ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 17 -- United States Patent no. 12,577,078, issued on March 17, was assigned to Canon K.K. (Tokyo).
"Image forming apparatus" was invented by Shutaro Kodama (Shizuoka, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An image forming apparatus includes a first conveying portion provided with a discharge opening, a second conveying portion, a switching unit switched between a first state in which a recording medium is guided to the first conveying portion and a second state in which the recording medium is guided to the second conveying portion, a detecting unit provided in the discharge opening and for detecting the recording medium, a controller for controlling the switching unit, ...