Patents by Inventor TOSHIKI FUKUNISHI

TOSHIKI FUKUNISHI 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: 11945673
    Abstract: A document feeder includes a document placing tray on which a document is placed; a document discharging tray on which a document discharged from a document discharging port in a discharging direction is stacked; and a light source that radiates light to the document discharging tray. The document discharging tray is disposed below the document placing tray. The document discharging tray has a protruding portion protruding upward from the surrounding area. The light source is disposed within a region having a width that is the same as a document having a maximum size in the width direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2023
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2024
    Assignee: SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Shohichi Fukutome, Kenji Kuroda, Hironori Ogasawara, Hisashi Yamanaka, Toshiki Fukunishi
  • Patent number: 11702305
    Abstract: A sheet feeding device includes a pickup roller, a lifting/lowering mechanism, and a driver device. The lifting/lowering mechanism includes a restricting member that releasably restricts the pickup roller from being lowered from a lifted position of the pickup roller at the lifted position. In the sheet feeding device, the driver device drives the lifting/lowering mechanism so that the pickup roller is lowered from the lifted position of the pickup roller, and a drive suspend operation is performed in which the driving of the lifting/lowering mechanism by driver device is suspended after a predetermined time during which the pickup roller does not contact a sheet loading tray or a sheet on the sheet loading tray elapses from a time point when the pickup roller is released from being restricted by the restricting member at the lifted position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2023
    Assignee: SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kenji Kuroda, Hironori Ogasawara, Yasumasa Morimoto, Toshiki Fukunishi
  • Publication number: 20230192433
    Abstract: A document feeder includes a document placing tray on which a document is placed; a document discharging tray on which a document discharged from a document discharging port in a discharging direction is stacked; and a light source that radiates light to the document discharging tray. The document discharging tray is disposed below the document placing tray. The document discharging tray has a protruding portion protruding upward from the surrounding area. The light source is disposed within a region having a width that is the same as a document having a maximum size in the width direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 15, 2023
    Publication date: June 22, 2023
    Inventors: SHOHICHI FUKUTOME, KENJI KURODA, HIRONORI OGASAWARA, HISASHI YAMANAKA, TOSHIKI FUKUNISHI
  • Patent number: 11608241
    Abstract: A document feeder includes a document placing tray on which a document is placed; a document discharging tray on which a document discharged from a document discharging port in a discharging direction is stacked; and a light source that radiates light to the document discharging tray. The document discharging tray is disposed below the document placing tray. The document discharging tray has a protruding portion protruding upward from the surrounding area. The light source is disposed within a region having a width that is the same as a document having a maximum size in the width direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2023
    Assignee: SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Shohichi Fukutome, Kenji Kuroda, Hironori Ogasawara, Hisashi Yamanaka, Toshiki Fukunishi
  • Publication number: 20220219933
    Abstract: A document feeder includes a document placing tray on which a document is placed; a document discharging tray on which a document discharged from a document discharging port in a discharging direction is stacked; and a light source that radiates light to the document discharging tray. The document discharging tray is disposed below the document placing tray. The document discharging tray has a protruding portion protruding upward from the surrounding area. The light source is disposed within a region having a width that is the same as a document having a maximum size in the width direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 30, 2022
    Publication date: July 14, 2022
    Inventors: SHOHICHI FUKUTOME, KENJI KURODA, HIRONORI OGASAWARA, HISASHI YAMANAKA, TOSHIKI FUKUNISHI
  • Patent number: 11319180
    Abstract: A document feeder includes a document placing tray on which a document is placed; a document discharging tray on which a document discharged from a document discharging port in a discharging direction is stacked; and a light source that radiates light to the document discharging tray. The document discharging tray is disposed below the document placing tray. The document discharging tray has a protruding portion protruding upward from the surrounding area. The light source is disposed within a region having a width that is the same as a document having a maximum size in the width direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Shohichi Fukutome, Kenji Kuroda, Hironori Ogasawara, Hisashi Yamanaka, Toshiki Fukunishi
  • Publication number: 20210221633
    Abstract: A sheet feeding device includes a pickup roller, a lifting/lowering mechanism, and a driver device. The lifting/lowering mechanism includes a restricting member that releasably restricts the pickup roller from being lowered from a lifted position of the pickup roller at the lifted position. In the sheet feeding device, the driver device drives the lifting/lowering mechanism so that the pickup roller is lowered from the lifted position of the pickup roller, and a drive suspend operation is performed in which the driving of the lifting/lowering mechanism by driver device is suspended after a predetermined time during which the pickup roller does not contact a sheet loading tray or a sheet on the sheet loading tray elapses from a time point when the pickup roller is released from being restricted by the restricting member at the lifted position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 29, 2020
    Publication date: July 22, 2021
    Inventors: KENJI KURODA, HIRONORI OGASAWARA, YASUMASA MORIMOTO, TOSHIKI FUKUNISHI
  • Patent number: 10893159
    Abstract: A document feeder includes an input tray (part of a document placing portion) on which a document is placed, an output tray on which the document output from a document output port in an output direction is stacked, and a substrate including a light source that emits light to the output tray. The output tray is disposed below the input tray. The substrate is fixed to the document placing portion at an oblique angle relative to a horizontal reference of the document feeder such that the optical axis of the light source extends toward the document output port.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2021
    Assignee: SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kenji Kuroda, Shohichi Fukutome, Hironori Ogasawara, Hisashi Yamanaka, Toshiki Fukunishi
  • Publication number: 20200128148
    Abstract: A document reading device includes red, green, and blue photoelectric transducers; a reader that reads a color image of a document with the photoelectric transducers; and a converter that converts the read color image into a grayscale image. The converter determines the maximum tone value MAX(RGB) among the red, green, and blue tone values of the RGB signal (RGB) of the pixel of the red, green, and blue colors to be a grayscale value of the pixel.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 14, 2019
    Publication date: April 23, 2020
    Inventors: SHOHICHI FUKUTOME, KENJI NAKANISHI, YASUHIRO SUTOH, HISASHI YAMANAKA, TOSHIKI FUKUNISHI
  • Publication number: 20200128138
    Abstract: A document feeder includes an input tray (part of a document placing portion) on which a document is placed, an output tray on which the document output from a document output port in an output direction is stacked, and a substrate including a light source that emits light to the output tray. The output tray is disposed below the input tray. The substrate is fixed to the document placing portion at an oblique angle relative to a horizontal reference of the document feeder such that the optical axis of the light source extends toward the document output port.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 15, 2019
    Publication date: April 23, 2020
    Inventors: KENJI KURODA, SHOHICHI FUKUTOME, HIRONORI OGASAWARA, HISASHI YAMANAKA, TOSHIKI FUKUNISHI
  • Publication number: 20200122944
    Abstract: A document feeder includes a document placing tray on which a document is placed; a document discharging tray on which a document discharged from a document discharging port in a discharging direction is stacked; and a light source that radiates light to the document discharging tray. The document discharging tray is disposed below the document placing tray. The document discharging tray has a protruding portion protruding upward from the surrounding area. The light source is disposed within a region having a width that is the same as a document having a maximum size in the width direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 14, 2019
    Publication date: April 23, 2020
    Inventors: SHOHICHI FUKUTOME, KENJI KURODA, HIRONORI OGASAWARA, HISASHI YAMANAKA, TOSHIKI FUKUNISHI