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:
Apr. 03, 2012
Filed:
Jan. 16, 2009
Osamu Satoh, Kanagawa, JP;
Yasushi Nakazato, Tokyo, JP;
Kohji Ue, Kanagawa, JP;
Masahide Yamashita, Tokyo, JP;
Jun Yamane, Kanagawa, JP;
Shokichiro Hino, Tokyo, JP;
Osamu Satoh, Kanagawa, JP;
Yasushi Nakazato, Tokyo, JP;
Kohji Ue, Kanagawa, JP;
Masahide Yamashita, Tokyo, JP;
Jun Yamane, Kanagawa, JP;
Shokichiro Hino, Tokyo, JP;
Ricoh Company, Limited, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
In an image forming apparatus, a cleaning blade cleans residual toner adhered on the surface of an image carrier and a sound sensor collects a sound generated inside a casing of the image forming apparatus. A determining unit determines, based on the sound collected by the sound sensor, whether cleaning failure has occurred in the cleaning blade. The determining unit makes the determination based on at least intensity of a first sound component that is a sound component of a first frequency and intensity of a second sound component that is a sound component of a second frequency different from the first frequency.