Patents by Inventor Akito Sekigawa

Akito Sekigawa 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: 9833967
    Abstract: A sheet processing apparatus includes a first stacking portion on which a sheet conveyed by a conveying portion is stacked, a binding portion which forms, in a sheet bundle stacked on the first stacking portion, a tongue cut out from the sheet, with a part of the tongue attached to the sheet, and a slit, and which binds the sheet bundle by inserting a tip of the tongue of the sheet bundle in the slit of the sheet bundle, and a second stacking portion on which the sheet bundle bound by the binding portion is stacked. In the sheet processing apparatus, a plurality of recessed parts is formed on a guide face of the binding portion, the recessed parts extending in different directions from each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2017
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hideki Kushida, Kiyoshi Watanabe, Naoto Tokuma, Toshiyuki Iwata, Akito Sekigawa
  • Patent number: 9738469
    Abstract: A sheet conveyance apparatus includes a cover member including a first guide surface guiding a sheet and capable of switching between a close state and an open state with respect to the apparatus body, a guide member including a second guide surface opposing to the first guide surface, and a conveyance unit conveying a sheet through a path between the first guide surface and the second guide surface. The guide member includes an abutment portion formed of a depression in the second guide surface, and is supported pivotally on the apparatus body to an outer side of the apparatus body. The sheet conveyance apparatus further includes a regulation portion supported on the apparatus body and formed to abut against the abutment portion so as to regulate a pivot angle of the guide member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2017
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Akito Sekigawa
  • Publication number: 20170217713
    Abstract: A sheet conveying apparatus has a belt with a widthwise side portion extending in a traveling direction of the belt, the widthwise side portion including a portion defining a notch being recessed in a width direction orthogonal to the traveling direction, the notch being defined by less than an entire length, in the traveling direction, of the widthwise side portion, a contacting member arranged to be in contact with an end portion of a sheet to be conveyed, the contacting member being attached to the belt so that at least a part of the contacting member is arranged in the notch of the belt, a regulating portion configured to regulate a position of the belt in the width direction by contacting with the widthwise side portion of the belt, and a driving portion configured to drive the belt.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 11, 2017
    Publication date: August 3, 2017
    Inventor: Akito Sekigawa
  • Patent number: 9665055
    Abstract: A sheet conveying apparatus with a belt having a cutaway portion at least at one end portion in a width direction orthogonal to a traveling direction and a thickness direction thereof, a claw member and a driving portion driving the belt. The claw member has a pinching portion configured to attach the claw member to the belt by pinching the belt.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2017
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Akito Sekigawa
  • Patent number: 9617110
    Abstract: To suppress the bending of sheets, a sheet conveying apparatus includes a sheet conveying portion including an abutting portion for abutting against an end portion of the sheet supported by a supporting portion and which conveys the sheet being abutted against the abutting portion by moving in a predetermined moving direction, and a pressing portion which is provided on the sheet conveying portion such that the pressing portion is movable in a thickness direction of the sheet and which presses the sheet toward the supporting portion. The pressing portion includes an inclined portion arranged to be closer to the supporting portion at an upstream side than a downstream side, and a contacting portion configured to contact a surface of the sheet being abutted against the abutting portion to press the sheet to the supporting portion at a position distant from the abutting portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2017
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Akito Sekigawa
  • Patent number: 9586781
    Abstract: The purpose of the present invention is to provide a sheet bundle conveying apparatus capable of discharging a sheet bundle from a processing tray where a binding process is performed toward the downstream side in right posture to a right position. The present invention comprises a sheet bundle conveying apparatus which conveys sheets stacked at a stack portion to a storing portion at the downstream side including a first conveying member which conveys sheets at the stack portion by a predetermined distance, a second conveying member which performs relay conveyance of the sheets conveyed by the first conveying member by the predetermined distance as being set to have a higher moving speed than that of the first conveying member, and a driving portion which drives the first conveying member and the second conveying member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2017
    Assignees: CANON FINETECH INC., NISCA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Akito Sekigawa, Mamoru Kubo, Masaya Takahashi
  • Publication number: 20170036873
    Abstract: A sheet conveyance apparatus includes a cover member including a first guide surface guiding a sheet and capable of switching between a close state and an open state with respect to the apparatus body, a guide member including a second guide surface opposing to the first guide surface, and a conveyance unit conveying a sheet through a path between the first guide surface and the second guide surface. The guide member includes an abutment portion formed of a depression in the second guide surface, and is supported pivotally on the apparatus body to an outer side of the apparatus body. The sheet conveyance apparatus further includes a regulation portion supported on the apparatus body and formed to abut against the abutment portion so as to regulate a pivot angle of the guide member.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 26, 2016
    Publication date: February 9, 2017
    Inventor: Akito Sekigawa
  • Publication number: 20150314626
    Abstract: A sheet processing apparatus includes a first stacking portion on which a sheet conveyed by a conveying portion is stacked, a binding portion which forms, in a sheet bundle stacked on the first stacking portion, a tongue cut out from the sheet, with a part of the tongue attached to the sheet, and a slit, and which binds the sheet bundle by inserting a tip of the tongue of the sheet bundle in the slit of the sheet bundle, and a second stacking portion on which the sheet bundle bound by the binding portion is stacked. In the sheet processing apparatus, a plurality of recessed parts is formed on a guide face of the binding portion, the recessed parts extending in different directions from each other.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 22, 2015
    Publication date: November 5, 2015
    Inventors: Hideki Kushida, Kiyoshi Watanabe, Naoto Tokuma, Toshiyuki Iwata, Akito Sekigawa
  • Patent number: 9144915
    Abstract: A driving roller for conveying a sheet to a sheet punching unit, and a sheet inverting unit including a driving roll capable of being driven to rotate by the driving roller are provided between a branching point, at which a return path of a sheet conveying path is branched, and a sheet punching unit. When a subsequent sheet for which a punching process is performed next reaches the sheet inverting unit, the sheet to which the punching process has been performed by the sheet punching unit is conveyed to the return path by the driving roll while making the sheet pass by a subsequent sheet conveyed to the sheet punching unit by the driving roller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 29, 2015
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kiyoshi Watanabe, Akito Sekigawa
  • Patent number: 9067753
    Abstract: In a finisher in which a sheet discharged by a pair of discharge rollers is stacked on a stack tray moveably provided in a sheet stack direction so that the position of a top surface of the sheet is constant and the sheet stacked on the stack tray is aligned by a pair of aligning members moveably provided in a width direction perpendicular to a discharge direction of the sheet, as a stack amount of the sheets stacked on the stack tray, which amount is detected by a stack amount detecting portion, is increased, the pair of aligning members upon the alignment are controlled to approach the top sheet stacked on the stack tray.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2015
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Naoto Tokuma, Akito Sekigawa
  • Publication number: 20150125198
    Abstract: A sheet conveying apparatus with a belt having a cutaway portion at least at one end portion in a width direction orthogonal to a traveling direction and a thickness direction thereof, a claw member and a driving portion driving the belt. The claw member has a pinching portion configured to attach the claw member to the belt by pinching the belt.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 22, 2014
    Publication date: May 7, 2015
    Inventor: Akito Sekigawa
  • Publication number: 20150021145
    Abstract: The purpose of the present invention is to provide a sheet bundle conveying apparatus capable of discharging a sheet bundle from a processing tray where a binding process is performed toward the downstream side in right posture to a right position. The present invention comprises a sheet bundle conveying apparatus which conveys sheets stacked at a stack portion to a storing portion at the downstream side including a first conveying member which conveys sheets at the stack portion by a predetermined distance, a second conveying member which performs relay conveyance of the sheets conveyed by the first conveying member by the predetermined distance as being set to have a higher moving speed than that of the first conveying member, and a driving portion which drives the first conveying member and the second conveying member.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 14, 2014
    Publication date: January 22, 2015
    Applicants: NISCA CORPORATION, CANON FINETECH INC.
    Inventors: Akito SEKIGAWA, Mamoru KUBO, Masaya TAKAHASHI
  • Publication number: 20150001784
    Abstract: To suppress the bending of sheets, a sheet conveying apparatus comprising: a sheet conveying portion including an abutting portion for abutting against an end portion of the sheet supported by a supporting portion and which conveys the sheet being abutted against the abutting portion by moving in a predetermined moving direction; and a pressing portion which is provided on the sheet conveying portion such that the pressing portion is movable in a thickness direction of the sheet and which presses the sheet toward the supporting portion, wherein the pressing portion includes: an inclined portion arranged to be closer to the supporting portion at an upstream side than a downstream side; and a contacting portion configured to contact a surface of the sheet being abutted against the abutting portion to press the sheet to the supporting portion at a position distant from the abutting portion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 17, 2014
    Publication date: January 1, 2015
    Inventor: Akito Sekigawa
  • Patent number: 8818257
    Abstract: A cutting apparatus configured to cut a sheet or a sheet bundle includes a cutting blade whose blade surface has a plurality of grooves. In the cutting apparatus, a scraping member enters the grooves provided on the blade surface to scrape off cutting scraps remaining after a cutting operation. Accordingly, the cutting apparatus can scrape off cutting scraps from the cutting blade even if the adhesive force of the cutting scraps is great.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 26, 2014
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kiyoshi Watanabe, Kenichi Hayashi, Yusuke Obuchi, Rikiya Takemasa, Akito Sekigawa
  • Patent number: 8774702
    Abstract: There are provided a sheet post-processing apparatus which can reliably stack a sheet bundle in imbricated state without bending it and an image forming apparatus having the same. A sheet post-processing apparatus includes: a stacking portion which stacks a folded sheet bundle subjected to the folding process; a discharge portion which discharges the folded sheet bundle onto the stacking portion with the folded end thereof set to the leading position; and a conveying portion which conveys the folded sheet bundle stacked onto the stacking portion, wherein the conveying portion starts the conveyance of a previous folded sheet bundle at the timing at which the folded end of a next folded sheet bundle discharged by the discharge portion is abutted onto the previous folded sheet bundle which is being conveyed to the downstream side in the discharge direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 8, 2014
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Akito Sekigawa
  • Publication number: 20140030000
    Abstract: A sheet processing apparatus that forms unevenness on a sheet bundle including a plurality of sheets to bind the sheet bundle includes: a scoring portion that scores the sheet along an edge of the sheet bundle apart from the edge of the sheet bundle at a predetermined interval; and a binding portion that forms an unevenness between the edge of the sheet bundle and the score formed on the sheet bundle by the scoring portion while the sheet bundle is nipped between a pair of tooth-like members, each of which has a concavo-convex portion that meshes with each other.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 19, 2013
    Publication date: January 30, 2014
    Inventors: Yohei Gamo, Hideto Abe, Toshiyuki Iwata, Rikiya Takemasa, Akito Sekigawa
  • Patent number: 8622378
    Abstract: The controller controls the folded bundle conveying portion such that, when a length in the conveying direction of the succeeding folded bundle makes the upstream edge in the conveying direction of the succeeding folded bundle, which is temporarily stopped for the folded end portion processing, remain within a stacking region of the sheet stacking portion, before the preceding folded bundle has been finally moved to the second stacking position, the succeeding folded bundle is conveyed until the upstream edge in the conveying direction of the succeeding folded bundle, to which the folded end portion processing has been applied, passes through outside the stacking region of the sheet stacking portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2014
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Akito Sekigawa
  • Publication number: 20130285312
    Abstract: In a finisher in which a sheet discharged by a pair of discharge rollers is stacked on a stack tray moveably provided in a sheet stack direction so that the position of a top surface of the sheet is constant and the sheet stacked on the stack tray is aligned by a pair of aligning members moveably provided in a width direction perpendicular to a discharge direction of the sheet, as a stack amount of the sheets stacked on the stack tray, which amount is detected by a stack amount detecting portion, is increased, the pair of aligning members upon the alignment are controlled to approach the top sheet stacked on the stack tray.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 14, 2013
    Publication date: October 31, 2013
    Applicant: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Naoto Tokuma, Akito Sekigawa
  • Patent number: 8550461
    Abstract: A sheet stacking apparatus includes an endless belt member onto which sheets are stacked and which moves rotationally to convey the sheets; a plurality of holding members that is provided on the belt member and that holds the sheets down to a sheet stacking surface of the belt member to nip the sheets; and sheet detecting portions which detect presence or absence of sheets between the holding members and the sheet stacking surface of the belt member, the sheet detecting portions each include a light emitting portion that emits light and a light receiving portion that receives the light, and the light emitting portions and the light receiving portions are fixedly provided below the sheet stacking surface of the belt member so that the light emitting portions and the light receiving portions detect presence or absence of a sheet at times when facing the holding members.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Akito Sekigawa, Daisaku Kamiya, Kiyoshi Watanabe, Yusuke Obuchi, Hideki Kushida
  • Patent number: 8500122
    Abstract: A roller separating mechanism rotates an upper roller-moving cam and a lower roller-moving cam at the same time, and swings the upper roller arm plate and the lower roller arm plate such that a pair of folding rollers separate from each other. When the pair of folding rollers are to be abutted against each other, the upper roller arm plate and the lower roller arm plate are swung with different timing in a direction in which the pair of folding rollers abut against each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hideki Kushida, Akito Sekigawa