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:
May. 31, 1994
Filed:
Mar. 19, 1993
Yoshiki Shimomura, Osaka, JP;
Sadao Tanigawa, Osaka, JP;
Yasushi Umeda, Tokyo, JP;
Tetsuo Tomiyama, Chiba, JP;
Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, Chiyoda, JP;
Mita Industrial Co., Ltd., , JP;
Abstract
According to the present invention, a self-diagnosis system for an image forming apparatus can make accurate fault diagnosis and is made smaller in size and higher in speed. For that purpose, a fault temporarily developed by the image forming apparatus is limited to a single fault assumption, all states which can exist on the image forming apparatus when the image forming apparatus develops the fault are previously simulated, and the results of the qualitative simulation are stored as a plurality of virtual cases in a virtual case storing portion 12. When the image forming apparatus is operated, detected values of sensors X, Vs and Ds are converted into fuzzy qualitative values, respectively, on the basis of membership functions stored in a membership function generating portion 13. The fuzzy qualitative values are compared with the virtual cases stored in the virtual case storing portion 12, to reason the cause of the fault. Accordingly, any of the virtual cases stored in the virtual case storing portion 12 is selected using the fuzzy qualitative values, thereby to make it possible to accurately specify the fault in a short time.