Patents Examined by Paul F Payer
  • Patent number: 10306091
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus having a plurality of sheet feeding cassettes includes a display device; and a controller circuit including: a display control unit configured to generate information to be displayed on the display device, the information including a sheet feeding cassette selection region and a first recording agent selection region; and a setting unit configured to apply a recording agent setting for each of the sheet feeding cassettes based on a selection made in the first recording agent selection region among at least a decolorable recording agent including a decolorable color material and a non-decolorable recording agent including a non-decolorable color material. The display control unit is further configured to generate for display on the display device a list of the sheet feeding cassettes along with the recording agent setting for each of the sheet feeding cassettes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2019
    Assignees: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA, TOSHIBA TEC KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Norio Tanaka
  • Patent number: 10298793
    Abstract: Examples of an imaging device (100) are described herein. In an example, the imaging device (100) includes a drive control assembly (110), a first drive assembly (106), a second drive assembly (108), a movable carriage (102), and a locking mechanism (112). The drive control assembly (110) can be used to regulate transmission of drive from an actuator (200) to the first drive assembly (106) and the second drive assembly (108). The locking mechanism (112) can lock the drive control assembly (110) in an engaged position with the first drive assembly (106) or the second drive assembly (108). The movable carriage (102) can actuate the locking mechanism (112) to lock the drive control assembly (110) in the engaged position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2019
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventor: Qian Tao
  • Patent number: 10277763
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus, includes an image processing device to perform processing, using electrical power supplied from a supply source, the supply source being selected from a commercial power supply, a first electrical power storage device, and a second electrical power storage device, the second electric power supply storage device supplying electric power in an amount smaller than an amount supplied from the first electric power supply storage device; and circuitry to control the processing to be performed by the image processing device according to the selected supply source. When the supply source is the first electrical power storage device, the circuitry controls the image processing device to execute processing that is executable when the supply source is the commercial power supply.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2019
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masataka Yamazaki, Jun Kimura
  • Patent number: 10250768
    Abstract: A user interface of a printer displays instructions to use the printer's document scanner for scanning a sheet of print media (of a stack of print media being added to the paper drawer) in response to a drawer sensor detecting the opening of the paper drawer. The document scanner generates an electronic image of the sheet of print media from the scanning of the sheet of print media. The processor evaluates the electronic image of the sheet of print media to identify the media type and color of the stack of print media being added to the paper drawer. For example, this is done by evaluating the size, color characteristic, transparency, and reflection characteristic of the electronic image of the sheet of print media. Then, the electronic memory records that the paper drawer contains the stack of print media having a specific media type and color.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2019
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Paul Roberts Conlon, Edward N. Chapman
  • Patent number: 10244141
    Abstract: A printing apparatus capable of adding number information differing from copy set to copy set, to a printing target image includes a judging unit configured to judge whether to add user information indicating a current user to a printing target image, and a determination unit configured to determine a position to which the number information is to be added, based on a result of the judgment performed by the judging unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2019
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Koichi Unno
  • Patent number: 10237421
    Abstract: A printer is provided. The printer has a printer body enclosing an interior, a screen, a camera, and a processor communicatively coupled to the camera. The screen overlies an exterior of at least a portion of the printer body. The camera is disposed within the interior and is configured to capture an image hereof. The processor is configured, by an analytical diagnostic software program, to display the captured image on the screen, thereby simulating a see-through view into the interior. Methods are also provided for identifying a source of a problem in the printer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2019
    Assignee: DATAMAX-O'NEIL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Scott Houle, Thomas Celinder
  • Patent number: 10194058
    Abstract: A color processing device includes a color data acquisition section that acquires color data of a first image output by a first image forming device on a basis of image data, a variation acquisition section that acquires a degree of color variation of the image data, a misregistration acquisition section that acquires an amount of misregistration between the image data and the color data in a region exhibiting a high degree of color variation, a first-relationship generation section that generates, after misregistration correction, a first relationship in a region exhibiting a low degree of color variation, and a conversion relationship generation section that generates a conversion relationship in accordance with the first relationship and a second relationship provided for a second image forming device such that colors of a second image to be output by the second image forming device and the first image are made to match.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2019
    Assignee: FUJI XEROX CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yoshitaka Kuwada, Jungo Harigai, Ryosuke Higashikata
  • Patent number: 10178261
    Abstract: A system includes at least one controlled device that is controlled based on control information output from an external device, and an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a recording material and communicate with the external device and the controlled device, wherein the image forming apparatus includes a transceiver that receives the control information from the external device and transmits the control information to the controlled device, and a transmission controller that stops the transmission of the control information by the transceiver or changes contents of the control information to be transmitted by the transceiver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2019
    Assignee: FUJI XEROX CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yoshihiro Sekine, Chigusa Nakata, Hiroshi Honda, Eiji Nishi, Kenji Kuroishi, Hiroshi Mikuriya, Takeshi Furuya, Ryuichi Ishizuka
  • Patent number: 10178273
    Abstract: An image reading apparatus includes a tray, first sensors configured to acquire information related to a maximum size of sheets placed on the tray, a scanner configured to generate first image data for each of the sheets conveyed from the tray based on the maximum size, a sheet conveyor configured to convey the sheets placed on the tray toward the scanner, second sensors configured to acquire information related to an actual size of each of the sheets conveyed by the sheet conveyor, and a controller. The controller converts for each of the sheets having an actual size that is different from the maximum size, the first image data stored in a first memory region into second image data based on the maximum size and the actual size of the sheet, and stores the second image data in a second memory region which is different from the first memory region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2019
    Assignees: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Masaaki Sei
  • Patent number: 10148840
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a capacitive human body sensor that detects an operation to return to a normal mode from a power saving mode consuming less power than the normal mode, wherein an antenna of the human body sensor is wired along a periphery of a predetermined detection target area which can receive the operation to return from a user, and a difference in sensitivity between a corner portion and a part other than the corner portion of the antenna is reduced by shaping the antenna at least to be wired in a curve without forming a corner in the corner portion, to be thinner in the corner portion than in the part other than the corner portion, or to be wired without meandering in the corner portion and wired while meandering in the part other than the corner portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2018
    Assignee: Konica Minolta, Inc.
    Inventor: Kiyohiko Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 10146995
    Abstract: Information that is printed can be correctly analyzed. A program that can be read and executed by the controller of a computer has a function of acquiring and deconstructing information that is printed by a printer as text data written as text, generating words; and a function of detecting from the generated words, based on keyword information and relation information describing a relationship between the keyword information and the word to detect, a target word to detect.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2018
    Inventors: Koji Nishizawa, Moonhee Lee
  • Patent number: 10146486
    Abstract: Systems and methods for preserving logical page order in a print job. One embodiment is a system that includes an interface that receives a print job having documents, and a controller that identifies different groups of logical pages belonging to different documents. The controller inserts an identifier into each logical page of the different groups that distinguishes logical pages of different documents, and directs the print job into a print workflow that comprises an ordered set of activities to perform upon the documents. The controller also obtains layout information that indicates a placement of one or more logical pages on a sheet, retrieves identifiers from each of the one or more logical pages of the sheet, and detects a print error based on a difference in the identifiers retrieved for the sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2018
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: John Barker Condon, Reinhard Heinrich Hohensee, Harry Reese Lewis
  • Patent number: 10142511
    Abstract: A billing system used together with an image forming apparatus for forming an image on a sheet and discharging the sheet includes: a counting unit for counting, when a print job is interrupted, a billing unit number for a sheet which already has an image formed thereon when the interruption occurs and which has not discharged from the image forming apparatus; a determination unit for determining whether the print job is continued or cancelled after the print job is interrupted; and a billing unit for counting a billing counter corresponding to an amount for which the image forming apparatus is used, and billing a user who uses the image forming apparatus according to the billing counter, wherein the billing unit switches whether the billing counter is counted by using a count result of the counting unit in accordance with a determination result of the determination unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2018
    Assignee: Konica Minolta, Inc.
    Inventor: Takuya Imai
  • Patent number: 10133970
    Abstract: A bitmap processing system for creating digital documents on a digital printing press by a fulfiller includes a fulfiller operated raster image processor that receives customer application Page Description Language (PDL) job files containing information for creating the digital documents and generates bitmaps in accordance with the files and a fulfiller operated editor that modifies the bitmaps so that the resulting documents process more efficiently in production steps downstream of a printing process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 20, 2018
    Assignee: Broadridge Output Solutions, Inc.
    Inventors: Frank Delfer, Marc J. Fagan, Charles Preston
  • Patent number: 10129434
    Abstract: Examples include acquisition of an input image, generation of a first output pixel and a second output pixel based on a first set and a second set of input pixels, selective reassigning of a gray value of at least one of the first and second output pixels, and generation of an output image based on the output pixels at a second resolution lower than the first resolution.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2018
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventor: Mark Shaw
  • Patent number: 10091384
    Abstract: An image storage device includes: a receiving unit that receives a first image read according to a first operation from an image reader and receives a second image read according to a second operation from the image reader, the second operation subsequent to the first operation; a display that displays the first image when the receiving unit receives the first image, and further displays the second image when the receiving unit receives the second image; and a memory that, when the first image and the second image are instructed to be stored in a state where the first image or the second image is displayed on the display, stores a file into which the first image and the second image are integrated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2018
    Assignee: FUJI XEROX CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Akira Yoda
  • Patent number: 10082993
    Abstract: A method for scheduling a depletion of a supply material in a printing system including a print engine capable of printing at a settable print velocity while using the supply material, a control unit for controlling a print job queue comprising at least one print job scheduled to be printed by means of a scheduling scheme while using the supply material, a supply material output holder for holding the supply material, and a user interface for interacting with a user of the printing system. The method includes determining a plurality of moments in time that the supply material output holder is full, and simultaneously scheduling for each determined moment in time of the plurality of moments in time a depletion event of emptying the supply material output holder in the scheduling scheme.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 25, 2018
    Assignee: OCE-TECHNOLOGIES B.V.
    Inventors: William E. P. P. Howard, Roel W. A. Van Bakel
  • Patent number: 10075611
    Abstract: An image processing device may first-receive print data and device identifying information from an information processing device. The image processing device may determine whether or not a particular event is occurring. The image processing device may first-store the received print data in a memory when the particular event is not occurring. The image processing device may second-store the received device identifying information in the memory when the particular event is occurring. The image processing device may send the device identifying information to a push notification server when the particular event has ended. The image processing device may second-receive print data from the information processing device corresponding to the sent device identifying information. The image processing device may third-store the received print data in the memory. The image processing device may print using the print data stored in the memory at least one of the first-storing and the third-storing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2018
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Susumu Fujiwara
  • Patent number: 10061544
    Abstract: A printing apparatus includes a storage configured to store sheet information and user identification information in association with each other, wherein the sheet information includes attribution information, and a processor that executes a set of instructions to cause the printing apparatus to function as a receiving unit configured to receive a print job including attribute information of a sheet and user identification information, a selecting unit configured to select, from the storage, sheet information based on the attribute information and the user identification information, which are included in the print job received by the receiving unit, and a register unit configured to register, with the storage, sheet information generated from the attribute information included in the received print job in association with the user identification information included in the received print job, in a case in which the sheet information including the attribute information included in the received print job is no
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2018
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Yoshiji Kanamoto
  • Patent number: 10044910
    Abstract: An image reading apparatus includes a light source unit and an image reading unit. The light source unit radiates white light containing a light having a first spectrum and a light having a second spectrum. The image reading unit generates image data in accordance with light reflected from the original document. The reflected light contains the light having the first spectrum and the light having the second spectrum. The image reading unit determines a correction value for calibrating a light amount of the light having the first spectrum as a ratio of a calibration reference value to a reflection light amount of the light having the first spectrum from a calibration document advance-prepared for calibration of the light having the second spectrum. The calibration reference value is set as a reference reflection light amount of the light having the first spectrum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2018
    Assignee: Kyocera Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventor: Reiko Ogasawara