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:
Aug. 18, 2015
Filed:
Aug. 09, 2012
Tetsuo Watanabe, Kanagawa, JP;
Koichi Kudo, Kanagawa, JP;
Yoshinobu Takeyama, Kanagawa, JP;
Takashi Hashimoto, Kanagawa, JP;
Fumihito Masubuchi, Kanagawa, JP;
Natsumi Matsue, Kanagawa, JP;
Tetsuo Watanabe, Kanagawa, JP;
Koichi Kudo, Kanagawa, JP;
Yoshinobu Takeyama, Kanagawa, JP;
Takashi Hashimoto, Kanagawa, JP;
Fumihito Masubuchi, Kanagawa, JP;
Natsumi Matsue, Kanagawa, JP;
Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit to form an adhesive toner pattern in a predetermined bonding range of a sheet, outside a printable range in which an image according to image data is formed, a stacking unit to stack multiple sheets one on top of another, and a sheet binding device that includes a fusing device to fuse and fix the adhesive toner pattern formed on the multiple sheets to bind the multiple sheets together, and a bonding strength setting unit to determine, in accordance with a desired bonding strength, at least one of a number of color toners used for forming the adhesive toner pattern, a bonding manner, a number of pixels of the adhesive toner pattern, a toner area ratio of the adhesive toner pattern, and a layer thickness of the adhesive toner pattern.