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:
Jun. 28, 2005
Filed:
Sep. 05, 2003
Masato Kobayashi, Saitama, JP;
Atsuo Tokunaga, Kanagawa, JP;
Nobuhito Komoda, Tokyo, JP;
Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A stepping motor controller is disclosed that is capable of reducing power consumption of a stepping motor. The stepping motor controller includes a storage unit to store object values of a driving current of the stepping motor, an accumulation unit to accumulate an amount of operation of the stepping motor, and a driving current setting unit to read out an object value corresponding to the amount of operation from the storage unit and set the driving current to the object value. Alternatively, the stepping motor controller includes an accumulation unit that calculates a cumulative amount of operation of the stepping motor, and a driving current setting unit that, when the amount of operation is greater than a predetermined value, determines a critical out-of-step current of the stepping motor by changing in increments the value of the driving current of the stepping motor, and sets the critical out-of-step current with a predetermined margin added as an object driving current of the stepping motor.