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:
Sep. 14, 2004
Filed:
Dec. 04, 2000
Nobuo Kamei, Toyokawa, JP;
Hideyuki Toriyama, Toyokawa, JP;
Hiroyuki Suzuki, Toyokawa, JP;
Tsuyoshi Yoneyama, Toyokawa, JP;
Hideaki Mizuno, Toyokawa, JP;
Minolta Co., Ltd., Osaka, JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus capable of realizing reduction in circuit scale by effectively using memory and hardware resources. The image forming apparatus is operable selectively between in two operation modes, a copy mode and a printer mode, and includes a plurality of VRAMs, a VRAM control circuit for controlling data storage and reading into and from the VRAMs, a controller for controlling an operation of the VRAM control circuit, a display for displaying an image, and an interface for inputting data transmitted from an external apparatus. The controller rearranges wiring of a gate array of a device in the VRAM control circuit according to the operation mode, thereby switching at least one of the VRAMs so as to act as a memory for storing image data for displaying an image on the display or as a buffer for temporarily storing data input through the interface.