Patent Document ID: 5446523
Application ID: 08132351
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. An image forming apparatus having a repair function, comprising: sensor means provided in predetermined areas of the apparatus for detecting a predetermined physical amount or change in the physical amount; actuator means provided in predetermined areas of the apparatus for performing predetermined operations; conversion means for converting detected values of said sensor means into fuzzy qualitative values using fuzzy membership functions; case storage mans for storing a plurality of virtual cases each of which is a representation of a state, which the apparatus can take up when a fault symptom appears in the apparatus, by a qualitative value; diagnosis means for comparing the fuzzy qualitative values obtained by conversion by said conversion means with the plurality of virtual cases stored in said case storage means to diagnose a present state of the apparatus; operation information storage means for storing operation information for repair to correspond to each of domains, into which a qualitative quantity space which the apparatus can take up, is divided; and repair execution means for judging which of the plurality of domains obtained by division is a domain to which the present state of the apparatus which is diagnosed by said diagnosis means belongs, for reading out the operation information corresponding to the domain to which the present state of the apparatus belongs from said operation information storage means, and for operating said actuator means to execute repair.