Toner refilling device and developing device using the same for an image forming apparatus
AssigneeRicoh Company, Ltd.
InventorsFumihito Itoh, Shunji Katoh, Hirosato Amano, Kunio Makino, Takamichi Enomoto, Hiroyuki Uemura
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Abstract
In a developing device of the present invention for depositing toner on an image carrier to thereby develop a latent image formed thereon, a toner refilling device is configured to refill, when the toner is short, fresh toner at a position where the developing device is situated.
Claims15
In a developing device for depositing toner on an image carrier to thereby develop a latent image formed on said image carrier, toner refilling means is provided for refilling, when said toner is short, fresh toner at a position where said developing device is situated.
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- an image carrier on which a latent image is to be formed;
- a developing device configured to develop the latent image with toner;
- and
- toner refilling means for refilling, when the toner is short, fresh toner at a position where said developing device is situated;
- wherein part of a wall included in a casing, which accommodates said developing device, faces a toner refilling portion positioned at a toner replenishing section, which forms part of said developing device, and is openable separately from the other part of said wall, whereby fresh toner can be refilled via said toner refilling portion when said part of said wall is opened.
A method of controlling a toner refilling device for refilling a toner container storing specified toner with fresh toner, said method comprising the steps of:
- providing the toner container with a data storing medium storing specified toner data particular to the specified toner;
- reading said specified toner data out of said data storing medium before refilling the toner container with fresh toner;
- determining, based on said specified toner data, whether or not the fresh toner to be refilled in the toner container is the specified toner;
- and
- controlling, if the fresh toner is not the specified toner, said toner refilling device so as not to refill the toner container with said fresh toner.
A control system for controlling a toner refilling device configured to refill fresh toner in a toner container comprising a data storing medium that stores specified toner data particular to specified toner stored in said toner container, said control system comprising:
- reading means for reading said specified toner data out of the data storing medium before causing the fresh toner to be refilled in the toner container;
- comparing means for comparing said specified toner data read out by said reading means and fresh toner data particular to the fresh toner to be refilled;
- decision means for determining, based on a result of comparison output from said comparing means, whether or not the fresh toner is the specified toner;
- and
- control means for controlling, if the fresh toner is not the specified toner, the toner refilling device so as not to refill the toner container with said fresh toner.
An image forming apparatus comprising toner image forming means for forming a toner image on an image carrier by using toner fed from a toner container, which comprises a data storing medium storing fresh toner data particular to fresh toner to be refilled, said image forming apparatus comprising:
- a data recording medium storing specified toner data for authenticating the toner to be fed from the toner container as specified toner applicable to the toner image forming means;
- reading means for reading fresh toner data stored in said data storing medium of the toner container before the fresh toner refilled in said toner container is used;
- comparing means for comparing said specified toner data stored in said data recording medium and said fresh toner data read out by said reading means;
- decision means for determining, based on a result of comparison output from said comparing means, whether or not the fresh toner is the specified toner;
- and
- control means for controlling said toner image forming means such that the fresh toner is to be used only if said fresh toner is the specified toner.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.