US5839044A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Image forming apparatus having paper receiving portion inside the body
Assignee: Ricoh Co Ltd
•
Filing: 1996-07-16
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Granted: 1998-11-17
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Expires: 2016-07-16
Abstract
Abstract An auto document feeder feeds and ejects original documents in order of the pages. A duplex and simplex image forming unit forms an image based upon information of the document read by a reading unit. The simplex or the duplex copy sheets are ejected into an injecting portion formed by an upper wall, a bottom wall and a side wall so that an operator can access the receiving portion from the front side of the image forming apparatus. A copy sheet inverting device between the auto document feeder and the ejection portion causes the copy sheets to be stacked on the receiving portion in order of the pages.
Inventors
- 👤 Takashi Taruki
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 18:01
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N1/00; H04N1/00567; H04N1/0057; H04N1/00572; H04N1/00575; H04N1/00578; G; G03; G03G; G03G15/00; G03G15/22; G03G15/23; G03G15/231; H04N1/00519; H04N1/00525; H04N1/0058; H04N1/00588; H04N1/00591; H04N1/00599; H04N1/00602; H04N1/00631
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 6
Claim 1
Independent Claim
204 words
An image forming apparatus having a duplex copying function and comprising: a document image reading unit; an auto-document feeding unit disposed on said document image reading unit for automatically feeding a document to a document receiving tray; a copying unit disposed below said document image reading unit and including a visible toner image forming apparatus having a photoconductive element for forming a toner image based on image information of a document; a copy sheet cassette disposed at a bottom of said image forming apparatus and accommodating blank copy sheets; a duplex copy sheet tray disposed above said copy sheet cassette for temporarily receiving one sided copy sheets and refeeding the same toward said visible toner image forming apparatus; and a copy sheet receiving part onto which a simplex or duplex copy sheet is ejected and stacked, disposed between said visible image forming apparatus and said document image reading unit, wherein all of said copy sheet cassette, said duplex copy sheet tray, said visible image forming apparatus and said copy sheet receiving part overlap such that all of said copy sheet cassette, said duplex copy sheet tray, said visible image forming apparatus and said copy sheet receiving part are intersected by a single vertical plane.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
204 words
An image forming apparatus having a duplex copying function and comprising: a document image reading unit; an auto-document feeding unit disposed on said document image reading unit for automatically feeding a document to a document receiving tray; a copying unit disposed below said document image reading unit and including a visible toner image forming apparatus having a photoconductive element for forming a toner image based on image information of a document; a copy sheet cassette disposed at a bottom of said image forming apparatus and accommodating blank copy sheets; a duplex copy sheet tray disposed above said copy sheet cassette for temporarily receiving one sided copy sheets and refeeding the same toward said visible toner image forming apparatus; and a copy sheet receiving part onto which a simplex or duplex copy sheet is ejected and stacked, disposed between said visible image forming apparatus and said document image reading unit, wherein all of said copy sheet cassette, said duplex copy sheet tray, said visible image forming apparatus and said copy sheet receiving part overlap such that all of said copy sheet cassette, said duplex copy sheet tray, said visible image forming apparatus and said copy sheet receiving part are intersected by a single vertical plane.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
26 words
An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said auto-document feeding unit, said image reading unit and said copying unit have a same width.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
19 words
An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said receiving part is disposed above said photoconductive element.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
31 words
An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a document inverter for inverting an original document disposed downstream of said reading unit and upstream of said receiving tray.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
61 words
An image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a controller for controlling document feeding by said auto-document feeding unit and sheet transferring in said copying unit in a manner such that when duplex copy is made from duplex documents, each of second sides of said documents is read earlier than each of the first sides of said documents.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2001-11-16 | 2002-05-18 | 2002-11-17 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2005-11-16 | 2006-05-18 | 2006-11-17 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2009-11-16 | 2010-05-18 | 2010-11-17 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |