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. 07, 1999
Filed:
Sep. 21, 1998
Kenneth S Palumbo, Rochester, NY (US);
Alan Goldsmith, Fairport, NY (US);
Xerox Corporation, Stamford, CT (US);
Abstract
A toner cartridge is mounted movably on a developer unit of a printing machine. The toner cartridge stores a quantity of toner particles therein. A bar code is provided on the exterior surface of the toner cartridge. The bar code provides information concerning the toner particles within the housing. A bar code reader periodically detects the bar code and transmits information to a processing unit indicating the characteristics of the toner cartridge. This enables discrimination between different toner cartridges, ensuring that the proper toner cartridge is installed in the developer unit of the printing machine. In addition, the processing unit, in response to receiving a signal indicating that the bar code has been detected, provides a signal indicative of the quantity of toner particles remaining in the toner cartridge. This signal is transmitted to a graphical user interface which displays the remaining quantity of toner particles in the cartridge.