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:
Mar. 02, 2004
Filed:
Dec. 17, 2002
Philip Scot Carter, Lexington, KY (US);
Benjamin Keith Newman, Lexington, KY (US);
William Keith Richardson, Salvisa, KY (US);
Kevin Dean Schoedinger, Nicholasville, KY (US);
Lexmark International, Inc., Lexington, KY (US);
Abstract
Toner hopper ( ) of a printer ( ) has a stirring paddle ( ) with an encoder wheel ( ) mounted on paddle shaft ( ). The drive connection to paddle ( ) is through a torsion spring ( ). Data processing apparatus determines paddle acceleration or deceleration ( ) and executes a table look-up to determine scaled amounts of subsequent movement ( ). Steady state movement is a unitary (unscaled) amount ( ). These amounts are totaled ( ) and used to define yield at the torsion spring, which corresponds to amount of toner in the hopper. This eliminates hardware in previous embodiments at the drive motor to signal actual rotation of the drive motor.