A small color laser printer using four all-in-one cartridges has been developed. Four fan-shaped cartridges, each of which contains an OPC drum, a developing unit, a charger and a cleaner, are assembled into a rotary carousel. The carousel rotationally changes each color cartridge to produce primary color images that are superimposed onto an intermediate transfer belt to make a full-color image that is transferred to a paper all at once. This world-first color all-in-one cartridge eliminates hand-dirtying problems during toner and OPC replacement. Furthermore, fewer supply items and a 10,000-page long cartridge ensure less user intervention for the replacing of consumables. Its all-front-access structure, which is similar to conventional monochrome lasers, affords good user friendliness. This technology is employed in Panasonic's color laser printer DP-CL16.
Hajime Yamamoto, Hiroshi Terada, Noboru Katakabe, Yoshihito Urata, "Color Laser Printer Using Four All-in-One Cartridges" in Journal of Imaging Science and Technology, 2000, pp 466 - 470, https://doi.org/10.2352/J.ImagingSci.Technol.2000.44.5.art00015