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. 28, 2004
Filed:
Mar. 31, 2000
Minolta Co., Ltd., Osaka, JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus comprising a buffer memory for storing image data, a printer unit for printing based on image data output from the buffer memory, a compression unit for compressing image data output from the buffer memory to generate compression data, a hard disk for storing the compression data compressed by the compression unit, and output unit for outputting compression data from the hard disk to the buffer memory, and an expansion unit for expanding the compression data output from the buffer memory and outputting the expansion data to the printer unit. When printing multiple copies, image data are highly compressed and stored on a hard disk, and output directly to a buffer memory in a highly compressed state. Thereafter, the data are expanded and transmitted to the printer. As a result, multiple copy printing is accomplished at high speed.