Patents Assigned to Ricoh Company
  • Patent number: 8728620
    Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide white colored fine particles with high white reflectance and not easily precipitating in a dispersion medium compared to inorganic white pigments, a method of producing the fine particles, an image display medium and an image display apparatus having a high whiteness like a paper and an excellent display memorability using the fine particles. Therefore, the fine particles contain a polymer of a compound expressed by the following formula (1): wherein, R represents a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, an alkyl group or an alkenyl group, “m” represents an integer of 1 to 10, and at least one of R represents the alkenyl group.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masahiro Yanagisawa, Seigou Kawaguchi
  • Patent number: 8731420
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier, a transferer to apply a constant-current controlled bias to a transfer medium to form a transfer electric field, a constant-current source configured to apply an electrical current to the transferer, an electrical characteristic detector, an environment detector, a first corrector, a second corrector, and a third corrector. The electrical characteristic detector detects an electrical characteristic value corresponding to a resistance in a current path from the constant-current source to the transferer. The environment detector detects an environmental condition inside the image forming apparatus. The first corrector corrects the electrical current based on the electrical characteristic detection and a predetermined threshold. The second corrector corrects the electrical current based on the environment detection. The third corrector sets the threshold based on the environment detection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Limited
    Inventor: Ken Yoshida
  • Patent number: 8730515
    Abstract: A printing control program is disclosed which causes a computer to function as a calculating unit; a page data generating unit which generates page data for outputting unused tab sheets; a job data generating unit which generates one job data set into which a first data job set and a second data set are combined, the first job data set being for outputting a printed output to a first sheet-discharging destination based on manuscript submission data and the second job data set being for outputting the unused tab sheet to a second sheet-discharging destination based on the page data; and a job data transmitting unit which transmits the one job data set to a job management unit which causes information on job data to be displayed on a display apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Takashi Toriumi, Akihiro Kinoshita, Yoshikazu Tanaka, Shizhong Zhu, Yongtao Liang
  • Patent number: 8730290
    Abstract: A light source includes a plurality of light-emitting units arranged in a two-dimensional array. An optical element changes divergence angles of laser beams from the light-emitting units. A splitting element splits a part of each of the laser beams passing through the optical element. A compensating element compensates for a fluctuation in the divergence angle of each of the laser beams incident on the splitting element due to a change of temperature. A light-receiving element receives laser beams split by the splitting element. The light source, the optical element, the splitting element, the compensating element, and the light-receiving element are integrally supported.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Nobuaki Kubo
  • Patent number: 8727505
    Abstract: Disclosed is an electromechanical transducer element that includes an electromechanical transducer film formed of a complex oxide (PZT) including lead (Pb), zirconium (Zr), and titanium (Ti). The electromechanical transducer film is formed by laminating plural PZT thin films until a thickness of the formed electromechanical transducer film becomes a predetermined thickness. When an atomic weight ratio (Pb/(Zr+Ti)) of average Pb included in the formed electromechanical transducer film is denoted by Pb(avg) and an atomic weight ratio (Pb/(Zr+Ti)) of Pb in any one of laminate interfaces of the plural PZT thin films is denoted by Pb(interface), the Pb(avg) is greater than or equal to 100 atomic percentage (at %) and less than or equal to 110 atomic percentage (at %), and a fluctuation ratio ?Pb=Pb(avg)?Pb(interface) of Pb in the laminate interface is less than or equal to 20 percent.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Satoshi Mizukami, Yoshikazu Akiyama, Masaru Shinkai, Keiji Ueda, Kanshi Abe, Takakazu Kihira, Naoya Kondo
  • Patent number: 8727492
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes an image forming part to form an image by injecting a liquid. A waste liquid tank is detachably attached to the image forming apparatus to store a waste liquid discharged from the image forming part. The waste liquid tank has a memory element to store identification information A and waste liquid amount information B. A memory unit stores identification information C and waste liquid amount information D. A control unit determines a current amount of the waste liquid currently retained in the waste liquid tank at a predetermined timing in accordance with the identification information A and the waste liquid amount information B stored in the memory element and the identification information C and the waste liquid amount information D stored in the memory unit, and updates the current amount of the waste liquid in accordance with a subsequent operation of the image forming part.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasumasa Mihara, Seiichi Kogure
  • Patent number: 8727494
    Abstract: A droplet ejection device includes a droplet ejection head. The droplet ejection head includes droplet ejection nozzles, a common liquid chamber, an air vent nozzle, and a nozzle face. The ejection nozzles are arranged side by side in a vertical direction. Each ejection nozzle has a first channel to eject droplets. The vent nozzle has a second channel to vent air from the common chamber. The nozzle face is disposed in the vertical direction or a direction tilted downward relative to the vertical direction. The first channel is tilted downward so that a side proximal to the nozzle face is lower than another side proximal to the common chamber. The vent nozzle is disposed above a topmost one of the ejection nozzles. The second channel is tilted upward so that a side proximal to the nozzle face is higher than another side proximal to the common chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Hiroshi Noda
  • Patent number: 8730490
    Abstract: A printer driver that cooperates with a plug-in that can be added thereto and removed therefrom includes: a determining unit that determines whether or not the plug-in is used at predetermined timing at which a printing process is hooked; a reading unit that reads the plug-in that is determined by the determining unit; and a calling unit that calls the plug-in read by the reading unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Limited
    Inventor: Kazuhiro Miyabe
  • Patent number: 8728698
    Abstract: The present invention is to provide a carrier and a developer, which have fewer occurrences of carrier adhesion and background smear, excellent granularity and longer durability. The carrier comprises the core material particles having magnetism and resin coating layer covering the core material particles, and wherein the weight average particle diameters is in the range of 22 m to 32 m, the proportion of the weight average particle diameters relative to the number average particle diameter is in the range of 1.00 to 1.20, the content of particles having a diameter of 20 m or smaller is 7% by mass, the content of carrier particles having a diameter of 36 m or smaller is in the range of 90% by mass to 100% by mass, and the proportion of the particle density of the core material particles is in the range of 85% to 100% of the true density of the core material particles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masashi Nagayama, Kimitoshi Yamaguchi, Naoki Imahashi
  • Patent number: 8732792
    Abstract: A device management system is configured to manage access to electronic documents on client devices using policies. The policies specify one or more download and processing restrictions to be enforced with respect to the particular electronic document at client devices for example, particular hardware and software configurations that are required at client devices before data is permitted to be downloaded to those client devices. The policies may also specify other requirements that must be satisfied before data is permitted to be downloaded to those client devices, for example, user authentication.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Tetsuro Motoyama
  • Patent number: 8727465
    Abstract: A method for supplying a liquid from a liquid tank to a head tank fixed to a liquid-jet head utilizing a liquid supply device in a liquid-jet apparatus is disclosed. The method includes jetting the liquid droplets from the liquid-jet head while maintaining a meniscus pressure of the liquid-jet head within a predetermined range; detecting the meniscus pressure of the liquid-jet head; carrying out, when the detected meniscus pressure is lower than the predetermined range, a first liquid supply operation such that the detected meniscus pressure of the liquid-jet head being lower than the predetermined range is restored to the predetermined range; and carrying out, while the first liquid supply operation is not being carried out, a second liquid supply operation such that the liquid is supplied to the head tank in an amount less than a liquid-jetted amount computed based on a liquid-jet signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Toshiroh Tokuno
  • Patent number: 8730513
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus is provided with a storage unit for storing setting information including at least a size of a substitute recording medium, and a processing unit for executing a print instruction by automatically changing a size of a recording medium to be used to the size of the substitute recording medium based on the setting information stored in the storage means, when the size of the recording medium specified by the print instruction is not available.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Nozomi Sawada
  • Patent number: 8731419
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus including an image carrier; an intermediate transfer member having a first portion and a second portion that has a higher glossiness than that of the first portion; a primary transfer member; a light source to emit light to the intermediate transfer member side; a detector to detect intensity of reflected light emitted from the light source and then reflected from the intermediate transfer member and a density adjustment pattern formed on the intermediate transfer member; a processor including a light-emission intensity adjuster to adjust light-emission intensity from the light source based on detected intensity of light reflected from the second portion of the intermediate transfer member; and an image forming condition controller to control image forming conditions for forming a toner image based on the detected intensity of the light reflected from the density adjustment pattern formed on the intermediate transfer member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuji Kato, Tsutomu Kato, Yohhei Watanabe
  • Patent number: 8730288
    Abstract: An optical writing device includes a light emission control unit configured to cause a light source to emit light based on a rotational position of a photosensitive element and pixel information making up a correction pattern to form an electrostatic latent image of the correction pattern on the photosensitive element, the correction pattern being formed across an entire circumference of the photosensitive element in a rotating direction; a reading signal acquiring unit configured to acquire reading signals resulting from reading the correction pattern, and generate, based on the reading signals, density variation information in which the rotational position and a density of the correction pattern are associated; and a correction value information generation control unit configured to generate information about correction to an amount of light emitted by the light source based on the density of the correction pattern to generate correction value information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Limited
    Inventor: Tatsuya Miyadera
  • Patent number: 8732484
    Abstract: An information processing apparatus which updates a basic software package is disclosed. The information processing apparatus includes an encryption and decryption unit which stores values calculated uniquely from software and encrypts information based on the calculated values and decrypts encrypted information based on the calculated values. The basic software package includes a firmware authenticating module for authenticating a firmware updating file which includes new software for updating the basic software package, a value uniquely calculated from the new software, and a public key signature. The information processing apparatus further includes a software updating module which updates the basic software package by using the authenticated firmware updating file, and an encryption key managing module for encrypting again the information encrypted by the values based on a value changed by updating the basic software package.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Hidekazu Segawa
  • Patent number: 8730293
    Abstract: A laser light irradiating system which irradiates a laser light onto a thermally reversible recording medium which is pasted on a face on one side of an object to be conveyed to perform one of image erasing and image recording is disclosed. The laser light irradiating system includes a conveying unit; a detecting unit; a laser light emitting unit; and a control unit, wherein the control unit conveys the object to be conveyed to a specific position and, when the thermally reversible recording medium is not detected by the detecting unit, the laser light with a power level greater than or equal to a predetermined power level is prevented from being emitted from the laser light emitting unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Kazutaka Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 8727486
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus is disclosed that includes an ejecting head including a nozzle from which an ink is ejected; a wiper member configured to wipe ink from a surface of the nozzle of the ejecting head; a wiper cleaning portion configured to remove an ink attached to the wiper member when the wiper member is pressed against the wiper cleaning portion, a scraping member actuated in a longitudinal direction of the wiper cleaning portion reciprocatively, and configured to scrape ink attached to the wiper cleaning portion; and a cleaning member configured to remove ink accumulated on the top portion of the scraping member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Yoichi Kawabata
  • Patent number: 8732345
    Abstract: A disclosed image forming apparatus includes an image processing device including plural image processing units; a control device configured to control the plural image processing units; and a connection unit configured to connect the image processing device to the control device. Each of the plural image processing units is connected to the control device by one of plural channels; the image processing device is connected to the control device by a first bus including the channels; and the connection unit is provided on the first bus so that the image processing device is connected to the control device by a single connection unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Takashi Aihara, Hidemasa Morimoto
  • Patent number: 8729733
    Abstract: A reception unit sequentially receives input of voltage values indicating an AC input voltage from an AC power supply. A ROM stores a power control table in which a power control parameter corresponding to the AC power supply voltage is matched with each group of the voltage values indicating the same AC power supply voltage. A decision unit determines to which group the received voltage values belong among the plurality of groups, whenever the reception unit receives the input of the voltage value and decides the group, to which a predetermined number of voltage values belongs among the plurality of voltage values sequentially received by the reception unit, among the plurality of groups using the determination result. A power control unit controls power supply according to the power control parameter matched with the decided group.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 19, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Limited
    Inventors: Tomokazu Takeuchi, Yuusuke Kohri
  • Patent number: 8727498
    Abstract: A drive circuit for an inkjet recording head includes a plurality of electrically capacitive actuator elements, a drive signal source, a plurality of switching elements, and a plurality of resistances. The actuator elements are provided for a plurality of nozzles, and drive the nozzles to eject ink therefrom. The drive signal source outputs a drive signal for driving the actuator elements. The switching elements are connected to the respective actuator elements to separately drive the actuator elements, and selectively apply the output drive signal to the actuator elements. The resistances are provided for the respective actuator elements, and are connected to low potential sides of the actuator elements. Each of the resistances has a resistance value adjusted in accordance with the length of a wire between the corresponding one of the actuator elements and the drive signal source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Kaoru Satoh