,
wherein the process cartridge includes storage means for storing information about the process cartridge, and
wherein a correction condition for the image data by said image data correcting means changes in accordance with the information stored in the storage means.
5. An image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the storage means stores characteristic information of the process cartridge.
6. An image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the storage means stores information about a usage history of the process cartridge.
7. An image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the storage means stores information about number of printing.
8. An image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the storage means stores information about a toner amount.
9. A process cartridge formed by integrating process elements including at least a photosensitive body into a unit,
said process cartridge being able to be mounted in an image forming apparatus in which image data inside an edge of image data is corrected so as to decrease a density of the image data and an electrostatic latent image is formed on the photosensitive body on the basis of the corrected image data, and
said process cartridge having means for storing information about said process cartridge,
wherein said storage means stores information that changes a correction condition for the image data corrected by said image forming apparatus.
10. A process cartridge according to claim 9, wherein said storage means stores characteristic information of said process cartridge.
11. A process cartridge according to claim 9, wherein said storage means stores a usage history of said process cartridge.
12. A process cartridge according to claim 11, wherein said storage means stores information about number of printing.
13. A process cartridge according to claim 11, wherein said storage means stores information about a toner amount.
14. An image forming apparatus in which a process cartridge formed by integrating process elements including a photosensitive drum into a unit is detachably attachable, comprising:
correcting means for correcting image data;
forming means for forming an electrostatic latent image on a photosensitive body included in the process cartridge on the basis of the image data corrected by said correcting means; and
acquiring means for acquiring an instruction value for giving an instruction to correct a density contrast;
wherein the process cartridge includes storage means for storing information about the process cartridge, and
wherein said image data correcting means corrects the image data on the basis of the instruction value acquired by said acquiring means and the information stored in said storage means.
15. An image forming method of forming an image on a photosensitive body included in a process cartridge formed by integrating process elements into a unit, comprising:
image data correcting step of correcting image data;
forming step of forming an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive body included in the process cartridge on the basis of the image data corrected in the correcting step; and
acquiring step of acquiring an instruction value for giving an instruction to correct a density contrast,
wherein the process cartridge includes storage means for storing information about the process cartridge, and
wherein in the image data correcting step, the image data is corrected on the basis of the instruction value acquired in the acquiring step and the information stored in the storage means.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method of heating a refractory oxide material, said method comprising applying a high frequency electric field to heat said refractory oxide material and applying a magnetic field to heat said refractory oxide material, said high frequency electric field substantially heating said refractory oxide material to a temperature range at which said refractory oxide material undergoes a transition in electrical resistivity from an insulator to a conductor, and the magnetic field inductively heats said refractory oxide material during andor after said transition.
2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said high frequency electric field and said magnetic field is imparted to said refractory oxide material via a resonant structure.
3. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the frequency imparted via the resonant structure is carried out within a first range of frequencies at which heating is substantially carried out by the electric field, and then subsequently lowered to a second range of frequencies at which heating is substantially carried out by the magnetic field.
4. A method as claimed in claim 3, wherein said first range of frequencies is in the range of 13 MHz-42 MHz.
5. A method as claimed in claim 3, wherein said second range of frequencies is in the range of 0.5 MHz-13 MHz.
6. A method of heating a refractory oxide material as claimed in claim 1, wherein said refractory oxide material is held within a container and said high frequency electric field is substantially imparted to said refractory oxide material by two spaced apart plates connected to an electric circuit, and said magnetic field is imparted by an RF coil surrounding said container.
7. A method of heating a refractory oxide material as claimed in claim 1, wherein said refractory oxide material is held with a non-faraday container and both said high frequency electric field and said magnetic field is imparted by an RF coil surrounding said non-faraday container.
8. A method of heating a refractory oxide material as claimed in claim 1, wherein said method is used in the manufacture of a synthetic gemstone.
9. A method of heating a refractory oxide material as claimed in claim 1, wherein said method is used to vitrify a hazardous or other waste material.
10. A crucible apparatus for heating a refractory oxide material, said apparatus comprising a means for supporting said refractory oxide material, a means for imparting a high frequency electric field to said refractory oxide material and a means for imparting a magnetic field to said refractory oxide material.
11. A crucible apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein said crucible comprises a resonant structure.
12. A crucible apparatus as claimed in claim 10, comprising a container adapted to hold said refractory oxide material, and said means for imparting a magnetic field to said refractory oxide material is an RF coil surrounding said container.
13. A crucible apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein said crucible is connected to a variable frequency generator.
14. A crucible apparatus as claimed in claim 13, wherein said variable frequency generator is adapted to impart a frequency in the range 0.5 MHz-42 MHz.
15. A crucible apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein said means for imparting a high frequency electric field includes two spaced apart plates connected to an electric circuit.
16. A crucible apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein the capacitance between said two spaced apart plates may be variably adjusted.
17. A crucible apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein at least one of said two spaced apart plates is water-cooled.
18. A crucible apparatus as claimed in claim 13 comprising a sensing means for sensing the temperature of said refractory oxide material, said sensing means operably connected to a control means which varies the frequency imparted by said variable frequency generator relative to the sensed temperature.
19. A crucible apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein said means for imparting a magnetic field to said refractory oxide material is adapted to substantially heat same at a frequency in the range 0.5 MHz-13 MHz.
20. A crucible apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein said means for imparting a electric field to said refractory oxide material is adapted to substantially heat same at a frequency in the range 13 MHz-42 MHz.
21. A crucible apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein said crucible comprises a non-faraday container adapted to hold said refractory oxide material, and said means for imparting an electric field to said refractory oxide material is an RF coil surrounding said non-faraday container, and said means for imparting a magnetic field to said refractory oxide material is said RF coil.