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:
Jan. 02, 2007
Filed:
Aug. 12, 2004
Yasuo Takuma, Ibaraki, JP;
Kaoru Kataoka, Ibaraki, JP;
Yasuo Takuma, Ibaraki, JP;
Kaoru Kataoka, Ibaraki, JP;
Ricoh Printing Systems, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus includes a toner concentration detector for detecting the toner concentration within a two-component developing unit, a toner supply unit for supplying a toner into the developing unit, a storage unit for sequentially holding and updating a history of a toner supply operation for a certain period of time, and a toner concentration control unit for determining the time of the toner supply operation by the toner supply unit, based on information stored in the storage unit and a difference between an output value of the toner concentration detector and a reference value, and maintaining the toner concentration constant.