Image forming apparatus
AssigneeRicoh Company, Ltd.
InventorAkihito Kameda
Life of this patent
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Abstract
There is provided an image-forming apparatus having a transmitting and receiving device for transmitting and receiving system information to a host computer by way of a data communication line; a detection device for detecting the amount of toner deposited on the photoreceptor in the developing unit of the image-forming apparatus; a counting device for counting the number of images to be printed; and a near-full detection device for detecting the near-full state of waste toner by using the detection device and the counting device.
Claims15
An image-forming apparatus having transmitting and receiving means for transmitting and receiving system information to and from a host computer by way of a data communication line, comprising:
- detection means for detecting an amount of toner fed to a photoreceptor in a developing unit of the image-forming apparatus;
- determining means for determining an actual amount of toner to be used for a single image by the developing unit prior to image printing;
- calculating means for calculating an amount of waste toner to be produced by subtracting the actual amount of toner to be used from the amount of toner fed;
- counting means for counting a number of the images to be printed prior to the image printing;
- and
- near-full detection means for detecting a near-full state of a waste toner tank by using the detection means, the determining means, the calculating means, and the counting means.
An image-forming apparatus having a transmitting and receiving mechanism configured to transmit and receive system information to and from a host computer by way of a data communication line, comprising:
- a detection mechanism configured to detect an amount of toner fed to a photoreceptor in a developing unit of the image-forming apparatus;
- a determining mechanism configured to determine an actual amount of toner to be used for a single image by the developing unit prior to image printing;
- a calculating mechanism for calculating an amount of waste toner to be produced by subtracting the actual amount of toner to be used from the amount of toner fed;
- a counting mechanism configured to count a number of the images to be printed prior to the image printing;
- and
- a near-full detection mechanism configured to detect a near-full state of a waste toner tank by using the detection mechanism, the determining mechanism, the calculating mechanism, and the counting mechanism.
A method of detecting a near-full waste state of waste toner in an image-forming apparatus, the method comprising:
- detecting an amount of toner fed to a photoreceptor in a developing unit of the image-forming apparatus;
- determining an actual amount of toner to be used for a single image prior to image printing;
- calculating an amount of waste toner to be produced by subtracting the actual amount of toner to be used from the amount of toner fed;
- counting a number of images to be printed prior to the image printing;
- and
- detecting the near-full state of waste toner by using the detected amount of toner, the determined amount of toner, the calculated amount of waste toner, and the counted number of images to be printed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.