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. 07, 2015
Filed:
Jan. 25, 2013
Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha, Nagoya-shi, Aichi-ken, JP;
Kengo Yada, Nagoya, JP;
Seigo Hayashi, Nagoya, JP;
Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha, Nagoya-Shi, Aichi-Ken, JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus comprises a plurality of photoconductors, a plurality of chargers including charging members, a voltage application unit to which charging members are connected in parallel and which is configured to apply a voltage to the charging members, a controller, and a messaging unit. The controller is configured to change, upon startup, the voltage to be applied by the voltage application unit to the charging members from a previously applied first voltage to a second voltage of which an absolute value is smaller than that of the first voltage, to obtain amounts of electric currents caused to flow through the respective charging members by application of the second voltage. A determination as to whether any anomaly is present is made based upon the obtained amounts of electric currents for the charging members. The messaging unit is configured to produce a notification about presence or absence of anomaly.