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:
Nov. 22, 2011
Filed:
Dec. 28, 2010
Yoshiya Inoue, Kanagawa, JP;
Yasuyuki Igarashi, Kanagawa, JP;
Takeshi Fujita, Tokyo, JP;
Yuka Saito, Kanagawa, JP;
Toshio Kitazawa, Chiba, JP;
Yoshiya Inoue, Kanagawa, JP;
Yasuyuki Igarashi, Kanagawa, JP;
Takeshi Fujita, Tokyo, JP;
Yuka Saito, Kanagawa, JP;
Toshio Kitazawa, Chiba, JP;
Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus in which a first consumable item and a second consumable item are loadable to the image forming apparatus, includes a consumption status detector that detects an end status and a near-end status for each of the first and second consumable items, wherein the end status is a consumption status in which the consumable item must be exchanged immediately and the near-end status is a consumption status in which the consumable item must be exchanged in the near future; a consumption information output setting unit that sets settings indicating whether to output information for each of the end status and the near-end status of the first and second consumable items detected by the consumption status detector; and a consumption information output unit configured to output the information for each of the end status and the near-end status of the first and second consumable items based on the settings set by the consumption information output setting unit and a detection result of the consumption status of the first and second consumption items.