Oblon, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt, L.L.P
Toner bottle driving device control method and image forming apparatus
A toner bottle driving device control method includes driving one of multiple toner bottle driving devices connected to a single toner container at a time, detecting abnormality of a toner bottle driving device being driven, determining a first abnormality phase of the toner bottle driving device being driven when a number of times the abnormality is detected exceeds a threshold, inhibiting the toner bottle driving device being in the first abnormality phase from driving until the first abnormality phase is resolved, driving a drivable toner bottle driving device containing a non-empty toner bottle when the toner bottle contained in the toner bottle driving device being driven is determined as empty, determining that the multiple toner bottle driving devices are in a second abnormality phase when each of the multiple toner bottle driving devices is determined as being in the first abnormality phase, and inhibiting image formation.
Ricoh Company, Ltd.
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Hiroshi Junichi Hiroaki Hideki Yukio Katsuya Tadashi Hiroyuki
Kikuchi Terai Okamoto Kimura Otome Akiba Ogawa Mabuchi