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US 7,734,200 B2Granted
Lifetime management device and image forming system
AssigneeRicoh Company, Ltd.
InventorsToshihiro Sugiyama, Yutaka Takahashi, Jun Shiori
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An image forming system includes an image forming apparatus that includes process units for different colors and a lifetime management device that manages lifetime information on each unit of the image forming apparatus. The lifetime management device counts the number of prints produced by the image forming apparatus with respect to each of photoconductor units and developing units in the process units, and measures an operation amount unique to the respective units. Based on the number of prints, service life of each unit and operation amount, the lifetime management device calculates the remaining lifetime of each unit.
Claims19
A lifetime management device for an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a recording medium and includes a plurality of components, the lifetime management device comprising:
- a counting unit that counts number of prints produced by the image forming apparatus with respect to each of the components;
- a measuring unit that measures an operation amount of at least part of the components with respect to each of the components;
- and
- a calculating unit that calculates a remaining lifetime of each of the components based on at least one of a lifetime index, the number of prints, and the operation amount,
- wherein the calculating unit corrects the number of prints based on the operation amount to obtain a corrected value, and calculates the remaining lifetime based on the corrected value and the lifetime index, and
- wherein the calculating unit calculates a first remaining lifetime based on the corrected value and the lifetime index, and a second remaining lifetime based on the operation amount and the lifetime index, and determines a shorter one of the first remaining lifetime and the second remaining lifetime as the remaining lifetime.
3 more elements
An image forming system, comprising:
- an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a recording medium and includes a plurality of components;
- and
- a lifetime management device that manages lifetime information on each of the components of the image forming apparatus, the lifetime management device includes:
- a counting unit that counts number of prints produced by the image forming apparatus with respect to each of the components;
- a measuring unit that measures an operation amount of at least part of the components with respect to each of the components;
- and
- a calculating unit that calculates a remaining lifetime of each of the components based on at least one of a lifetime index, the number of prints, and the operation amount,
- wherein the calculating unit corrects the number of prints based on the operation amount to obtain a corrected value,
- the calculating unit calculates a first remaining lifetime based on the corrected value and the lifetime index,
- the measuring unit measures as the operation amount an accumulated moving distance of at least one of the latent image carrier, the developing unit, the endlessly moving unit and the fixing unit, and
- the calculating unit calculates a second remaining lifetime of at least one of the latent image carrier, the developing unit, the endlessly moving unit and the fixing unit based on the accumulated moving distance and the lifetime index, and determines a shorter one of the first remaining lifetime and the second remaining lifetime as the remaining lifetime.
8 more elements
An image forming system, comprising:
- an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a recording medium and includes a plurality of components;
- and
- a lifetime management device that manages lifetime information on each of the components of the image forming apparatus, the lifetime management device includes:
- a counting unit that counts number of prints produced by the image forming apparatus with respect to each of the components;
- a measuring unit that measures an operation amount of at least part of the components with respect to each of the components;
- and
- a calculating unit that calculates a remaining lifetime of each of the components based on at least one of a lifetime index, the number of prints, and the operation amount,
- wherein when a ratio of the operation amount to a value obtained by multiplying the number of prints by a predetermined coefficient is equal to or larger than a predetermined threshold, the calculating unit corrects the number of prints to be a corrected value larger than the number of prints for the part of the components,
- the calculating unit calculates a first remaining lifetime based on the corrected value and the lifetime index,
- the measuring unit measures as the operation amount an accumulated moving distance of at least one of the latent image carrier, the developing unit, the endlessly moving unit and the fixing unit, and
- the calculating unit calculates a second remaining lifetime of at least one of the latent image carrier, the developing unit, the endlessly moving unit and the fixing unit based on the accumulated moving distance and the lifetime index, and determines a shorter one of the first remaining lifetime and the second remaining lifetime as the remaining lifetime.
8 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.