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:
May. 12, 2015
Filed:
Dec. 07, 2012
Kohta Fujimori, Kanagawa, JP;
Kayoko Tanaka, Tokyo, JP;
Keita Sone, Kanagawa, JP;
Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus includes a image forming unit; an image bearing member having a surface to bear a toner image and a test pattern; the surface having a first time-surface positioned identical to the test pattern, an integer multiple of revolutions upstream or downstream from the test pattern in a surface movement direction, and a second time-surface positioned different from the test pattern, shorter than one revolution upstream or downstream from the test pattern; a reflection light detector to detect the amount of light reflected from the test pattern and the first and second time-surfaces of the image bearing member; and a controller to control the image forming unit based on the detection result and determine whether to execute a first-surface control to detect at least the first time-surface or a second-surface control to detect only the second time-surface based on use condition of the image forming apparatus.