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:
Aug. 01, 2006
Filed:
Aug. 25, 2003
William Paul Cook, Lexington, KY (US);
Tom E Stickler, Lexington, KY (US);
Larry Steven Foster, Lexington, KY (US);
David Erwin Rennick, Georgetown, KY (US);
William Paul Cook, Lexington, KY (US);
Tom E Stickler, Lexington, KY (US);
Larry Steven Foster, Lexington, KY (US);
David Erwin Rennick, Georgetown, KY (US);
Lexmark International, Inc., Lexington, KY (US);
Abstract
An image forming apparatus includes a waste toner system that collects waste toner in a waste toner container. An amount of waste toner collected in the container is increased by using a motor-driven toner distributing member that distributes accumulated toner within the container. The waste toner system may detect the accumulation of waste toner by monitoring a motor control circuit while the toner distributing member is being driven. For example, the system may detect excess accumulation by comparing the monitored values of a speed control signal with one or more reference values corresponding to nominal accumulation conditions. Whether or not the motor is speed controlled, the apparatus may use a shared motor that drives one or more image forming process members and the toner distributing member. A drive arrangement may be used to selectively drive the toner distributing member based on motor direction to avoid interfering with image forming operations.