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:
Dec. 06, 1994
Filed:
Jul. 23, 1993
Yoshiki Shibuya, Tokyo, JP;
Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
In an image forming apparatus, the passage of paper is detected by light and compact optical sensor apparatus including a plurality of light emitting devices, a plurality of optical sensor units, each of which includes an optical sensor disposed so as to receive the light from the light emitting device and an output circuit for selectively outputting a signal from the optical sensor, and a control unit connected to the optical sensor units through common cables. The output circuit of each optical sensor unit passes the sensor signal from the optical sensor of the unit to an output terminal or outputs the signal to one of the terminals of the unit, according to a selection signal generated at the control unit for exclusively designating the optical sensor units. Since each optical sensor unit outputs the sensor signal only when selected, all optical sensor units can use a common output cables, thereby reducing the weight and the size of the apparatus.