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:
Sep. 10, 2019
Filed:
Aug. 13, 2018
Applicant:
Konica Minolta, Inc., Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, JP;
Inventor:
Tomohiro Kato, Okazaki, JP;
Assignee:
Konica Minolta, Inc., Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, JP;
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G03G 21/00 (2006.01); G03G 15/16 (2006.01); G03G 15/00 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G03G 15/161 (2013.01); G03G 15/553 (2013.01); G03G 21/0035 (2013.01); G03G 21/0076 (2013.01); G03G 2215/1657 (2013.01); G03G 2215/1661 (2013.01); G03G 2221/001 (2013.01);
Abstract
An image forming apparatus includes: an image carrier that carries a toner image; a cleaning unit that collects a toner on the image carrier; and a hardware processor that controls the cleaning unit, wherein the cleaning unit includes a first cleaner brush and a second cleaner brush that remove the toner from the image carrier, and the hardware processor applies bias voltages having opposite polarities to the first cleaner brush and the second cleaner brush, and determines whether life is ended with respect to each of the first cleaner brush and the second cleaner brush.