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:
Feb. 12, 2002
Filed:
Jan. 08, 1998
Pascal Coudray, La Chapelle des Fougeretz, FR;
Marie-Hélène Froger, Chateaugiron, FR;
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A device determines a quantity of product present in a reservoir, particularly a quantity of ink in the reservoir ( ) of an image formation device, such as a printer ( ). In a preferred embodiment, the devices includes means ( ) of connecting the said product to a predetermined potential, means ( ) of establishing a first electrical field through the product, and adapted to establish a second electrical field different from the first electrical field, means ( ), of measuring electrical fields in order to produce first and second electrical signals representing electrical fields, and means ( ) of processing the first electrical signal in order to produce a signal representing the quantity of product, and adapted to process the second electrical signal in order to detect the interruption of the connection of the product to the predetermined potential, the said interruption corresponding to a predetermined quantity of product present in the reservoir ( ).