Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Yuichiro Ueda

Takeshi Uchitani

Akira Shinshi

Masayuki Yamane

Tadashi Hayakawa

Kunihiro Ohyama

Yasufumi Takahashi

Takuji Takahashi

Masaki Takahashi

Yuuki Satoh

Shouji Okabe

Hiromichi Matsuda

Kazuhiko Kobayashi

Takuya Murata

Toshiyuki Andoh

Yuji Matsuda

Takuya Uehara

Joh Ebara

Yohei Miura

Hiroki Ohkubo

Tatsuya Fujii

Tsutomu Kawase

Yoshiaki Nishizaki

Takahiro Kamekura

Masayuki Yabuuchi

Sumihiro Inokuchi

Noriaki Orikasa

Mitsufumi Yamamoto

Takashi Nishizawa

Shugo Okamura

A toner container includes a container body, an opening, a cover, a toner discharge port, a shutter, a cylindrical structure, protrusions, and an identifier. The shutter is attached to the cover and includes a main shutter covering the toner discharge port. The main shutter moves between a closed position to close the toner discharge port and an open position to open the toner discharge port. The protrusions are on both sides of the cover and protrude in a direction orthogonal to a toner container mounting direction. The identifier is on the cover to indicate a toner color. The cylindrical structure's leading end is downstream of leading ends of the protrusions in the mounting direction. The main shutter's leading end is downstream of the protrusions' leading ends in the mounting direction when the main shutter is in the closed position. The protrusions are downstream of the identifier in the mounting direction.

Information storage system including a plurality of terminals

Developer container which discharges toner from a lower side and includes a box section

Apparatus and method for preventing an information storage device from falling from a removable device

Developer container having a cap with three portions of different diameters

An information storage device installed in a removable device configured to be removably installed in an image forming apparatus body, includes: an information storage unit that stores information communicated between the image forming apparatus body and the removable device; a terminal that comes in contact with a body side terminal; and a substrate that holds the information storage unit and the terminal and includes a hole configured to be engaged with a protruding section installed in the image forming apparatus body. The terminal includes a plurality of terminals each including one of a plurality of metallic plates arranged in a transverse direction thereof. An earth terminal, which comes in contact with a body side earth terminal formed in the protruding section, is formed in the hole. The hole is disposed at a position sandwiched between two metallic plates among the plurality of metallic plates.

An information providing system provides delivery information using identification information of an object equipped with a wireless communication function. The information providing system includes a registering unit that registers in advance first link information linking the identification information of the object to the delivery information; a generating unit that generates second link information linking the identification information of the object to delivery information different from the delivery information of the first link information, based on the identification information of the object and identification information of a plurality of information terminals, acquired by communication with the information terminals, which can communicate with the object; and an information providing unit that delivers the delivery information linked by the second link information.

Information providing system, information terminal and information providing server, to update delivery information based on behavioral trends of plural terminals

A circuit board includes a main part on which a processor is mounted, a cut part to be cut off from the main part at a cut section before the board is reused, and a conductor pattern wired through the cut part via the cut section and to be cut off into a plurality of patterns at the cut section as the cut part is cut off. The processor detects a difference in signal level between a level of a signal output from the conductor pattern before the cut part is cut off, and a level of the signal output from the conductor pattern after the cut part is cut off, to determine a number of times the board is reused.

Circuit board, image forming apparatus, and method of managing reuse information of circuit board

Growing community of inventors

Kanagawa, Japan

Yuichiro Ueda