Back to results
US 5,692,231 AGranted
Image forming system for enabling detection of the quantity of sheets remaining in a sheet cassette
AssigneeSamsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
InventorsGown-Jong O, Won-Hyun Song, In-Soo Lee
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An image forming system includes a sheet cassette installed within an insertion hole formed in a main body of the image forming system. The sheet cassette stores sheets of a printable medium that are operated upon by the image forming system. A window is formed along an outer surface of the sheet cassette to enable a user to visually detect a quantity of the sheets remaining within the sheet cassette without having to remove the sheet cassette from the insertion hole.
Claims24
An image forming system, comprising:
- a sheet cassette installed within an insertion portion formed in a front face of a main body of said image forming system, and storing sheets of a printable medium that are operated upon by said image forming system;
- a window formed along an outer surface of said sheet cassette to enable a user to visually detect a quantity of said sheets remaining within said sheet cassette without having to remove said sheet cassette from said insertion portion;
- and
- light-emitting means positioned adjacent to said window to enable the user to visually detect the quantity of said sheets remaining within said sheet cassette in a dark environment.
1 more element
An image forming system, comprising:
- a photoconductive dram for forming an electrostatic latent image;
- a developing unit for applying developing material to said electrostatic latent image formed on said photoconductive drum to produce a toner image;
- a sheet cassette installed within an insertion hole formed in a front portion of a main body of said image forming system, and storing sheets of a printable medium that receive the toner image from said photoconductive drum;
- a window formed along an outer surface of said sheet cassette to enable a user to visually detect a quantity of said sheets remaining within said sheet cassette without having to remove said sheet cassette from said insertion hole;
- and
- light-emitting means positioned adjacent to said window to enable the user to visually detect the quantity of said sheets remaining within said sheet cassette in a dark environment.
3 more elements
A method for detecting a quantity of sheets remaining in a sheet cassette of an image forming system, comprising the steps of:
- placing said sheets into said sheet cassette;
- inserting said sheet cassette into a cavity formed within a main body of said image forming system so that said sheet cassette is at least substantially contained by said main body;
- performing a series of image forming operations to generate visible images upon ones of said sheets;
- and
- detecting the quantity of said sheets remaining in said sheet cassette without removing said sheet cassette from said cavity by activating a light-emitting source positioned adjacent to a window formed along an outer surface of said sheet cassette and viewing said window.
2 more elements
An image forming system, comprising:
- a photoconductive drum for forming an electrostatic latent image;
- a developing unit for applying developing material to said electrostatic latent image formed on said photoconductive drum to produce a toner image;
- a sheet cassette installed within a main body of said image forming system for storing sheets of a printable medium that receive the toner image from said photoconductive drum, said sheet cassette comprising:
- a sheet plate having a first end pivotally connected to a bottom surface of said sheet cassette and a second end positioned opposite to said first end, said sheets being placed upon said sheet plate;
- a spring installed between said bottom surface of said sheet cassette and said second end of said sheet plate for biasing said second end in a first direction;
- and
- a window formed along an outer surface of said sheet cassette to enable a user to visually detect a quantity of said sheets remaining within said sheet cassette without having to remove said sheet cassette from said main body.;
- and light-emitting means positioned adjacent to said window to enable the user to visually detect the quantity of said sheets remaining within said sheet cassette in a dark environment.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.