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. 26, 2006
Filed:
Apr. 14, 2004
Applicants:
Jun Horikoshi, Chiba, JP;
Masashige Tamura, Chiba, JP;
Inventors:
Jun Horikoshi, Chiba, JP;
Masashige Tamura, Chiba, JP;
Assignee:
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, JP;
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G03G 15/08 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
Abstract
By a conventional mechanism for detecting a position of a knob of a toner bottle, the detection of the presence or absence of the toner bottle could not be effected. So, by providing an optical sensor on the inner surface of an interchange door opposed to the knob of the toner bottle, it is possible to effect the detection of the presence or absence of the toner bottle, and the detection of the position of the knob, i.e., the opening and closing of a shutter of the toner bottle.