ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 20 -- United States Patent no. 12,529,992, issued on Jan. 20, was assigned to CANON K.K. (Tokyo).
"Image forming apparatus and fixing unit" was invented by Akitoshi Toyota (Kanagawa, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An image forming apparatus includes an image forming portion configured to form a toner image on a sheet, a fixing portion configured to heat and pressurize the sheet bearing the toner image to fix the toner image to the sheet, a shutter provided to be movable to an open position at which the shutter opens an opening that the sheet being conveyed toward the fixing portion is able to pass through, and a closed position at which the shutter closes the openi...