US4215931A — Electrophotographic apparatus

Claim 1

Independent Claim 289 words

An electrophotographic apparatus for forming any desired number of duplicated copies of a document from the same and single electrostatic charge latent image corresponding to the document to be duplicated once formed on a photosensitive member, by repeating a step for developing the latent image with toner particles to form a visible toner image and a step for transferring the toner image onto a record paper to form a final copy, comprising means for generating clock pulses having a given period; first and second timing pulse generators for receiving the clock pulses to produce various timing pulses in synchronism with the duplicating operation; means for receiving the timing pulses to produce various control signals for controlling the duplicating operation; means for feeding the document to be duplicated through an exposure-scanning portion at a constant speed; means for detecting the document at said document feeding means to produce a document detection signal; means for setting the desired number of copies to be formed from the single document to produce a copy number signal; and means for receiving given timing pulses from one of the first and second timing pulse generators, the document detection signal and the copy number signal to produce a control signal for driving said document feeding means; whereby during the duplicating operation for forming the desired number of copies of the document the document feeding means is so controlled as to hold a next document at a stand-by position and during the duplicating operation for forming the last copy of the desired number of copies the document feeding means is so controlled as to initiate the document feed through the exposure-scanning portion, so that desired number of copies of successively supplied documents can be formed without interruption.

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 289 words

An electrophotographic apparatus for forming any desired number of duplicated copies of a document from the same and single electrostatic charge latent image corresponding to the document to be duplicated once formed on a photosensitive member, by repeating a step for developing the latent image with toner particles to form a visible toner image and a step for transferring the toner image onto a record paper to form a final copy, comprising means for generating clock pulses having a given period; first and second timing pulse generators for receiving the clock pulses to produce various timing pulses in synchronism with the duplicating operation; means for receiving the timing pulses to produce various control signals for controlling the duplicating operation; means for feeding the document to be duplicated through an exposure-scanning portion at a constant speed; means for detecting the document at said document feeding means to produce a document detection signal; means for setting the desired number of copies to be formed from the single document to produce a copy number signal; and means for receiving given timing pulses from one of the first and second timing pulse generators, the document detection signal and the copy number signal to produce a control signal for driving said document feeding means; whereby during the duplicating operation for forming the desired number of copies of the document the document feeding means is so controlled as to hold a next document at a stand-by position and during the duplicating operation for forming the last copy of the desired number of copies the document feeding means is so controlled as to initiate the document feed through the exposure-scanning portion, so that desired number of copies of successively supplied documents can be formed without interruption.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 34 words

An electrophotographic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of said two timing pulse generators can produce all of timing pulses necessary for controlling the complete duplicating operation for forming a single duplicated copy.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 38 words

An electrophotographic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the complete duplicating operation for forming a single duplicated copy is divided into two successive portions and these portions are assigned to the first and second timing pulse generators, respectively.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 44 words

An electrophotographic apparatus according to claim 3, wherein there are provided master and slave timing pulse generators and the control for the duplicating operation for forming a single copy is taken over from the master timing pulse generator to the slave timing pulse generator.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 312 words

An electrophotographic apparatus for forming any desired number of duplicated copies of a document from the same and single electrostatic charge latent image comprising a photosensitive member which is movably arranged; means for charging substantially uniformly said photosensitive member; means for feeding the document to be duplicated through an exposure-scanning portion at a constant speed; means for projecting an optical image of the document at the exposure-scanning portion onto the uniformly charged photosensitive member so as to form thereon an electrostatic charge latent image corresponding to the document image; means for developing the electrostatic charge latent image with toner particles; means for transferring the developed toner image onto a record paper; means for fixing the transferred toner image; means for producing clock pulses having a given period in synchronism with the movement of the photosensitive member; master and slave timing pulse generators for receiving said clock pulses to generate all of necessary timing pulses for forming a single duplicated copy in synchronism with the duplicating operation; means for detecting the document at the document feeding means to produce a document detection signal; means for setting the desired copy number to be formed to produce a copy number signal; and means for receiving the timing pulses, the document detection signal and the copy number signal to produce various control signals for controlling the operation of various means; whereby the control for the duplicating operation for forming the last copy of the desired number of copies is taken over from the master timing pulse generator to the slave timing pulse generator and after that the duplicating operation for a next document which has been held at a document stand-by position can be carried out under the control of the master timing pulse generator, which can produce all of timing pulses necessary for controlling the apparatus during one period of the movement of photosensitive member.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 312 words

An electrophotographic apparatus for forming any desired number of duplicated copies of a document from the same and single electrostatic charge latent image comprising a photosensitive member which is movably arranged; means for charging substantially uniformly said photosensitive member; means for feeding the document to be duplicated through an exposure-scanning portion at a constant speed; means for projecting an optical image of the document at the exposure-scanning portion onto the uniformly charged photosensitive member so as to form thereon an electrostatic charge latent image corresponding to the document image; means for developing the electrostatic charge latent image with toner particles; means for transferring the developed toner image onto a record paper; means for fixing the transferred toner image; means for producing clock pulses having a given period in synchronism with the movement of the photosensitive member; master and slave timing pulse generators for receiving said clock pulses to generate all of necessary timing pulses for forming a single duplicated copy in synchronism with the duplicating operation; means for detecting the document at the document feeding means to produce a document detection signal; means for setting the desired copy number to be formed to produce a copy number signal; and means for receiving the timing pulses, the document detection signal and the copy number signal to produce various control signals for controlling the operation of various means; whereby the control for the duplicating operation for forming the last copy of the desired number of copies is taken over from the master timing pulse generator to the slave timing pulse generator and after that the duplicating operation for a next document which has been held at a document stand-by position can be carried out under the control of the master timing pulse generator, which can produce all of timing pulses necessary for controlling the apparatus during one period of the movement of photosensitive member.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 42 words

An electrophotographic apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said photosensitive member comprises a rotatable photosensitive drum and said master timing pulse generator produces the timing pulses which are necessary for controlling the operation of the apparatus during one rotation of the drum.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 36 words

An electrophotographic apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the period of the clock pulse is so determined that substantially 200 to 800 clock pulses, preferably 400 clock pulses are generated during one rotation of the drum.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 31 words

An electrophotographic apparatus according to claim 6, wherein a time period necessary for forming a single copy is determined to be substantially equal to one and quater rotations of the drum.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 57 words

An electrophotographic apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said means for producing the clock pulses comprises a rotating disc having formed therein a plurality of apertures along its peripheral portion, mechanical linkage for driving the disc in synchronism with the drum, and a photocoupler having light emitting and receiving elements arranged on respective side of the disc.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 61 words

An electrophotographic apparatus according to claim 5, wherein each of said master and slave timing pulse generators comprises counter decoder including a plurality of counter stages for counting the clock pulses and having a number of output terminals and timing pulse selecting circuit including a plurality of AND gates having input terminals connected to given output terminals of the counter stages.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 69 words

An electrophotographic apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the document detecting means comprises a first document detection switch provided at an upstream with respect to the document feeding means viewed in a document feed direction and a second document detection switch provided at a downstream with respect to the document feeding means, whereby said document stand-by position is set at a downstream with respect to the document feeding means.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 52 words

An electrophotographic apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising means for producing a stop signal means for holding the stop signal and means for generating a duplication stop signal in response to a given timing pulse which is generated from the control signal generating means after said stop signal has been produced.

Claim 15

Dependent Claim 50 words

An electrophotographic apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising means for detecting an existence of the record paper to produce a no-paper signal, and means for stopping a sequence of duplication control to be initiated during the duplicating operation for the last record paper in response to said no-paper signal.

Claim 16

Dependent Claim 44 words

An electrophotographic apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the apparatus further comprises means for detecting paper jam to produce a paper jam signal and said control device is so constructed that the duplicating operation is instantaneously stopped in response to said paper jam signal.

Claim 17

Dependent Claim 30 words

An electrophotographic apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said transferring means comprises a transfer roller which is made separated from the photosensitive member in response to said paper jam signal.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	1983-08-05	1984-02-04	1984-08-05	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	1987-08-05	1988-02-04	1988-08-05	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	1991-08-05	1992-02-04	1992-08-05	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Electrophotographic apparatus

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