The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 07, 2018
Filed:
Jul. 05, 2017
Konica Minolta, Inc., Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, JP;
Toshiki Hayami, Hachioji, JP;
KONICA MINOLTA, INC., Chiyoda-Ku, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An electrophotographic image forming apparatus includes: an electrostatic latent image retainer; an intermediate transfer body; a primary transfer member to transfer toner image retained by the electrostatic latent image retainer to an imaging region of the intermediate transfer body; a secondary transfer member to transfer the transferred toner image from the intermediate transfer body to a transfer medium; a toner forcible discharger to forcibly discharge toner into a non-imaging region of the intermediate transfer body; and a controller to control a volume of the toner to be forcibly discharged. The intermediate transfer body is a multi-layer belt including a base layer and an outermost coating layer. The coating layer contains silicon dioxide. The controller reduces the volume of the toner to be forcibly discharged based on use history information of the intermediate transfer body, compared to the volume at an initial stage of use.