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. 03, 2023
Filed:
Jun. 10, 2022
Ryotaro Konno, Tokyo, JP;
Junichi Matsumoto, Kanagawa, JP;
Tatsuya Kubo, Kanagawa, JP;
Yuki Osato, Tokyo, JP;
Yuusuke Tomura, Kanagawa, JP;
Masashi Hommi, Kanagawa, JP;
Ryotaro Konno, Tokyo, JP;
Junichi Matsumoto, Kanagawa, JP;
Tatsuya Kubo, Kanagawa, JP;
Yuki Osato, Tokyo, JP;
Yuusuke Tomura, Kanagawa, JP;
Masashi Hommi, Kanagawa, JP;
Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An amount-of-remaining-toner detecting device includes: a toner housing portion in which a toner bottle is housed, the toner bottle having a bottle body that is cylindrical and in which toner is housed, and a cap that is attached to one end of the bottle body in an axial direction of the bottle body and from which the toner housed in the bottle body is discharged; and circuitry configured to detect an amount of remaining toner in the toner bottle housed in the toner housing portion. The toner housing portion includes a first pair of electrodes facing each other with the bottle body interposed between the first pair of electrodes, and a second pair of electrodes facing each other with the bottle body interposed between the second pair of electrodes, at respective positions closer to the cap than the first pair of electrodes are. The circuitry detects the amount of remaining toner in the bottle body, based on at least one of a capacitance value between the first pair of electrodes or a capacitance value between the second pair of electrodes.