Patents Represented by Attorney, Agent or Law Firm Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto
  • Patent number: 8351515
    Abstract: A plurality of items of content whose meaning content is the same and quality is different is acquired from a plurality of acquisition routes and managed as a single group. Each item of content in this group is analyzed, an evaluation value of each item of content is calculated from the results of analysis and content to be deleted is determined based upon the evaluation values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Daisuke Kuroki
  • Patent number: 8348363
    Abstract: There is provided a liquid tank having a liquid remaining amount sensing module that makes it possible to reliably determine that the amount of ink has reached a predetermined value, in spite of its simple and compact configuration. In the ink tank, an information storage element and a module are provided on a ceiling portion of an ink accommodating chamber directly accommodating ink; the module having an optical reflector that faces downward in a vertical direction. A housing of the ink tank is composed of a transparent resin. Infrared light from an external light emitting section is incident on the optical reflector. The reflected light is received by a light receiving section and then, the quantity of light is measured.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Hajime Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 8351056
    Abstract: The invention provides a multi-function printer not requiring exclusive components (principally electrical components) for reading the print settings and thus being free from a cost increase, and a control method therefor. For print settings such as a paper size and a print quality in a copying or a direct printing, a lever is provided for each print setting item. Before executing the reading and printing operations of copying or direct printing, position of each lever is read and the setting of each print setting item is analyzed based on the position of each lever, and the reading and printing operations are executed according to thus analyzed settings.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Norio Shimura
  • Patent number: 8348266
    Abstract: The skew-feeding correcting apparatus of the present invention includes an abutment portion which is disposed to a conveying path to convey a sheet and to which a top end of the sheet is abutted to correct skew feeding of the sheet, a movement portion which moves the abutment portion in a sheet width direction perpendicular to a sheet conveyance direction, and a controller which controls driving of the movement portion to move the abutment portion to a position where a corner part of the sheet is not to be abutted to the abutment portion before the top end of the sheet is abutted to the abutment portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Kohei Deno
  • Patent number: 8351728
    Abstract: Filter processing is performed on an image, in which a filter kernel having coefficients corresponding to positions of pixels is applied at a target pixel position and to sample pixels positioned in the neighborhood of the target pixel position. A bin is assigned to each unique coefficient of the filter kernel. A mask having respective positions corresponding to the positions of the filter kernel is created. Each respective position of the mask indexes to the bin for the coefficient corresponding to that position. The mask is positioned at the target pixel position, and the respective pixel value of each sample pixel is accumulated in the bin corresponding to the position of the sample pixel in the mask. The accumulated pixel values in each respective bin are multiplied by the coefficient corresponding to the bin. The resultant products are summed to determine a filtered pixel value at the target pixel position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Allison Bajo
  • Patent number: 8350868
    Abstract: A method of compositing a plurality of graphic objects with a compositing buffer, is disclosed. The plurality of graphic objects forming a group is attenuated by group opacity and is composited from a top object to a bottom object. Based on a first mask and the group opacity, a second mask is generated. The first mask stores a remaining possible contribution for further graphic objects below and including the plurality of graphic objects. The plurality of graphic objects in a top down order is processed. In particular, for each graphic object of the plurality of graphic objects: (a) a contribution value for the graphic object using the second mask is determined, the contribution value representing a contribution of the graphic object to the compositing buffer; (b) a colour value of the graphic object is composited with the compositing buffer using the contribution value; and (c) the second mask is updated using the contribution value. The first mask is then updated using the second mask and the group opacity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Albert Chang, Bin Liao, Cameron Murray Edwards, Scott Bradley
  • Patent number: 8352076
    Abstract: A robot with a camera includes a hand with a finger, a camera disposed on the hand, a robot arm including the hand, and a control portion which searches for a work based on an image obtained by the camera and controls the robot arm. In addition, a unit detects a velocity of the camera, and a unit detects a position of the camera relative to a predicted stopping position of the camera. The control portion permits the camera to take the image used for searching for the work, when the velocity of the camera takes a preset velocity threshold value or lower and the position of the camera relative to the predicted stopping position takes a preset position threshold value or lower.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Yuichi Someya
  • Patent number: 8351570
    Abstract: To provide a phase grating capable of acquiring, in photographing of an X-ray phase contrast image by use of X-ray with two wavelengths, an X-ray phase contrast image by a phase grating in the same size as when a single wavelength is used, provided is a phase grating used when an X-ray is directed to take an X-ray phase contrast image, the phase grating including a periodic structure for generating a phase difference between an X-ray transmitted through the structure and an X-ray not transmitted through the structure. The periodic structure has different periods in a plurality of directions in a same surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Takashi Nakamura, Aya Imada
  • Patent number: 8347915
    Abstract: A method of exhausting a gas in a chamber of a load-lock system having a first valve defining an opening for supplying a gas and a second valve defining an opening for conveyance of an article. The method includes a gas supplying step for supplying a gas heated by a heater into the chamber through the first valve, while the first valve and the second valve are kept open, a conveying step for conveying the article into the chamber while the second valve is kept open, and an exhausting step to be carried out after the gas supplying step and the conveying step are executed and the first and second valves are closed, to exhaust the gas inside the chamber while the first valve and the second valve are kept closed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Kazuyuki Kasumi
  • Patent number: 8350936
    Abstract: The recording of successive frames of raw sensor data depicting a moving scene is provided. The raw sensor data comprises pixel data for an image sensor having pixels arranged in correspondence to a mosaic of plural different colors in a color filter array. A first sampling mosaic pattern for sampling the pixel data at a first resolution is designated. A second sampling mosaic pattern for sampling the pixel data at a second resolution which is lower than the first resolution is designated. One of the first or the second sampling mosaic patterns is selected for a frame by applying a predetermined rule. Pixel data of the frame is sampled using the selected sampling mosaic pattern. The sampled pixel data for the frame is recorded onto a recording medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Siu-Kei Tin
  • Patent number: 8351086
    Abstract: The present invention provides a printing device optimizing information to be embedded by merging pieces of information of respective pages into a single piece of information in N-up printing. The printing device generates the information to be embedded according to a result of analyzing print parameters in print data when performing embedding printing processing of the information to be embedded for the print data in a machine-recognizable manner. That is, in the printing device, a unit of generating information to be embedded acquires respective pieces of information of M pages (1?M?N), analyzes the acquired respective pieces of information to be embedded, and generates a single piece of information to be embedded merging the respective pieces of information to be embedded based on the analysis result of the respective pieces of information to be embedded, when N-up printing is designated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Hiroshi Mori
  • Patent number: 8351837
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a fixing member that can apply sufficient power to press toner particles on a raised portion of a paper surface while also maintaining good conformability to a depressed portion of the paper surface that is an advantage of a surface layer including a soft rubber layer. The fixing member has a surface layer to come into contact with toner, the surface layer has a sea-island structure in which the fluororubber constitutes a sea phase and a silicone compound having a crosslinked structure constitutes an island phase, and in a stress-strain curve of the surface layer, the tangential elastic modulus, the slope of the curve, increases as the strain increases, in the strain range of 0.25 to 0.8.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yuji Kitano, Katsuya Abe
  • Patent number: 8348401
    Abstract: A turning operation of a head set lever is completed, and a printing head can be detached from a carriage part. By the above-described turning operation of the head set lever, a supply port insertion and extraction part connected via a link slides, a needle pipe of the supply port insertion and extraction part is brought into a state of being the farthest from the printing head, and a needle insertion and extraction lever is brought into a state in which it moves under a case wall. Thereby, an operator cannot turn only the needle insertion and extraction lever when the head set lever is in an opened state. In this manner, when the head set lever is in the opened state, the operation of the needle insertion and extraction lever, which is used for connection of the supply port insertion and extraction part to ink supply port, is restricted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Takeshi Sekino, Tetsuya Ishikawa
  • Patent number: 8350458
    Abstract: A vacuum vessel includes a face plate, a rear plate having an interior surface that opposes the face plate, and a side wall joining the face plate and the rear plate, and a plurality of plate-like spacers provided between the face plate and the rear plate so that lengthwise directions thereof are parallel to each other. In addition, a plurality of linear fixing members are adhered to an exterior surface of the rear plate on the opposite side from the interior surface at mutually prescribed intervals and along the lengthwise direction of the plurality of spacers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Ryo Ohtomo, Toshimitsu Kawase, Kinya Kamiguchi, Takeshi Yamamoto, Tsukasa Abe
  • Patent number: 8351691
    Abstract: A method of text extraction in color compound documents is described. The method connects similarly colored pixels of an image of a color compound document into connected components (CCs); classifies each CC as either text or non-text; refines the text CC classification for each text CC using global color context statistics; groups text CCs into text blocks; recovers misclassified non-text CCs into a nearby text block; and removes extraneous CCs from each text block using local color context statistics to thereby provide the extracted text in the text blocks. Also described is a method of locating graphics objects in a color compound document image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yu-Ling Chen, Ping Liu, Trevor Lee McDonell
  • Patent number: 8351808
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes: a rotatable belt member; a toner image forming unit which forms a toner image on the belt member; a first detection unit which detects the density of the toner image transferred to the belt member; a plurality of position marks which detects a position in the circumferential direction of the belt member; a second detection unit which detects the position marks; a calculation unit which calculates the position in the circumferential direction of the belt member based on a detection result of the second detection unit; and an adjustment unit which adjusts toner image forming conditions of the toner image forming unit based on the output of the first detection unit and the circumferential direction position calculated by the calculation unit; wherein the shape of each of the plurality of position marks is different at each circumferential direction position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Akio Taguchi
  • Patent number: 8350942
    Abstract: A solid-state imaging apparatus includes a photoelectric conversion unit for generating and accumulating an electric charge according to an incident light, a floating diffusion for accumulating electric charges, a transfer transistor for transferring electric charges accumulated in the photoelectric conversion unit to the floating diffusion unit, and a reset transistor for resetting a voltage according to electric charges accumulated in the floating diffusion unit. In addition, a drive circuit intermittently applies to a gate of the transfer transistor a pulse having a first potential which is intermediate between a transfer potential for transferring electric charges and a non-transfer potential for disabling transfer of electric charges and applies to a gate of the reset transistor a second potential lower than the potential of the pulse for resetting voltage of the floating diffusion unit and higher than the first potential, during accumulation of electric charges in the photoelectric conversion unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Mahito Shinohara
  • Patent number: 8352763
    Abstract: Provided is technology for enabling power saving control that allows a change of control content according to a user selection in a power control system that saves power consumed by an information processing apparatus. The power control system of the present invention include an image processing apparatus 102 as an example of the information processing apparatus and a power consumption management apparatus 106 that manages the amount of power consumption of the image processing apparatus 102. The image processing apparatus 102, in power saving control based on a control mode according to the amount of power consumption, if execution of a job instructed by a user is restricted depending on a power saving setting received from the power consumption management apparatus 106, changes control content of the control mode to content that has been determined as a substitution for the control content for allowing the job to be executed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Ryotaro Imine, Takehito Utsunomiya
  • Patent number: 8351073
    Abstract: The invention has an image forming apparatus with a deviation amount calculator for obtaining, by an arithmetic operation, by an arithmetic operation, the deviation amount between the laser beam irradiating positions for each color, under the condition that the deviation amount increases gradually according to a time lapse in at least one of the plurality of operating modes, according with a further time lapse, the deviation amount between the laser beam irradiating positions for each color decreases gradually, and according with a further time lapse, the deviation amount between the laser beam irradiating positions for each color is converged.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Takashi Yano, Hisashi Enomoto
  • Patent number: 8351821
    Abstract: The invention provides a mechanism which allows a common device driver to obtain identification information of a USB device desired by an application that controls a USB device via a common device driver. Furthermore, the invention includes two types of common device drivers to be registered in an OS to have different priorities, and provides a common interface that does not allow the application to recognize their difference.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Hideo Asahara