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. 02, 2013
Filed:
Jan. 20, 2011
Akinori Nishida, Kyoto, JP;
Takaaki Kamei, Kyoto, JP;
Akinori Nishida, Kyoto, JP;
Takaaki Kamei, Kyoto, JP;
Murata Machinery, Ltd., Kyoto, JP;
Abstract
In an image forming device, toner in a developing unit is efficiently utilized. A printing unit includes a developing unit, a toner cartridge, a photo-electronic sensor, a CPU and a counter. The toner cartridge replenishes toner to the developing unit at one time. The photo-electronic sensor detects toner in the developing unit. The CPU processes an output signal from the photo-electronic sensor to create comparison data, then compares comparison data with a predetermined threshold and issues an alarm when the comparison data exceeds the predetermined threshold. The counter counts the number of times that toner is replenished to the developing unit. The CPU changes the threshold to a level at which an alarm is hardly issued as the number of counts in the counter increases.