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. 05, 2016
Filed:
Mar. 09, 2015
Mikiko Imazeki, Kanagawa, JP;
Yasushi Nakazato, Tokyo, JP;
Akira Takehisa, Tokyo, JP;
Osamu Satoh, Kanagawa, JP;
Mikiko Imazeki, Kanagawa, JP;
Yasushi Nakazato, Tokyo, JP;
Akira Takehisa, Tokyo, JP;
Osamu Satoh, Kanagawa, JP;
Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A cleaning blade failure prediction processor for an image forming apparatus includes a pixel count acquisition circuit to acquire pixel count data of a cleaning target of a cleaning blade. The cleaning target is divided into a plurality of areas in a main scanning direction of the cleaning target. The pixel count acquisition circuit acquires a pixel count for each of the plurality of areas of the cleaning target. The cleaning blade failure prediction processor also includes a first cumulative pixel count calculation circuit to calculate a cumulative pixel count for each of the plurality of areas of the cleaning target, a second cumulative pixel count calculation circuit to calculate a cumulative pixel count per distance traveled of the cleaning target, and a deformation identification circuit to determine whether or not the cleaning blade shows signs of deformation according to the cumulative pixel count per distance traveled.