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. 24, 2017
Filed:
Apr. 08, 2015
Noriaki Takenaga, Tokyo, JP;
Tohru Matsumoto, Ibaraki, JP;
Tetsuya Ofuchi, Kanagawa, JP;
Takayuki Nishimura, Kanagawa, JP;
Yukifumi Kobayashi, Kanagawa, JP;
Hideyo Makino, Tokyo, JP;
Satoshi Nakayama, Kanagawa, JP;
Noriaki Takenaga, Tokyo, JP;
Tohru Matsumoto, Ibaraki, JP;
Tetsuya Ofuchi, Kanagawa, JP;
Takayuki Nishimura, Kanagawa, JP;
Yukifumi Kobayashi, Kanagawa, JP;
Hideyo Makino, Tokyo, JP;
Satoshi Nakayama, Kanagawa, JP;
Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A sheet discriminator, which can be included in an image forming apparatus, includes an optical information detector, a sheet distinguisher, and a sheet thickness detector. The optical information detector includes a light emitter to emit light to a recording medium and a light receiver to receive the light and detects information of the recording medium. The sheet distinguisher distinguishes a type of the recording medium based on the information detected by the optical information detector. The sheet thickness detector includes a displacement gauge to sandwich the recording medium with an opposing member disposed facing the displacement gauge and to move from an initial position thereof and a displacement detector to detect an amount of displacement of the displacement gauge. The sheet thickness detector detects a thickness of the recording medium based on detection results obtained by the displacement detector.