Patents by Inventor Mariko Kojima

Mariko Kojima 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).

  • Publication number: 20110300353
    Abstract: There is provided an ink for recording, which contains: a coloring agent; a water-dispersible resin; a wetting agent; a surfactant; and water, wherein a total solid content of the coloring agent and the water-dispersible resin is 10% by mass to 30% with respect to a total mass of the ink, a ratio B/C is 0.1 to 1.6 where B is a solid content of the coloring agent in the ink, and C is a solid content of the water-dispersible resin in the ink, a viscosity of the ink is 5 mPa·s to 20 mPa·s at 25° C., and a surface tension of the ink is 35 mN/m or less.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 22, 2011
    Publication date: December 8, 2011
    Inventors: Hisashi HABASHI, Michihiko NAMBA, Mariko KOJIMA, Akihiko GOTOH, Tamotsu ARUGA, Kiyofumi NAGAI
  • Patent number: 8044114
    Abstract: There is provided an ink for recording, which contains: a coloring agent; a water-dispersible resin; a wetting agent; a surfactant; and water, wherein a total solid content of the coloring agent and the water-dispersible resin is 10% by mass to 30% with respect to a total mass of the ink, a ratio B/C is 0.1 to 1.6 where B is a solid content of the coloring agent in the ink, and C is a solid content of the water-dispersible resin in the ink, a viscosity of the ink is 5 mPa·s to 20 mPa·s at 25° C., and a surface tension of the ink is 35 mN/m or less.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2011
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hisashi Habashi, Michihiko Namba, Mariko Kojima, Akihiko Gotoh, Tamotsu Aruga, Kiyofumi Nagai
  • Patent number: 8029122
    Abstract: A recording ink containing at least: water; a water-soluble organic solvent; a surfactant; and a carbon black having a hydrophilic group on a surface thereof, wherein at least part of a terminal of the hydrophilic group on the carbon black is substituted with an alkali metal, wherein the carbon black releases humic acid in an aqueous dispersion of the carbon black, which is recovered from the recording ink, a concentration of the humic acid released in the aqueous dispersion containing 20% by mass of the carbon black of is expressed with a maximum absorbance at a wavelength of 230 nm to 260 nm, and the recording ink has the maximum absorbance of 5.0 to 20.0 at the wavelength of 230 nm to 260 nm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2011
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Mariko Kojima, Kiyofumi Nagai, Akihiko Gotoh, Akiko Bannai, Tomohiro Inoue
  • Publication number: 20110205288
    Abstract: An inkjet recording ink containing a colorant, a surfactant A, a surfactant B, a water soluble organic solvent, and water, wherein the surfactant A is expressed by any one of Structural Formula (1) and Structural Formula (2), and the surfactant B is expressed by Structural Formula (3): in Structural Formula (1), R1 represents hydrogen, an alkyl group, or an acyl group; Rf represents —CF3 or —CF2CF3; and m, n and p are natural numbers; in Structural Formula (2), M represents alkali metal, ammonium, phosphonium, or alkanolamine; Rf represents —CF3 or —CF2CF3; and q is a natural number; in Structural Formula (3), R3 and R4 each represent hydrogen or an alkyl group; and r, s, t and u are natural numbers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 29, 2009
    Publication date: August 25, 2011
    Inventors: Akihiko Matsuyama, Ichiroh Fujii, Yuuki Yokohama, Kiyofumi Nagai, Akihiko Gotoh, Mariko Kojima, Masaki Kudoh, Tomohiro Nakagawa
  • Publication number: 20110169889
    Abstract: The present invention provides an inkjet recording inkset including a black ink; and at least one color ink, wherein the black ink and the color ink respectively contains a coloring material, water, a water-soluble organic solvent and a surfactant, and wherein the black ink contains, as the coloring material, a water-dispersible carbon black having a hydrophilic group on its surface, which can be dispersed without using a dispersing agent, and only the color ink contains, as the surfactant, a fluorine surfactant expressed by Chemical Formula 1: Chemical Formula 1 where Rf represents a fluorine-containing alkyl group; R1 represents an anionic group; R2 represents a cationic group; and q represents a positive integer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 15, 2009
    Publication date: July 14, 2011
    Inventors: Mariko Kojima, Akihiko Gotoh
  • Publication number: 20100271435
    Abstract: The object of the invention to provide a recording ink with excellent discharge stability and storage stability, which rapidly penetrates into a recording medium and forms a coating, and which will never generate smearing upon high-speed printing or double-sided printing, and which excels in marker resistance, and which enables high quality image recording with less bleeding, and the ink cartridge, the ink record, the inkjet recording apparatus, and the inkjet recording method using the recording ink.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 7, 2010
    Publication date: October 28, 2010
    Inventors: Mariko KOJIMA, Tomohiro Inoue, Akihiko Gotoh, Michihiko Namba, Hisashi Habashi, Akiko Bannai, Kiyofumi Nagai
  • Patent number: 7810919
    Abstract: The object of the invention to provide a recording ink with excellent discharge stability and storage stability, which rapidly penetrates into a recording medium and forms a coating, and which will never generate smearing upon high-speed printing or double-sided printing, and which excels in marker resistance, and which enables high quality image recording with less bleeding, and the ink cartridge, the ink record, the inkjet recording apparatus, and the inkjet recording method using the recording ink. The recording ink containing at least water, a colorant, a resin fine-particle, a water-soluble organic solvent and a penetrant, in which the penetrant is a diol compound whose carbon number is 7 to 11 and the resin fine-particle is a silicone modified acrylic resin not containing a hydrolyzable silyl group.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2005
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2010
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Mariko Kojima, Tomohiro Inoue, Akihiko Gotoh, Michihiko Namba, Hisashi Habashi, Akiko Bannai, Kiyofumi Nagai
  • Publication number: 20100112219
    Abstract: An ink set for ink-jet recording which includes multiple inks having different colors. Each of the multiple inks includes a colorant, a water-soluble organic solvent, a fluorine-based surfactant, and water. The viscosity difference among the multiple inks is 2.0 mPa·s or less at a temperature of 25° C. and a shearing speed of 230 1/s, and the viscosity difference among the multiple inks is 0.5 mPa·s or less at a temperature of 25° C. and a shearing speed of 100,000 1/s.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 23, 2009
    Publication date: May 6, 2010
    Inventors: Yuuki Yokohama, Akihiko Gotoh, Mariko Kojima, Hisashi Habashi
  • Patent number: 7682011
    Abstract: The object of the present invention is to provide a recording ink which is excellent in color developing properties, has a high delivery stability, can improve remarkably color saturation and can form a high-quality image, when the ink is used for printing a plain paper, further an ink cartridge, an ink record, an inkjet recording apparatus and an inkjet recording process, wherein the recording ink having water, a wetting agent, a surfactant, and a colorant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 23, 2010
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Michihiko Namba, Hisashi Habashi, Mariko Kojima, Tomohiro Inoue, Akiko Bannai, Akihiko Gotoh, Kiyofumi Nagai
  • Publication number: 20090296965
    Abstract: The user's personal intention is conveyed to a hearing aid using a method that does not place heavy physical and psychological loads. A hearing aid to be worn by a user for auditory compensation comprises: at least one microphone which converts a sound to an input signal; a hearing-aid signal processing unit configured to generate an output signal from the input signal; a receiver which outputs, as a sound, the output signal generated by the hearing-aid signal processing unit; and a hearing-aid processing control unit configured to generate control information for controlling signal processing, based on a non-audible sound which is made by the user and is hard to hear from outside, wherein, when the hearing-aid processing control unit generates the control information, the hearing-aid signal processing unit is configured to generate the output signal according to the generated control information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 27, 2009
    Publication date: December 3, 2009
    Inventor: Mariko Kojima
  • Publication number: 20090263632
    Abstract: The present invention provides a recording ink set containing a black ink, a cyan ink, a magenta ink, and a yellow ink, each of which contains water, a water-insoluble color material, a water-soluble organic solvent, and a surfactant, wherein the black ink and at least one of the inks other than the black ink respectively contain a different water-soluble organic solvent; and the surface tension of the water-soluble organic solvent(s) used only for the inks other than the black ink is higher than that of the water-soluble organic solvent used only for the black ink; and the present invention also provides a recording method using the recording ink set.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 24, 2006
    Publication date: October 22, 2009
    Inventors: Mariko Kojima, Akihiko Gotoh, Michihiko Namba, Kiyofumi Nagai, Naoya Morohoshi, Tohru Ohshima
  • Publication number: 20090258196
    Abstract: There is provided an inkjet recording ink and recording media set, which contains: an inkjet recording ink; and a recording medium, wherein the inkjet recording ink comprises at least: water; a water-soluble organic solvent; and a colorant containing carbon black, and having a volume average particle diameter of 40 nm to 100 nm, wherein the recording medium contains: a substrate; and a coating layer on at least one side of the substrate, and wherein an amount of pure water transferred to the recording medium, as measured with a dynamic scanning absorptometer at 23 C and 50% RH, at a contact time of 100 ms is 2 ml/m2 to 35 ml/m2 while an amount of pure water transferred to the recording medium at a contact time of 400 ms is 3 ml/m2 to 40 ml/m2.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 14, 2008
    Publication date: October 15, 2009
    Inventors: Hidefumi Nagashima, Kiyofumi Nagai, Michihiko Namba, Mariko Kojima
  • Publication number: 20090239044
    Abstract: There is provided an ink for recording, which contains: a coloring agent; a water-dispersible resin; a wetting agent; a surfactant; and water, wherein a total solid content of the coloring agent and the water-dispersible resin is 10% by mass to 30% with respect to a total mass of the ink, a ratio B/C is 0.1 to 1.6 where B is a solid content of the coloring agent in the ink, and C is a solid content of the water-dispersible resin in the ink, a viscosity of the ink is 5 mPa·s to 20 mPa·s at 25° C., and a surface tension of the ink is 35 mN/m or less.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 22, 2006
    Publication date: September 24, 2009
    Inventors: Hisashi Habashi, Michihiko Namba, Mariko Kojima, Akihiko Gotoh, Tamotsu Aruga, Kiyofumi Nagai
  • Publication number: 20080254228
    Abstract: There is provided a recording ink containing at least: water; a water-soluble organic solvent; a surfactant; and a carbon black having a hydrophilic group on a surface thereof, wherein the carbon black releases humic acid in an aqueous dispersion of the carbon black, which is recovered from the recording ink, a concentration of the humic acid released in the aqueous dispersion containing 20% by mass of the carbon black of is expressed with a maximum absorbance at a wavelength of 230 nm to 260 nm, and the recording ink has the maximum absorbance of 5.0 to 20.0 at the wavelength of 230 nm to 260 nm.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 12, 2007
    Publication date: October 16, 2008
    Inventors: Mariko Kojima, Kiyofumi Nagai, Akihiko Gotoh, Akiko Bannai, Tomohiro Inoue
  • Publication number: 20080248260
    Abstract: The object of the invention to provide a recording ink with excellent discharge stability and storage stability, which rapidly penetrates into a recording medium and forms a coating, and which will never generate smearing upon high-speed printing or double-sided printing, and which excels in marker resistance, and which enables high quality image recording with less bleeding, and the ink cartridge, the ink record, the inkjet recording apparatus, and the inkjet recording method using the recording ink. The recording ink containing at least water, a colorant, a resin fine-particle, a water-soluble organic solvent and a penetrant, in which the penetrant is a diol compound whose carbon number is 7 to 11 and the resin fine-particle is a silicone modified acrylic resin not containing a hydrolyzable silyl group.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 16, 2005
    Publication date: October 9, 2008
    Applicant: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Mariko Kojima, Tomohiro Inoue, Akihiko Gotoh, Michihiko Namba, Hisashi Habashi, Akiko Bannai, Kiyofumi Nagai
  • Patent number: 7284851
    Abstract: A recording ink including a colorant dispersible in water, a humectant, a surfactant, and a wetting agent, wherein the rate of viscosity increase associated with evaporation of moisture in the recording ink is 5.0 mPa·s/% or less while the evaporated moisture content is less than 30% by weight based on the whole weight of the recording ink, the rate of viscosity increase associated with evaporation of moisture exceeds 50 mPa·s/% while the evaporated moisture content is 30 to 45% by weight, and the average particle size of the colorant in the recording ink is less than five times the average particle size of the colorant in the initial recording ink, and is 0.8 ?m or less, at the stage of the recording ink when the rate of viscosity increase amounts to 50 mPa·s/%, wherein the rate of viscosity increase associated with evaporation of moisture (mPa·s/%) is defined as the increment of viscosity (mPa·s) versus the increment of evaporated moisture content (%).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2005
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2007
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Akiko Bannai, Kiyofumi Nagai, Akihiko Gotoh, Mariko Kojima, Michihiko Namba, Tomohiro Inoue
  • Publication number: 20070221078
    Abstract: The object of the present invention is to provide a recording ink which is excellent in color developing properties, has a high delivery stability, can improve remarkably color saturation and can form a high-quality image, when the ink is used for printing a plain paper, further an ink cartridge, an ink record, an inkjet recording apparatus and an inkjet recording process.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 17, 2005
    Publication date: September 27, 2007
    Inventors: Michihiko Namba, Hisashi Habashi, Mariko Kojima, Tomohiro Inoue, Akiko Bannai, Akihiko Gotoh, Kiyofumi Nagai
  • Publication number: 20060176349
    Abstract: Disclosed is a recording ink for ink-jet recording which contains a colorant, water, a humectant, a surfactant, and a wetting agent, wherein the recoding ink is applied to ink-jet recording apparatuses capable of recording on a second recording side of a recording medium following recording on a first recording side of the recording medium, and the infiltrating period of the recording ink into the first recording side of the recording medium is 5 seconds or less. Also, an ink cartridge, an ink-jet recording apparatus, an ink-jet recording process, and a recorded matter are disclosed that utilize the recording ink respectively.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 20, 2006
    Publication date: August 10, 2006
    Inventors: Kiyofumi Nagai, Mariko Kojima, Akihiko Gotoh, Akiko Bannai
  • Publication number: 20050231575
    Abstract: A recording ink comprising a colorant dispersible in water, a humectant, a surfactant, and a wetting agent, wherein the rate of viscosity increase associated with evaporation of moisture in the recording ink is 5.0 mPa·s/% or less while the evaporated moisture content is less than 30% by weight based on the whole weight of the recording ink, the rate of viscosity increase associated with evaporation of moisture exceeds 50 mPa·s/% while the evaporated moisture content is 30 to 45% by weight, and the average particle size of the colorant in the recording ink is less than five times the average particle size of the colorant in the initial recording ink, and is 0.8 ?m or less, at the stage of the recording ink when the rate of viscosity increase amounts to 50 mPa·s/%, wherein the rate of viscosity increase associated with evaporation of moisture (mPa·s/%) is defined as the increment of viscosity (mPa·s) versus the increment of evaporated moisture content (%).
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 28, 2005
    Publication date: October 20, 2005
    Inventors: Akiko Bannai, Kiyofumi Nagai, Akihiko Gotoh, Mariko Kojima, Michihiko Namba, Tomohiro Inoue