Patents Represented by Attorney, Agent or Law Firm Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto
  • Patent number: 8342762
    Abstract: Information indicating whether or not a printhead of a printer has been replaced or detached is obtained. Before the start of printing on the printer, a message is displayed prompting for print position adjustment of the printer if it is determined, based on the obtained information, that the printhead has been replaced or detached. The information indicating whether or not a printhead has been replaced or detached is initialized based on a response to the displayed message.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2006
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Nobuhiro Saito
  • Patent number: 8342170
    Abstract: The present invention provides a liquid ejection method and a liquid ejection apparatus which enables small droplets each of diameter at most 10 ?m to be stably ejected and which allows a sufficient number of droplets to be ejected per unit time. A heater is allowed to generate heat to eject a main droplet and a liquid column from an ejection port; the liquid column is to be separated into a plurality of sub-droplets. A relationship (L2/L1)?0.9 is set for the length L1 of the liquid column observed immediately after the liquid column has been separated from the main droplet and from a liquid in the ejection port and the length L2 of the liquid column observed immediately before the liquid column is separated into the plurality of droplets.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Koichi Kitakami
  • Patent number: 8343699
    Abstract: Provided is an electrophotographic photosensitive member having a conductive support, an intermediate layer provided on the conductive support, and a photosensitive layer provided on the intermediate layer in which the intermediate layer contains a polyolefin resin containing a specific component at a specific mass ratio, and a process cartridge and an electrophotographic apparatus each having the electrophotographic photosensitive member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hideaki Nagasaka, Kunihiko Sekido, Michiyo Sekiya, Shinji Takagi
  • Patent number: 8346127
    Abstract: A process cartridge comprises a photosensitive drum and a developing roller. A coupling member is provided adjacent to one axial end of the developing roller. The coupling member includes a driven portion, and an intermediary portion configured and positioned to engage with the driven portion. The intermediary portion is also configured to be movable relative to the driven portion in a direction crossing the axis of the developing roller while maintaining engagement with the driven portion. The coupling member further includes a driving portion configured and positioned to receive a driving force for rotating the developing roller. The driving portion is also configured to engage with the intermediary portion, and to be movable relative to the intermediary portion in a direction crossing the axis of the developing roller while maintaining engagement with the intermediary portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kazuo Chadani, Tomonori Mori, Koji Hashimoto
  • Patent number: 8342631
    Abstract: An objective is to provide an inkjet print apparatus and an inkjet print method capable of a print without concentration unevenness. To achieve the objective, in a multiple-pass print using mask patterns each having low-print-percentage areas and high-print-percentage areas, the print-percentage difference between high-print-percentage areas and low-print-percentage areas is cancelled out in left-edge and right-edge parts of an image to be printed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masayuki Kyoshima, Masaki Oikawa, Keiji Tomizawa
  • Patent number: 8342028
    Abstract: Disclosed is a photoacoustic measurement apparatus that irradiates a light beam onto a subject, from a same side as that of an acoustic wave detector, and that measures photoacoustic waves. The photoacoustic measurement apparatus has: an acoustic wave detector; a diffraction grating member provided in front of a detection surface of the detector; a light source that generates a light beam; and an optical system that guides the light beam from the light source towards the diffraction grating member. The diffraction grating member is configured such that the light beam led to the diffraction grating member is outputted by the diffraction grating member towards a subject surface that opposes the detection surface of the detector. As a result, light beams can strike a biological body in a near-perpendicular angle. This affords greater illumination efficiency, and allows light of substantial light energy to be irradiated deep inside biological structures.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Shigeru Ichihara, Takahiro Masumura, Shuichi Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 8342649
    Abstract: A printing apparatus and a printing method are provided by which, when an image is printed by a plurality of printing modes using different printing elements, a plurality of printing elements can have an equalized use frequency to thereby maintain the uniformity of quality of the printed image. In a first multipath printing control, a use rate of a nozzle group that is not used in the first multipath printing control and that is used in a second multipath printing control is higher than that of a nozzle group that is used in the first and second multipath printing controls.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Takeshi Yazawa, Yuji Konno, Satoshi Seki, Hinako Iritani
  • Patent number: 8342514
    Abstract: Sheets fed out from a sheet feeding portion, which is brought into pressure contact with the sheets by the upward movement of a sheet stacking portion to feed out the sheets, are separated and conveyed one by one while being upwardly curved. During the sheet feeding operation, the sheet stacking portion is sequentially moved up, and when the sheet feeding operation is completed, the sheet stacking portion is moved down. Further, a remaining amount indicating member moved with the upward movement of the sheet stacking portion to indicate the remaining amount of sheets is held at a position before the sheet stacking portion is moved down, by a holding mechanism, when the sheet feeding operation is completed and the sheet stacking portion is moved down.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hisayuki Tomura, Kei Sawanaka, Akio Nemoto, Kazushi Nishikata, Masato Suzuki, Atsuya Takahashi, Shotaro Yoshimura, Mitsunari Ito
  • Patent number: 8341836
    Abstract: An airtight container manufacturing method includes the steps of (a) exhausting an inside of a container through the through-hole; (b) arranging a spacer along a periphery of the through-hole on an outer surface of the container the inside of which has been exhausted; (c) arranging a plate so that the spacer and the through-hole are covered by the plate and a gap is formed along a side surface of the spacer between the plate and the container outer surface; and (d) arranging the cover to cover the plate and bonding the cover and the container outer surface via sealant positioned between the cover and the container outer surface. The sealing includes hardening the sealant after deforming the sealant by pressing the plate with the cover so that the gap is infilled with the sealant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 19, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Tomonori Nakazawa, Kinya Kamiguchi, Toshimitsu Kawase, Nobuhiro Ito, Mitsutoshi Hasegawa, Koichiro Nakanishi, Kazuo Koyanagi
  • Patent number: 8345927
    Abstract: A registration processing apparatus generates a polynomial to calculate a value corresponding to a distance from the surface of a target object in a first image, and acquires a plurality of position coordinates on the surface of the target object in a second image. Then the apparatus respectively calculates a value corresponding to the distance from the surface of the target object in the first image using the polynomial, for position coordinates obtained by coordinate conversion of the plurality of position coordinates. The apparatus coordinate-converts the position coordinates of the second image by a coordinate conversion method for the plurality of position coordinates determined based on the calculated values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Ryo Ishikawa, Katsushi Ikeuchi, Jun Takamatsu, Takeshi Ohishi, Bo Zheng
  • Patent number: 8342661
    Abstract: An inkjet printing apparatus which can perform cost-down and an improvement on a print quality by simplification of an apparatus construction is realized. For realizing such an apparatus, a gas-liquid separation is achieved by the construction where air bubbles generated in an ejection portion or a reservoir can rise to a liquid surface, and a negative pressure control and at the same time, discharge of the air bubbles are performed by a fan.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 15, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Finetech Inc.
    Inventors: Yuuichi Takahashi, Daisuke Nakamura, Takefumi Tamura, Yuuko Saijo
  • Patent number: 8345278
    Abstract: In a job processing system, usage restriction information is managed for restricting user usage of functions of a job processing apparatus. An information processing apparatus acquires usage restriction information corresponding to a first operator instructing generation of job data, and writes the usage restriction information into job data to be transmitted to the job processing apparatus. The job processing apparatus checks whether or not the usage restriction information is written in the job data received from the information processing apparatus, and when the usage restriction information is confirmed, processes the job data in accordance with the usage restriction information, and when the usage restriction information is not confirmed, processes the job data in accordance with usage restriction information of a second operator instructing execution of a job in the job processing apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Hiroko Iizuka
  • Patent number: 8346142
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes an air ejecting portion that ejects air toward a gap between the top end of a sheet having passed through a nip of the heating roller and a pressure roller, and the circumference of the heating roller. The air ejecting portion includes a plurality of air nozzles and a plurality of electromagnetic valves being respectively connected thereto and ejects air selectively from a plurality of air ejection positions arranged in the width direction perpendicular to the sheet conveying direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Hirokazu Kodama
  • Patent number: 8342509
    Abstract: At a start of sheet feeding operation, a feed cam starts to rotate in association with rotation of a feed shaft and a feed roller starts to rotate from a time when the feed shaft has passed an idle zone, so as to send out each of sheets on a rising and lowering plate. After that, the feed roller is returned to a feed initial position by a return mechanism including a conveyance roller and a feed rotatable member. A cam curve of the feed cam reduces a rising speed as compared to a rising speed of a conventional rising and lowering plate, and reduces generation of noise at the time of collision between the sheets on the rising and lowering plate and the feed rotatable member. Thus, an image forming apparatus having lower noise level can be provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masatoshi Takiguchi, Shinya Noda, Shinji Kubo
  • Patent number: 8345980
    Abstract: According to the present invention, authenticities of paper fingerprint information and of document information are collectively determined through formation of an original that is given an encoded image in which both paper fingerprint information and document information are encoded. By collectively guaranteeing identities of the paper form and of the document, it becomes possible to realize the more reliable authenticity guarantee.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Aya Mitome
  • Patent number: 8345327
    Abstract: An image reading apparatus, which reads an image on an original, including: a light source extending along a main scanning direction to illuminate the original; a plurality of line sensors configured to receive light reflected from the original and to output light intensity signals; a storage unit configured to store reference data; and a determination unit configured to obtain determination data regarding hue based on a light intensity signal output from one of the plurality of line sensors that receive light reflected from a reflective reference member illuminated by the light source and a light intensity signal output from another of the plurality of line sensors that receive light reflected from the reflective reference member illuminated by the light source and to determine a hue balance of the light source based on the determination data and the reference data stored in the storage unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Ryo Mikami
  • Patent number: 8342659
    Abstract: A liquid discharge head includes a substrate and a flow path wall member provided on the substrate and having a wall defining a flow path connected to a discharge port for discharging liquid. The flow path wall member is provided with a cavity not connected to the flow path, when viewed in a direction from the discharge port toward the substrate, the cavity has a shape of a character, and the character corresponds to information regarding the liquid discharge head.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kenji Fujii, Kazuhiro Asai, Makoto Watanabe, Yoshinori Tagawa, Yoshiyuki Imanaka, Yuuji Tamaru, Kousuke Kubo
  • Patent number: 8345332
    Abstract: To provide an image processing system, an image processing apparatus, and an image processing method capable of realizing the optimum color matching between apparatuses according to various situations (the use case or the type of image) in printing one job in a plurality of image forming apparatuses. In the present invention, MFP101 acquires a color reproduction range for each of MFP102 and LBP103 (Step S903), and computes logical AND of the plurality of acquired color reproduction ranges (Step S904). Next, in accordance with the use case and the attribute of an image, MFP101 determines whether the color reproduction range in printing the image is set to the logical AND of the color reproduction ranges or to an expanded area of the logical AND of the color reproduction ranges (steps S905 to S908). Then, MFP101 adds the determined color reproduction range to the image and transmits this to MFP102, LBP103 (S909).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Nobuyoshi Kakigi
  • Patent number: 8342646
    Abstract: The present invention relates to measures for preventing end deviation that may occur during high-duty printing such as one-pass printing, and in particular, to measures for preventing density unevenness (white stripes) in the case of ink with a low lightness such as black ink. According to the present invention, the amount of black ink ejected through the corresponding ejection ports is set to be larger than that of color ink ejected through the corresponding ejection ports. Two black ink ejection chips each having at least one black ink ejection port row are arranged on the respective sides of a color ink ejection chip.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Michinari Mizutani
  • Patent number: 8345140
    Abstract: An image capturing apparatus for capturing a chart having color patches of a plurality of colors using a taking lens and obtaining a color-patch signal for creating a color profile. In the apparatus, the type of chart is identified, after which the focal length of the taking lens is acquired. Then, based upon the focal length, object distance suited to the chart type is determined and the user is notified of the object distance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Toru Nagata