Patents by Inventor Osamu Shinkawa

Osamu Shinkawa 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: 8459790
    Abstract: A printer includes a reversal transportation path which transports a paper to which ink ejected from liquid ejecting heads has adhered toward a downstream side in the transportation direction. In the printer, the reversal transportation path is formed between a pair of guiding plates having a substantially circular arc shape along the transportation direction of the paper and opening holes which blow out wind toward the reversal transportation path from a blowing unit are provided on an inner guiding plate of the pair of the guiding plates, which is positioned at the center side of the circular arc shape.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2013
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Keiji Hara, Osamu Shinkawa, Akihiko Ikegami
  • Patent number: 8444247
    Abstract: A liquid ejection device includes a plurality of nozzles, an ejection testing portion and a controller. The nozzles are arranged to eject a liquid. The ejection testing portion is arranged to perform ejection testing of the liquid from each of the nozzles. The controller is arranged to eject the liquid from the nozzles to print an image onto a medium, and to perform a flushing operation when printing on the medium is not being performed. The ejection testing portion is arranged to perform the ejection testing of each of the nozzles during the flushing operation. The controller is arranged to terminate the flushing operation in midcourse when results of the ejection testing for the nozzles are normal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2013
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Osamu Shinkawa
  • Patent number: 8430468
    Abstract: A head drive of an inkjet printer includes nozzles and corresponding actuators that eject liquid ink drops. A drive unit applies a drive signal to the actuators. The drive unit includes a drive waveform generator that generates a drive waveform signal to control the drive of the actuators. A modulator pulse modulates the drive waveform. A digital power amplifier amplifies power of the modulated signal. A low pass filter smoothes the amplified digital signal and supplies the signal as a drive signal to the actuators. An inverse filter provided in a subsequent stage of the drive waveform generator corrects at least the frequency characteristics of the filter to predetermined frequency characteristics, independent of the number of the actuators to drive.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2013
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Kunio Tabata, Toshiyuki Suzuki, Osamu Shinkawa, Tomoki Hatano, Atsushi Oshima
  • Patent number: 8430466
    Abstract: A head drive apparatus of an inkjet printer includes nozzles and corresponding actuators that eject liquid drops. A drive unit applies a drive signal to the actuators. The drive unit includes a drive waveform generator that generates a drive waveform signal as a reference of a signal to control drive of the actuators. A modulator pulse modulates a drive waveform signal generated by the drive waveform generator. A digital power amplifier amplifies power of a modulated signal subjected to the pulse modulation. A low pass filter smoothes an amplified digital signal subjected to the power amplification by the digital power amplifier and supplying the signal as a drive signal to the actuators. An inverse filter provided in a subsequent stage of the drive waveform generator corrects at least the frequency characteristics of the filter to predetermined frequency characteristics, independently of the number of the actuators to drive.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2013
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Kunio Tabata, Atsushi Oshima, Osamu Shinkawa, Toshiyuki Suzuki, Tomoki Hatano
  • Patent number: 8371676
    Abstract: A liquid ejection device includes a plurality of nozzles, a plurality of piezoelectric elements, a drive signal generating portion, a selection portion and an ejection testing portion. The nozzles are arranged to eject a liquid. The piezoelectric elements are provided in respective correspondence to the nozzles. The drive signal generating portion is arranged to generate a drive signal which repeats for each of ejection cycles in which the nozzles eject the liquid onto a pixel, there being a plurality of selectable periods provided in the ejection cycles, at least one of the periods being a testing period. The selection portion is arranged to selectively apply the drive signal to the piezoelectric elements in each of the periods. The ejection testing portion is arranged to perform ejection testing of the liquid from at least one of the nozzles to be tested.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2013
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Osamu Shinkawa
  • Patent number: 8371675
    Abstract: A liquid ejection device includes a plurality of nozzles, a plurality of piezoelectric elements, a drive signal generating portion and a common ejection testing portion. The nozzles are arranged to eject a liquid. The piezoelectric elements are provided in respective correspondence to the nozzles. The drive signal generating portion is arranged to generate a drive signal which repeats for each ejection cycle in which the nozzles eject the liquid onto a pixel, the drive signal having a testing period within each ejection cycle. The common ejection testing portion is provided in common to the nozzles. One of the piezoelectric elements corresponding to the nozzle to be tested is driven within a given ejection cycle of the drive signal, whereupon the nozzle to be tested is tested by the common ejection testing portion during the testing period of the same given ejection cycle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2013
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Osamu Shinkawa
  • Publication number: 20120320120
    Abstract: There is provided a technique with which an abnormal discharge state in a discharge component can be determined on the basis of residual vibration. A printer includes a discharge component that discharges ink, a detector that detects residual vibration in the discharge component, and a tester that tests the discharge component on the basis of the change in the period of the residual vibration.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 5, 2012
    Publication date: December 20, 2012
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Toshiyuki SUZUKI, Osamu SHINKAWA
  • Publication number: 20120262511
    Abstract: A printer has a plurality of dischargers for discharging ink, a detector for detecting an electric signal SW, and an inspector unit for inspecting the dischargers on the basis of the electric signal SW; and a grounding terminal connecting a drive element of a discharger being inspected is electrically disconnected from another grounding terminal and a grounding line GL when the electric signal SW is detected by the detector.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 13, 2012
    Publication date: October 18, 2012
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Osamu SHINKAWA, Toshiyuki SUZUKI
  • Patent number: 8287069
    Abstract: A head drive apparatus of an ink jet printer having: a plurality of nozzles for jetting liquid drops that are provided for an ink jet head; a plurality of actuators provided in correspondence to the nozzles; and a drive unit that applies a drive signal to the actuators, wherein the drive unit comprising: a drive waveform generator that generates a drive waveform signal being standard of a signal to control drive of the actuators; a modulator that modulates a pulse of a drive waveform signal generated by the drive waveform generator; a digital power amplifier for amplifying power of a modulated signal subjected to the pulse modulation by the modulator; and a low pass filter for smoothing an amplified digital signal subjected to the power amplification by the digital power amplifier and supplying the signal as a drive signal to the actuators.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2012
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Kunio Tabata, Atsushi Oshima, Osamu Shinkawa, Toshiyuki Suzuki, Tomoki Hatano
  • Patent number: 8287115
    Abstract: A recording apparatus is provided which includes recording means for ejecting liquid so that the liquid is recorded on a recording medium; transporting means for transporting the recording means relative to the recording medium; microwave irradiation means for irradiating microwaves to the recording medium; microwave reception means for receiving the microwaves reflected from the recording medium; and microwave irradiation control means for determining a dryness level of the recording medium based on a reception level of the microwave reception means and controlling an irradiation dose or an irradiation intensity of the microwaves irradiated by the microwave irradiation means in accordance with the dryness level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2012
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Osamu Shinkawa
  • Publication number: 20120223983
    Abstract: A liquid ejection device comprising a plurality of ejection parts for ejecting liquid in cavities, an inspection part for inspecting the ejection parts. The ejection parts are classified into a plurality of ranks according to the characteristics of individual ejection parts. The inspection part performs inspection in accordance with a determination reference corresponding to the ranks. The inspection is performed consecutively on those among the plurality of ejection parts that are classified in the same rank.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 27, 2012
    Publication date: September 6, 2012
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Toshiyuki SUZUKI, Osamu SHINKAWA
  • Publication number: 20120206518
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting device ejects a liquid using a driving element driven through application of a drive signal. The liquid ejecting device comprises a detector electrically connected to a plurality of driving elements via a common electrical path. The detector detects electrical signals output from each of the plurality of driving elements.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 16, 2012
    Publication date: August 16, 2012
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Osamu SHINKAWA, Toshiyuki SUZUKI
  • Patent number: 8240798
    Abstract: A head drive device of an inkjet printer having a nozzles and corresponding actuators that jet liquid drops. A drive section that generates a drive signal to the actuators. The head drive device includes a drive waveform signal which is used as a reference of a signal to control drive of the actuators. A modulating section modulates a pulse of a drive waveform signal generated by the drive waveform generating system. A low pass filter smoothes a power-amplified modulated signal subjected to the power amplification by the digital power amplifier and supplies the signal as a drive signal to the actuators. A frequency characteristics adjusting section adjusts frequency characteristics of the low pass filter as a function of the number of the actuators.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2012
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Atsushi Oshima, Kunio Tabata, Osamu Shinkawa, Toshiyuki Suzuki, Tomoki Hatano
  • Patent number: 8240794
    Abstract: A liquid jet apparatus includes a plurality of nozzles provided to the liquid jet head, an actuator provided corresponding to each of the nozzles, drive unit that applies a drive signal to the actuator, drive waveform signal generation unit that generates a drive waveform signal providing a reference of a signal for controlling the actuator, modulator unit that pulse-modulates the drive waveform signal generated by the drive waveform signal generation unit, a digital power amplifier for power-amplifying the modulated signal, which is pulse-modulated by the modulator unit, and a low-pass filter provided individually corresponding to the actuator and for supplying the actuator with the power amplified modulated signal power-amplified by the digital power amplifier as a drive signal after smoothing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2012
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Atsushi Oshima, Kunio Tabata, Toshiyuki Suzuki, Osamu Shinkawa, Tomoki Hatano
  • Patent number: 8201905
    Abstract: With an appropriate signal transmission form, a drive pulse output circuit is mounted to an ink jet head, so that waveform distortion of an actuator drive pulse for jet of ink drops is inhibited or prevented. Modulated signal data in memory is read to output a modulated signal, which is power-amplified by a digital power amplifier. The amplified digital signal is smoothed to be output to an actuator as a drive pulse. As a result, the digital power amplifier having high amplification efficiency efficiently amplifies the power of the modulated signal, thereby eliminating the need to use a cooling unit. The drive pulse output circuit can be mounted to the ink jet heads, thereby shortening the transmission path of an actuator drive pulse, which inhibits or prevents any waveform distortion of the drive pulse. The transmission of the modulated signal data DATA is implemented with a low frequency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2012
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Toshiyuki Suzuki, Kunio Tabata, Osamu Shinkawa, Tomoki Hatano, Atsushi Oshima
  • Publication number: 20120092401
    Abstract: A head drive of an inkjet printer includes nozzles and corresponding actuators that eject liquid ink drops. A drive unit applies a drive signal to the actuators. The drive unit includes a drive waveform generator that generates a drive waveform signal to control the drive of the actuators. A modulator pulse modulates the drive waveform. A digital power amplifier amplifies power of the modulated signal. A low pass filter smoothes the amplified digital signal and supplies the signal as a drive signal to the actuators. An inverse filter provided in a subsequent stage of the drive waveform generator corrects at least the frequency characteristics of the filter to predetermined frequency characteristics, independent of the number of the actuators to drive.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 21, 2011
    Publication date: April 19, 2012
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kunio TABATA, Toshiyuki SUZUKI, Osamu SHINKAWA, Tomoki HATANO, Atsushi OSHIMA
  • Patent number: 8100491
    Abstract: A liquid jet apparatus includes a plurality of nozzles provided to the liquid jet head, an actuator provided corresponding to each of the nozzles, drive unit that applies a drive signal to the actuator, drive waveform signal generation unit that generates a drive waveform signal providing a reference of a signal for controlling the actuator, modulator unit that pulse-modulates the drive waveform signal generated by the drive waveform signal generation unit, a digital power amplifier for power-amplifying the modulated signal, which is pulse-modulated by the modulator unit, and a low-pass filter provided individually corresponding to the actuator and for supplying the actuator with the power amplified modulated signal power-amplified by the digital power amplifier as a drive signal after smoothing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2012
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Atsushi Oshima, Kunio Tabata, Toshiyuki Suzuki, Osamu Shinkawa, Tomoki Hatano
  • Patent number: 8070255
    Abstract: There is provided a liquid ejecting apparatus having a non contact type heater for heating a recording medium on which liquid is ejected via a liquid ejecting head, the heater having a heat generating surface and the heater being arranged in parallel to the liquid ejecting head along a transport direction of the recording medium. The liquid ejecting apparatus includes a mist suctioning unit for suctioning floating mist generated by ejection of the liquid. The mist suctioning unit includes a nozzle plate in which nozzle orifices for ejecting the liquid are formed, the nozzle plate being provided on the liquid ejecting head, an electrode member provided at a marginal portion of the heat generating surface, and an electric potential difference generator for generating an electric potential difference between the electrode member and the nozzle plate to electrostatically absorb the mist on the marginal portion of the heat generating surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2011
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Osamu Shinkawa
  • Publication number: 20110285772
    Abstract: A liquid ejection device includes a plurality of nozzles, a plurality of piezoelectric elements, a drive signal generating portion and a common ejection testing portion. The nozzles are arranged to eject a liquid. The piezoelectric elements are provided in respective correspondence to the nozzles. The drive signal generating portion is arranged to generate a drive signal which repeats for each ejection cycle in which the nozzles eject the liquid onto a pixel, the drive signal having a testing period within each ejection cycle. The common ejection testing portion is provided in common to the nozzles. One of the piezoelectric elements corresponding to the nozzle to be tested is driven within a given ejection cycle of the drive signal, whereupon the nozzle to be tested is tested by the common ejection testing portion during the testing period of the same given ejection cycle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 28, 2011
    Publication date: November 24, 2011
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Osamu SHINKAWA
  • Publication number: 20110285775
    Abstract: A liquid ejection device includes a plurality of nozzles, an ejection testing portion and a controller. The nozzles are arranged to eject a liquid. The ejection testing portion is arranged to perform ejection testing of the liquid from each of the nozzles. The controller is arranged to eject the liquid from the nozzles to print an image onto a medium, and to perform a flushing operation when printing on the medium is not being performed. The ejection testing portion is arranged to perform the ejection testing of each of the nozzles during the flushing operation. The controller is arranged to terminate the flushing operation in midcourse when results of the ejection testing for the nozzles are normal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 12, 2011
    Publication date: November 24, 2011
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Osamu SHINKAWA