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:
Dec. 25, 2007
Filed:
Jul. 15, 2005
Ichiro Kadota, Tokyo-to, JP;
Atsushi Shinozaki, Chiba-ken, JP;
Nekka Matsuura, Kanagawa-ken, JP;
Hisashi Shoji, Kanagawa-ken, JP;
Kazumi Suzuki, Kanagawa-ken, JP;
Nobutaka Takeuchi, Kanagawa-ken, JP;
Satoshi Muramatsu, Tokyo-to, JP;
Yukio Tabata, Shizuoka-ken, JP;
Motohiro Usami, Kanagawa-ken, JP;
Ichiro Kadota, Tokyo-to, JP;
Atsushi Shinozaki, Chiba-ken, JP;
Nekka Matsuura, Kanagawa-ken, JP;
Hisashi Shoji, Kanagawa-ken, JP;
Kazumi Suzuki, Kanagawa-ken, JP;
Nobutaka Takeuchi, Kanagawa-ken, JP;
Satoshi Muramatsu, Tokyo-to, JP;
Yukio Tabata, Shizuoka-ken, JP;
Motohiro Usami, Kanagawa-ken, JP;
Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus includes a plurality of color toner development devices, a recycled toner development device, at least one cleaning device, a toner collecting and supplying device, and an image pattern generation device. The plurality of color toner development devices store separate color toners, and the recycled toner development device stores recycled toner. The at least one cleaning device removes toner remaining on at least one image carrying member after a transfer operation. The toner collecting and supplying device stores and supplies the removed toner to the recycled toner development device. The image pattern generation device generates image patterns developed by the plurality of color toner development devices and the recycled toner development device based on a characteristic of developer and a color of the recycled toner stored in the recycled toner development device.