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:
Oct. 02, 2007
Filed:
Jul. 23, 2004
Hirofumi Ihara, Fukuoka, JP;
Tomoyuki Noguchi, Fukuoka, JP;
Yasuhiro Nonaka, Saga, JP;
Tadayuki Kajiwara, Fukuoka, JP;
Masahiro Samei, Fukuoka, JP;
Hideki Tatematsu, Hyogo, JP;
Hirofumi Ihara, Fukuoka, JP;
Tomoyuki Noguchi, Fukuoka, JP;
Yasuhiro Nonaka, Saga, JP;
Tadayuki Kajiwara, Fukuoka, JP;
Masahiro Samei, Fukuoka, JP;
Hideki Tatematsu, Hyogo, JP;
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Osaka, JP;
Abstract
An image fixing device that is controllable with a high degree of reliability. The image fixing device is configured with a heat generator for fixing a toner image onto a recording medium that is opposed to an induction heater. Heat is generated in the heat generator through electromagnetic induction. An inverter circuit drives the induction heater. A power controller controls a power value that is output from the inverter circuit, whose power value is calculated by a power-value calculator. A power-value sensor acquires the power value output from the power controller, and a temperature sensor senses a temperature at least at one point of the heat generator. Thus, either the power value sensed by the power-value sensor or a temperature value sensed by the temperature sensor may be used as a reference value to calculate the power value in the power-value calculator.