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. 31, 2017
Filed:
Jan. 12, 2016
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, JP;
Manabu Koseki, Sakuragawa, JP;
Yousuke Hata, Ichikawa, JP;
Toshihide Shima, Abiko, JP;
Hiroyuki Eda, Moriya, JP;
Takeyuki Suda, Nagareyama, JP;
Hirohisa Nakajima, Tsukubamirai, JP;
Shinya Suzuki, Toride, JP;
Toshiyuki Abe, Toride, JP;
Kazumi Sato, Kashiwa, JP;
Toshifumi Kakutani, Abiko, JP;
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus includes a waste toner container for containing toner recovered from a photosensitive drum and an intermediate transfer belt. The waste toner container has a stirring screw for conveying the toner in the waste toner container. The stirring screw is driven by a waste toner motor. A CPU determines whether the waste toner container is in need of replacement depending on a rotation speed or driving current of the waste toner motor. If the waste toner container is in need of replacement, the CPU displays such on a display unit to provide a notification to a user.