Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Masashi Hommi

Yuusuke Tomura

Yuki Osato

Tetsuya Hara

Yuji Ieiri

Takumi Miyagawa

Junichi Matsumoto

Tatsuya Kubo

Kengo Tanaka

Sumihiro Inokuchi

Norio Muraishi

Ryotaro Konno

Hiroshi Adachi

Shingo Nishizaki

Kazushi Takei

Naohiro Funada

Hidemasa Morimoto

Koichi Murota

Takuya Kemmochi

Yoichi Kitahara

Masaki Karakawa

Atsushi Kuramoto

An amount-of-remaining-toner detecting device includes: a toner housing portion in which a toner bottle is housed, the toner bottle having a bottle body that is cylindrical and in which toner is housed, and a cap that is attached to one end of the bottle body in an axial direction of the bottle body and from which the toner housed in the bottle body is discharged; and circuitry configured to detect an amount of remaining toner in the toner bottle housed in the toner housing portion. The toner housing portion includes a first pair of electrodes facing each other with the bottle body interposed between the first pair of electrodes, and a second pair of electrodes facing each other with the bottle body interposed between the second pair of electrodes, at respective positions closer to the cap than the first pair of electrodes are. The circuitry detects the amount of remaining toner in the bottle body, based on at least one of a capacitance value between the first pair of electrodes or a capacitance value between the second pair of electrodes.

Amount-of-remaining-toner detecting device, image forming apparatus, method for detecting amount of remaining toner, and non-transitory recording medium

An image forming apparatus includes a reading table, an image reading device, an image forming device with an exposure device, and circuitry. The reading device reads a pattern on a recording medium on the table, and generates image data of the pattern. The exposure device includes a light emitting element to form an electrostatic latent image, based on which the image forming device forms the pattern. Based on first and second correction values, the circuitry calculates a third correction value to correct a light amount of the light emitting element. The exposure device includes a driving device that drives the light emitting element based on the third correction value. The circuitry sets at least two or more determination areas in each of a white area and a pattern area of the medium, and determines whether the medium has a rise based on density data in the determination areas.

Image forming apparatus and method of detecting rise of recording medium

A remaining toner amount detection device includes four electrodes and a controller. Each electrode has an arc shape along an outer circumferential surface of a toner bottle, and the four electrodes are spaced a certain distance apart in a circumferential direction so as to surround the toner bottle. The controller detects a remaining toner amount inside the toner bottle by using the four electrodes. The controller determines whether at least one of a first electrostatic capacity value between one pair of adjacent electrodes and a second electrostatic capacity value between the other pair of adjacent electrodes falls within a threshold range. In response to determination that at least one of the electrostatic capacity values falls within the threshold range, the controller detects a remaining toner amount inside the toner bottle based on an electrostatic capacity value, and outputs the detected remaining toner amount.

Remaining toner amount detection device, image forming apparatus, and remaining toner amount detection method

A toner amount detector detects an amount of toner in a toner bottle. The toner amount detector includes at least one pair of electrodes disposed opposite each other via the toner bottle, grounding members disposed outboard of the at least one pair of electrodes and electrically grounded, circuitry to switch a first detection processing and a second detection processing, and an indicator to indicate that a positional deviation of the at least one pair of electrodes has occurred. The grounding members face the at least one pair of electrodes. The first detection processing detects the amount of toner based on a first capacitance between the at least one pair of electrodes, and the second detection processing detects a positional deviation based on a second capacitance between each of the grounding members and a corresponding one of the at least one pair of electrodes.

Toner amount detector, toner amount detection method, and non-transitory storage medium storing program

An image forming apparatus including an electrode pair including two electrodes facing each other; a powder container interposed between the two electrodes and including a storage medium that is communicably coupled to the image forming apparatus; a capacitance detector configured to detect capacitance between the two electrodes; a powder container mounting determiner configured to determine whether the powder container is mounted to the image forming apparatus based on the capacitance, upon detecting that communication is not possible between the image forming apparatus and the storage medium; and an image forming execution controller configured to cause the image forming apparatus to execute image formation, upon determining, by the powder container mounting determiner, that the powder container is mounted to the image forming apparatus.

Image forming apparatus, image forming method, and recording medium

A remaining toner amount detecting apparatus detects a remaining toner amount in a toner bottle. The remaining toner amount detecting apparatus includes at least one pair of electrodes that are configured to face each other with the toner bottle interposed between the electrodes; a first estimator configured to estimate the remaining toner amount based on a capacitance between the electrodes of the at least one pair of electrodes; a second estimator configured to estimate the remaining toner amount by counting a number of pixels in a printed image; and an estimation selector configured to use either one of the first estimator or the second estimator to output the remaining toner amount, based on a temperature or a humidity inside an apparatus in which the toner bottle is mounted.

Remaining toner amount detecting apparatus, remaining toner amount detecting method, and recording medium

A powder detector includes a driver to drive a motor, a stirrer to stir powder in a vessel, a vibration plate disposed in the vessel and vibrated by a flip of the stirrer rotated by the motor, and circuitry. The circuitry detects a vibration of the vibration plate, estimates an amount of powder based on a detection result of the vibration, and causes the driver to drive the motor from a starting point, so as to move the stirrer to a preset halt position. The starting point is a rotation angle of the motor on detection of the vibration.

Powder detector, control method of same, and image forming apparatus incorporating same

An electronic apparatus to which a removable device can be set is provided. The removable device includes a first memory to store first status information indicating a status of the removable device, first identification information identifying the removable device, and second identification information identifying the electronic apparatus. The electronic apparatus includes a second memory to store second status information indicating a status of the removable device that is set to the electronic apparatus, third identification information identifying the removable device set to the electronic apparatus, and fourth identification information identifying the electronic apparatus, and a processor to determine, when connected to the first memory of the removable device set to the electronic apparatus, whether the first identification information matches the third identification information and the second identification information matches the fourth identification information and update the second status information with the first status information based on a result of the determination.

Electronic apparatus and method of managing status information of the same

An inkjet recording apparatus includes a plurality of line heads disposed along a conveyance direction of a recording sheet and including a plurality of nozzles to discharge ink droplets, the plurality of nozzles disposed in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the recording sheet; a plurality of edge sensors corresponding to respective line heads, to detect a lateral edge of the recording sheet; a plurality of actuators corresponding to the respective line heads, to move to the respective line heads laterally in a sheet width direction; a head position adjustor to determine movement amounts of the respective line heads in accordance with outputs of the plurality of edge sensors; and a failure determiner to obtain outputs of the plurality of edge sensors simultaneously and identify a failure of the plurality of edge sensors based on a combination of the outputs from the plurality of edge sensors.

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Kanagawa, Japan

Masashi Hommi