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:
Nov. 15, 2022
Filed:
Jul. 27, 2021
Keitaro Shoji, Kanagawa, JP;
Yoshio Hattori, Kanagawa, JP;
Yoshikuni Sasaki, Kanagawa, JP;
Takahiro Imada, Kanagawa, JP;
Hiromasa Takagi, Tokyo, JP;
Yasunori Ishigaya, Kanagawa, JP;
Takumi Waida, Kanagawa, JP;
Keitaro Shoji, Kanagawa, JP;
Yoshio Hattori, Kanagawa, JP;
Yoshikuni Sasaki, Kanagawa, JP;
Takahiro Imada, Kanagawa, JP;
Hiromasa Takagi, Tokyo, JP;
Yasunori Ishigaya, Kanagawa, JP;
Takumi Waida, Kanagawa, JP;
RICOH COMPANY, LTD., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus includes an image forming device that forms a toner image on a recording medium, a first rotator, and a second rotator that presses against the first rotator to form a nip therebetween. The first rotator conveys the recording medium bearing the toner image through the nip with a first orientation of the recording medium to fix the toner image on the recording medium to create a cleaning sheet bearing a cleaning image in a cleaning sheet creation mode. The first rotator conveys the cleaning sheet bearing the cleaning image through the nip with a second orientation of the cleaning sheet, that is different from the first orientation of the recording medium, such that the cleaning image is disposed opposite the first rotator to cause the cleaning image to remove a foreign substance from a surface of the first rotator in a cleaning mode.