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:
Jun. 25, 2019
Filed:
Apr. 27, 2018
Kyocera Document Solutions Inc., Osaka, JP;
Keisuke Maeyama, Osaka, JP;
Kyocera Document Solutions Inc., Osaka, JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus includes a developer unit, a toner container, a capacitance sensor, a toner amount detector, and a determining unit. The toner container is located to be removably attachable to the image forming apparatus. The toner container supplies a toner to the developer unit. The capacitance sensor is located on a supply passage for the toner from the toner container to the developer unit. The capacitance sensor detects an electric charge amount and a relative dielectric constant of the toner. The electric charge amount is an electric charge amount when the toner passes through the supply passage. The toner amount detector detects an amount of the toner passing through the supply passage based on the electric charge amount detected by the capacitance sensor. The determining unit determines whether the relative dielectric constant of the toner detected by the capacitance sensor is in a predetermined range.