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. 21, 2021
Filed:
Apr. 07, 2020
Yuusuke Tomura, Kanagawa, JP;
Masashi Hommi, Kanagawa, JP;
Tetsuya Hara, Tokyo, JP;
Yuki Osato, Tokyo, JP;
Yuji Ieiri, Kanagawa, JP;
Takumi Miyagawa, Kanagawa, JP;
Yuusuke Tomura, Kanagawa, JP;
Masashi Hommi, Kanagawa, JP;
Tetsuya Hara, Tokyo, JP;
Yuki Osato, Tokyo, JP;
Yuji Ieiri, Kanagawa, JP;
Takumi Miyagawa, Kanagawa, JP;
Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
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.