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:
Jun. 07, 2016
Filed:
Dec. 15, 2015
Hiroyuki Mabuchi, Kanagawa, JP;
Hiroaki Okamoto, Kanagawa, JP;
Junichi Terai, Kanagawa, JP;
Yukio Otome, Ibaraki, JP;
Tadashi Ogawa, Tokyo, JP;
Hiroshi Kikuchi, Kanagawa, JP;
Hideki Kimura, Kanagawa, JP;
Katsuya Akiba, Kanagawa, JP;
Hiroyuki Mabuchi, Kanagawa, JP;
Hiroaki Okamoto, Kanagawa, JP;
Junichi Terai, Kanagawa, JP;
Yukio Otome, Ibaraki, JP;
Tadashi Ogawa, Tokyo, JP;
Hiroshi Kikuchi, Kanagawa, JP;
Hideki Kimura, Kanagawa, JP;
Katsuya Akiba, Kanagawa, JP;
Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A toner bottle driving device control method includes driving one of multiple toner bottle driving devices connected to a single toner container at a time, detecting abnormality of a toner bottle driving device being driven, determining a first abnormality phase of the toner bottle driving device being driven when a number of times the abnormality is detected exceeds a threshold, inhibiting the toner bottle driving device being in the first abnormality phase from driving until the first abnormality phase is resolved, driving a drivable toner bottle driving device containing a non-empty toner bottle when the toner bottle contained in the toner bottle driving device being driven is determined as empty, determining that the multiple toner bottle driving devices are in a second abnormality phase when each of the multiple toner bottle driving devices is determined as being in the first abnormality phase, and inhibiting image formation.