Patents by Inventor Akihiro Shimomura

Akihiro Shimomura has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 6720126
    Abstract: It is intended to provide a laser thermal transfer recording method which comprises the steps of feeding an image receptor sheet and a plural number of thermal transfer sheets from a recording medium cassette, superposing the image receptor layer of the image receptor sheet upon the image formation layer of the thermal transfer sheets and holding them on a recording medium support member, and then irradiating the thermal transfer sheets with laser beams appropriate for image data to transfer the laser-irradiated regions on the image formation layer onto the image receptor layer of the image receptor sheet thereby recording an image, characterized in that the image receptor sheet and the thermal transfer sheets are laminated in the order of feeding into the recording medium support member and contained in the recording medium cassette and the coefficient(s) of static friction of the back layer surface of the image receptor sheet and/or the above-described thermal transfer sheets are 0.7 or below.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 13, 2004
    Assignee: Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Akihiro Shimomura, Yoshiharu Sasaki
  • Publication number: 20030207196
    Abstract: It is intended to provide a laser thermal transfer recording method which comprises the steps of feeding an image receptor sheet and a plural number of thermal transfer sheets from a recording medium cassette, superposing the image receptor layer of the image receptor sheet upon the image formation layer of the thermal transfer sheets and holding them on a recording medium support member, and then irradiating the thermal transfer sheets with laser beams appropriate for image data to transfer the laser-irradiated regions on the image formation layer onto the image receptor layer of the image receptor sheet thereby recording an image, characterized in that the image receptor sheet and the thermal transfer sheets are laminated in the order of feeding into the recording medium support member and contained in the recording medium cassette and the coefficient(s) of static friction of the back layer surface of the image receptor sheet and/or the above-described thermal transfer sheets are 0.7 or below.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 5, 2003
    Publication date: November 6, 2003
    Inventors: Akihiro Shimomura, Yoshiharu Sasaki
  • Patent number: 6639278
    Abstract: At one of main surfaces of a silicon substrate serving as an N+type drain region is arranged an N type first high resistance drift layer. On the first high resistance drift layer is arranged an N−type second high resistance drift layer. A P− type high resistance buried layer is arranged on the surface layer of the first high resistance drift layer and the bottom layer of the second high resistance drift layer at a position right under each of a plurality of P type base regions arranged on the surface layer of the second high resistance drift layer. The thickness T1 of the first high resistance drift layer is set in such a manner that a depletion layer extending over the first high resistance drift layer reaches through the drain region at a voltage lower than a sharing voltage V1 shared by the first high resistance drift layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 28, 2003
    Assignee: NEC Electronics Corporation
    Inventors: Wataru Sumida, Michiaki Maruoka, Akihiro Shimomura, Manabu Yamada
  • Patent number: 6579655
    Abstract: A laser-heat transfer recording method comprising the image-recording steps of feeding an image-receiving sheet and a heat transfer sheet to an exposure-recording unit, fixing the image-forming layer in the heat transfer sheet and the image-receiving layer in the image-receiving sheet being superposed vis-a-vis on a recording medium fixing member of the exposure-recording unit; irradiating the heat transfer sheet with laser beams corresponding to image data; and transferring the irradiated are with laser beam of the image-forming layer onto the image-receiving layer in the image-receiving sheet, wherein the surfaces of the image-receiving sheet and/or the heat transfer sheet are cleaned by being brought into contact with an adhesive roll of a crown shape for removing foreign matters, the diameter of the central part of which is larger than the diameters of both ends in the axis direction of the roll body, provided at at least one of the feeding part of the image-receiving sheet and the heat transfer sheet of
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 17, 2003
    Assignee: Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Akihiro Shimomura, Yoshiharu Sasaki
  • Publication number: 20030104308
    Abstract: A laser-heat transfer recording method comprising the image-recording steps of feeding an image-receiving sheet and a heat transfer sheet to an exposure-recording unit, fixing the image-forming layer in the heat transfer sheet and the image-receiving layer in the image-receiving sheet being superposed vis-a-vis on a recording medium fixing member of the exposure-recording unit; irradiating the heat transfer sheet with laser beams corresponding to image data; and transferring the irradiated are with laser beam of the image-forming layer onto the image-receiving layer in the image-receiving sheet, wherein the surfaces of the image-receiving sheet and/or the heat transfer sheet are cleaned by being brought into contact with an adhesive roll of a crown shape for removing foreign matters, the diameter of the central part of which is larger than the diameters of both ends in the axis direction of the roll body, provided at at least one of the feeding part of the image-receiving sheet and the heat transfer sheet of
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 16, 2002
    Publication date: June 5, 2003
    Applicant: FUJI PHOTO FILM CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Akihiro Shimomura, Yoshiharu Sasaki
  • Publication number: 20030069134
    Abstract: A multicolor image-forming material comprising: an image-receiving sheet comprising a support and an image-receiving layer; and at least four thermal transfer sheets each comprising a support, a light-to-heat converting layer and an image-forming layer, and each having a different color, wherein an image is formed by the method comprising the steps of: superposing each one of the at least four thermal transfer sheets on the image-receiving sheet to be in a state of the image-forming layer being in contact with the image-receiving layer; and irradiating the thermal transfer sheet with a laser beam to transfer an image in an area of the image-forming layer subjected to irradiation onto the image-receiving layer, and at least one layer selected from layers comprised in the image-receiving sheet and the at least four thermal transfer sheets comprises a fluorine-series surface active agent which is a homopolymer comprising a polymerizable monomer represented by the formula (1) and having a weight average molecular
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 18, 2002
    Publication date: April 10, 2003
    Applicant: FUJI PHOTO FILM CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Akihiro Shimomura, Hideyuki Nakamura, Shinichi Yoshinari
  • Publication number: 20030054142
    Abstract: A multicolor image-forming material comprises: an image-receiving sheet having an image-receiving layer and a support; and at least four thermal transfer sheets each including a support, a light-to-heat converting layer and an image-forming layer, in which each of the thermal transfer sheets has a different color, wherein a multicolor image is formed by: superposing the image-forming layer in each of the at least four thermal transfer sheets on the image-receiving layer, such that the image-forming layer is opposed to the image-receiving layer; irradiating the image-forming layer with a laser beam; transferring the irradiated area of the image-forming layer onto the image-receiving layer to form an image; and transferring the image on the image-receiving layer onto an actual printing paper, and each of the at least four thermal transfer sheets has a recording area being defined by a product of a length of 515 mm or more and width of 728 mm or more, and each of the at least four thermal transfer sheets is larg
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 1, 2002
    Publication date: March 20, 2003
    Applicant: FUJI PHOTO FILM CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Mitsuru Yamamoto, Susumu Sugiyama, Akihiro Shimomura, Akira Hatakeyama
  • Publication number: 20030043259
    Abstract: A method for forming a multicolor image comprises:
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 19, 2002
    Publication date: March 6, 2003
    Applicant: FUJI PHOTO FILM CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Akihiro Shimomura, Toshiharu Tanaka, Akira Hatakeyama
  • Publication number: 20030035934
    Abstract: A multi-color image-forming material is disclosed comprising image-receiving sheets each having an image-receiving layer and heat transfer sheets for at least four colors, including yellow, magenta, cyan and black, each having at least a light-to-heat conversion layer and an image-forming layer on a support, the heat transfer sheets and the image-receiving sheets being respectively laminated such that the image-forming layer of the heat transfer sheet and the image-receiving layer of the image-receiving sheet are opposed to each other, whereby the irradiation with laser beam causes the area irradiated with laser beam on the image-forming layer to be transferred onto the image-forming layer in the image-receiving sheet to effect image recording, wherein the thickness of the image-forming layer in the heat transfer sheets is from 0.01 &mgr;m to 1.5 &mgr;m and the width of lines in laser-transferred image is from 0.8 to 2.0 times a half of the half-width (i.e.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 25, 2002
    Publication date: February 20, 2003
    Applicant: FUJI PHOTO FILM CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Akihiro Shimomura, Mitsuru Yamamoto, Shinichi Yoshinari, Akira Hatakeyama
  • Publication number: 20030035043
    Abstract: A laser thermal transfer recording method comprises: dispensing a thermal transfer sheet and an image-receiving sheet to an exposure recording device; cutting each of the sheets into pieces of a predetermined length; superposing each of the cut pieces of the image-receiving sheet on each of the cut pieces of the thermal transfer sheet; loading an exposure drum installed in the exposure recording device with the thus superposed pieces of sheets; and irradiating the sheets loaded on the exposure drum with a laser beam according to image information, in which the laser beam is absorbed in the thermal transfer sheet and converted into a heat, and an image is transferred onto the image-receiving sheet by the heat converted from the laser beam, wherein each surface of the thermal transfer sheet and the image-receiving sheet is cleaned by contacting with an adhesive roller that includes an adhesive material on its surface, in which the adhesive roller is disposed in any one of a feeding part and a conveying part of
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 19, 2002
    Publication date: February 20, 2003
    Applicant: FUJI PHOTO FILM CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Susumu Sugiyama, Akihiro Shimomura
  • Publication number: 20020177062
    Abstract: A multicolor image-forming material comprises: an image-receiving sheet having an image-receiving layer; and at least four thermal transfer sheets each including a support, a light-to-heat converting layer and an image-forming layer, in which each of the thermal transfer sheets has a different color, wherein an image is formed by: superposing the image-forming layer in each of the at least four thermal transfer sheets on the image-receiving layer in the image-receiving sheet, in which the image-forming layer is opposed to the image-receiving layer; irradiating the image-forming layer in the thermal transfer sheet with a laser beam; and transferring the irradiated area of the image-forming layer onto the image-receiving layer in the image-receiving sheet, and each of the light-to-heat converting layers in the at least four thermal transfer sheets has a ratio of an optical density (OD) to a layer thickness: OD/layer thickness (&mgr;m unit) of 0.57 or more.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 25, 2002
    Publication date: November 28, 2002
    Applicant: FUJI PHOTO FILM CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Naotaka Wachi, Akihiro Shimomura, Kazuhito Miyake, Yasutomo Goto, Mitsuru Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 6468634
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a heat transfer sheet in which at least an ink layer is provided on a substrate. In the heat transfer sheet of the present invention, as an intermediate layer provided between the substrate and the ink layer contains an appropriate amount of particu+late material having the function of forming unevenness on the surface of the ink layer, without containing the particulate material in the ink layer, a 10-point mean surface roughness (Rz) of the surface of the ink layer can be 0.5˜5.0 &mgr;m. Namely, in accordance with the heat transfer sheet of the present invention, without a matte agent which may affect the image quality being used in the ink layer, the vacuum adhesion uniformity between the heat transfer sheet and an image receiving sheet at the time of heat-transfer can be ensured and an image with high quality can be formed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 24, 1999
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2002
    Assignee: Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kazuhito Miyake, Akihiro Shimomura, Akira Hatakeyama
  • Publication number: 20020096715
    Abstract: At one of main surfaces of a silicon substrate serving as an N+type drain region is arranged an N type first high resistance drift layer. On the first high resistance drift layer is arranged an N−type second high resistance drift layer. A P− type high resistance buried layer is arranged on the surface layer of the first high resistance drift layer and the bottom layer of the second high resistance drift layer at a position right under each of a plurality of P type base regions arranged on the surface layer of the second high resistance drift layer. The thickness T1 of the first high resistance drift layer is set in such a manner that a depletion layer extending over the first high resistance drift layer reaches through the drain region at a voltage lower than a sharing voltage V1 shared by the first high resistance drift layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 25, 2002
    Publication date: July 25, 2002
    Inventors: Wataru Sumida, Michiaki Maruoka, Akihiro Shimomura, Manabu Yamada
  • Patent number: 6060763
    Abstract: A semiconductor device has formed onto the surface of a collector region 12 of a semiconductor substrate 11 of one conductivity type with a base region 13 of a different conductivity type, an emitter region 16 of the one conductivity type formed on a surface within the base region 13, and a base electrode 18 and emitter electrode 17 which are formed by opening windows in the base and emitter regions 13, 16.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 1997
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2000
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventors: Kazuo Yamagishi, Akihiro Shimomura, Hirohiko Uno
  • Patent number: 5629129
    Abstract: Disclosed is a heat sensitive ink sheet having a support sheet and a heat sensitive ink layer having a thickness of 0.2 to 1.0 .mu.m which is formed of a heat sensitive ink material comprising 30 to 70 weight % of colored pigment, 25 to 65 weight % of amorphous organic polymer having a softening point of 40.degree. to 150.degree. C. and 0.1 to 20 weight % of nitrogen-containing compound. Further, thermal transfer recording methods by area gradation using the heat sensitive ink sheet and an image receiving sheet are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 11, 1995
    Date of Patent: May 13, 1997
    Assignee: Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Mitsuru Yamamoto, Akihiko Takeda, Akihiro Shimomura, Yasutomo Goto
  • Patent number: 5407777
    Abstract: A diazo-type recording material comprising a support having thereon a recording layer comprising a photosensitive diazo compound enclosed in microcapsules, a coupling component which reacts with said diazo compound by heating at a basic pH to develop a color, and a 1-phenyl-3-pyrazolidone compound represented by the formula: ##STR1## wherein the substituents X, and R.sub.1 -R.sub.4 are defined in the specification.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 1992
    Date of Patent: April 18, 1995
    Assignee: Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hirokazu Shimada, Akihiro Shimomura
  • Patent number: 5328796
    Abstract: A diazo type recording material, which has a substantially unstained background, a superior preservability, and is capable of producing images of high density, wherein the diazo recording material comprises a support having thereon a recording layer comprising a photosensitive diazo compound, a hydroxyphenylsulfone derivative and a coupling component which forms a color by reacting with the diazo compound, with the diazo compound being enclosed in microcapsules.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 1993
    Date of Patent: July 12, 1994
    Assignee: Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Akihiro Shimomura, Taketatsu Sugiyama, Makoto Ohno, Toshiharu Tanaka
  • Patent number: 5304452
    Abstract: A recording material comprising a support coated with a photosensitive layer comprising a photosensitive diazo compound enclosed in microcapsules and a coupling component. The microcapsules are produced by forming an organic solution containing the diazo compound and a wall monomer, and emulsifying the organic solution in an aqueous solution containing an anionic surface-active agent and polyvinylpyrrolidone to produce oil droplets containing the wall monomer. The wall monomer is polymerized to form a wall around the oil droplets. When heat is applied to the photosensitive layer under alkaline conditions, the coupling component reacts with the diazo compound to form a color.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 1992
    Date of Patent: April 19, 1994
    Assignee: Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Makoto Ohno, Akihiro Shimomura, Toshiharu Tanaka
  • Patent number: 5028580
    Abstract: A heat sensitive material which is comprised of a support having thereon a transparent heat sensitive layer and at least one layer selected from among a protective layer, a subbing layer and backing layer, wherein at least one of constituent layer contains fine grains of at least one crystalline metal oxide which has a volume resistivity ranging from 10.degree. to 10.sup.5 ohm.multidot.cm. An amount of said crystalline metal oxide is 0.0001 g-1 g per m.sup.2 and the best metal oxide is SnO.sub.2.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 1988
    Date of Patent: July 2, 1991
    Assignee: Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Akihiro Shimomura, Toshimasa Usami
  • Patent number: 4999333
    Abstract: A heat sensitive recording material which is comprised of a support having thereon at least a transparent heat sensitive layer excellent in freshness-keeping property is disclosed. The transparent heat sensitive layer is obtained by coating a solution obtained by mixing a microcapsule containing a colorless or light colored electron donating dye precursor with an emulsion prepared by dispersing a color developer dissolved in an organic solvent, which is slightly soluble or insoluble in water, into an aqueous solution containing both of a surface active agent and water soluble polymer. The stabilities of emulsion and heat sensitive layer are improved by using a partially saponified polyvinyl alcohol as the water soluble polymer and/or adding a metal salts of a salicylic acid derivatives into the coolor developer. A heat sensitivity of the heat sensitive recording material is improved by using a organic solvent having a boiling point lower than 150.degree. C.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 1988
    Date of Patent: March 12, 1991
    Assignee: Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Toshimasa Usami, Seiji Hatakeyama, Akihiro Shimomura, Ken Iwakura