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:
Jan. 21, 2014
Filed:
Apr. 04, 2011
Kazuma Hinoue, Osaka, JP;
Motoyuki Itoyama, Osaka, JP;
Hideji Saikoh, Osaka, JP;
Takeshi Ohkawa, Osaka, JP;
Kazuma Hinoue, Osaka, JP;
Motoyuki Itoyama, Osaka, JP;
Hideji Saikoh, Osaka, JP;
Takeshi Ohkawa, Osaka, JP;
Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha, Osaka, JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus prevents printed images from being degraded in image quality due to failure of the toner concentration to fall within a proper range, by correcting the deviations of the amount of toner consumption and the amount of toner supply depending on the individuality of each image forming apparatus and that enables exact identification of the cause of a fault associated with toner concentration, and providing an image forming method using the apparatus. A toner supply device supplies toner to a developing vessel through an opening in accordance with an instruction from a controller. The presence or absence of toner falling is detected based on the variation of the output from a magnetic permeability sensor when toner is supplied. The controller monitors the output voltage level of the magnetic permeability sensor and adjusts the input gain in accordance with the output voltage level to thereby control toner concentration.