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:
Jul. 08, 2003
Filed:
Mar. 08, 2001
Yukio Ota, Tokyo, JP;
Hiroshi Kikuchi, Tokyo, JP;
Oki Data Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A toner cartridge is removably attached to a printer and discharges toner into a hopper of the printer. When the toner is to be discharged into the hopper for a first time after the toner cartridge has been attached to the printer, the toner cartridge discharges a certain amount of toner for immediate printing operations. Thereafter, a toner-discharging mechanism operates to discharge fractions of the toner held in the toner cartridge in succession into the hopper. The printer has a controller and a detector. The detector detects an amount of toner remaining in the hopper. The controller controls the toner-discharging mechanism in accordance with the detection signal of the detector such that the toner in the hopper is replenished depending on the amount of toner consumed. The controller controls the toner-discharging mechanism only when the toner remaining in the hopper is below a threshold.