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.

Date of Patent:
Jul. 05, 2005

Filed:

Sep. 22, 2000
Applicants:

Takeo Kojima, Kawasaki, JP;

Yoshihiro Watanabe, Kawasaki, JP;

Fumihiro Itoh, Kawasaki, JP;

Inventors:

Takeo Kojima, Kawasaki, JP;

Yoshihiro Watanabe, Kawasaki, JP;

Fumihiro Itoh, Kawasaki, JP;

Assignee:
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G06F015/00 ; G03G015/00 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
Abstract

In a image forming apparatus, a lifespan copy number (lifespan time period) previously determined for each component is added to the replacement schedule copy number (replacement schedule time) of respective components contained in the apparatus, in other words the total print number (total print time) at the time of replacement of a component, and the resulting value is recorded in a non-volatile memory. Therefore, it is judged that a component lifespan has expired, each time that the total print number (total print time) exceeds the replacement schedule copy number (replacement schedule time period). Thereby, since the amount of information required for component lifespan management is small, the capacity of the non-volatile memory can be reduced, and hence cost reductions in the image forming apparatus can be achieved.


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