Patent ID: 7162190

Claim:
A toner feeder removably mounted in an image forming apparatus including a rotation driver for rotating a toner container and a rotation controller for controlling the rotation driver, the toner feeder comprising: a toner container for containing toner; a support holder which holds the toner container in an axially rotatable manner; the toner container having a toner outlet port and a magnetic member provided on an outer peripheral surface thereof; the support holder including magnetism detection means which detects passage of the magnetic member and outputs a detection signal to the rotation controller; wherein the rotation controller controls the rotation driver so as to stop the toner container with toner outlet port oriented upward with respect to a gravity direction on the basis of the output of the magnetism detection means after the toner container is rotated by the rotation driver to feed out a predetermined amount of toner from the toner outlet port, wherein the magnetic member includes a plurality of magnetic members arranged in spaced relation; and the rotation controller detects specifications of the toner feeder on the basis of time intervals of passage of the magnetic members.