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:
Oct. 26, 2021
Filed:
Nov. 07, 2018
Hewlett-packard Development Company, L.p., Spring, TX (US);
Kenneth K Smith, Boise, ID (US);
Ji-Won Moon, Seongnam-si, KR;
Min-Chul Lee, Seongnam-si, KR;
Andrew Chick, Vancouver, WA (US);
Matthew Storey, Austin, TX (US);
Jefferson Blake West, Austin, TX (US);
Zackary Thomas Hickman, Austin, TX (US);
Eun-Kyung Yun, Seongnam-si, KR;
Yoona Min, Seongnam-si, KR;
Pratik Shah, San Diego, CA (US);
Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P., Spring, TX (US);
Abstract
An image forming apparatus and method for determining a toner level and providing a notification are provided. The method of operating an image forming apparatus includes counting a number of times a lower toner hopper receives toner from an in-situ refillable upper toner hopper, calculating an estimate of toner volume transferred from the lower toner hopper to a surface of a photosensitive drum, determining an amount of toner consumed from the in-situ refillable upper toner hopper based on the number of times the lower toner hopper receives toner from the in-situ refillable upper toner hopper and the estimate of toner volume transferred from the lower toner hopper to the surface of the photosensitive drum, and generating an upper toner hopper refill notification when the amount of toner consumed from the in-situ refillable upper toner hopper is determined to exceed a threshold value.