Patent · US Expired

Image forming apparatus, replacement assembly for image forming apparatus and integrated circuit chip therefor

US6690896B2 · kind B2 · utility

10Cited by
5References
20Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 21, 2001
Grant dateFeb 10, 2004
Priority date
Expiry dateJan 3, 2022

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG03G2221/183
  • WIPO fieldOptics
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

The present invention provides an electro photographic image forming apparatus comprising a replacement assembly having a toner container attachable to the image forming apparatus, a feeding unit to feed toner from the toner container to a development unit, and a read/write non-volatile memory, wherein, the image forming apparatus comprising an estimation unit which generates information in such way that first, the estimation unit obtains an amount of a toner feed period for the feeding unit during forming images, next, accumulates the amount of a toner feed period into an accumulated sum of the amount of a toner feed periods, then, generates the information on the amount of toner in the replacement assembly and stores the information in the read/write non-volatile memory.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.