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:
Mar. 27, 2018
Filed:
Nov. 30, 2016
Tatsuya Sugawara, Kanagawa, JP;
Takashi Fukumoto, Kanagawa, JP;
Hideaki Takahashi, Kanagawa, JP;
Hidetoshi Kojima, Kanagawa, JP;
Tatsuya Sugawara, Kanagawa, JP;
Takashi Fukumoto, Kanagawa, JP;
Hideaki Takahashi, Kanagawa, JP;
Hidetoshi Kojima, Kanagawa, JP;
Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A sheet feeder, which is included in an image forming apparatus and an image forming system, includes a sheet loader on which a sheet bundle is loaded, an air blower to blow air to the sheet bundle loaded on the sheet loader and float upper sheets of the sheet bundle, a loader elevation device to lift and lower the sheet loader, a reflective optical detector including a first reflective optical detector to detect the upper sheets floated by the air blower and a second reflective optical detector to detect multiple floating sheets located below the floating sheets detected by the first reflective optical detector, and a controller configured to control the loader elevation device to perform a lifting operation of the sheet loader based on a combination of an output value of the first reflective optical detector and an output value of the second reflective optical detector.