Abstract: A block of intermediate transfer material for use in a printing apparatus having an intermediate transfer member, said intermediate transfer member being equipped with a heater to heat said intermediate transfer member to a temperature of at least about 40° C., said intermediate transfer member having a surface with a first shape, a marking material applicator situated to apply marking material in an imagewise pattern to the intermediate transfer member, and a transferring apparatus to transfer the imagewise pattern of marking material to a final recording substrate, said block of intermediate transfer material comprising a silicone polymer containing monomers of the formula wherein R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, x, y, and z are as defined herein, wherein the monomers can be directly bonded to each other or bonded through spacer groups, said block of intermediate transfer material having a surface with a second shape substantially the complement of the first shape.

Abstract: An ink-jet line printer (30) is constituted by multiple ink-jet heads (1-1 to 1-3). Actuators (3-1 to 3-3) are arranged so as to be moved between a home position and a print position, and backup mechanisms (2-1 to 2-3) are arranged at home positions. In this ink-jet line printer, the ink-jet heads can be protected and recovered by backup mechanisms, thus making high-speed continuous printing possible. Even though the backup mechanisms are incorporated, a compact apparatus can still be achieved.

Abstract: An electrostatographic printing apparatus comprises a charge receptor, and a transfer station for transferring a toner image from the charge receptor to a sheet. The sheet passes through a nip formed between the charge receptor and a moving transfer belt. Upstream of the nip, the belt forms a shallow angle relative to the charge receptor; downstream of the nip, the belt forms a steep angle relative to the charge receptor. This configuration enables self-stripping of the sheet from the transfer belt at the exit of the nip.

Abstract: A fixing device includes a pressure roll having elasticity or flexibility which is a driving roller, a heat-resistant endless belt being in contact with the pressure roll to form a nip zone through which a recording medium passes, the heat-resistant endless belt rotating as driven by the pressure roll, a pressing supporting body disposed inside the heat-resistant endless belt and having a flat segment to press the heat-resistant endless belt for making the nip zone nearly flat, a heat source disposed inside the heat-resistant endless belt, the pressing supporting body being arranged between the heat source and the nip zone. Preferably, the heat-resistant endless belt is directly heated by radiant heat from the heat source and heated by thermal conduction through the pressing supporting body.

Abstract: An ink jet printer has a printhead with ink droplet ejecting nozzles that moves in a two dimensional direction across a movable recording medium or intermediate surface. The recording medium or intermediate surface is moved in a first direction with a constant velocity. The printhead is spaced from and is parallel to the recording medium or intermediate surface during the two dimensional movement of the printhead. During the printing process, the printhead is moved concurrently in the first direction at a velocity equal to the velocity of the recording medium or intermediate surface and in a second direction that is perpendicular to the first direction. This two dimensional movement of the printhead causes the ink droplets ejected therefrom to print swaths of information across the recording medium or intermediate surface that are perpendicular to the first direction.

Abstract: A fixing unit that fixes a toner image carried on a recording medium includes a rotation member, and a pressure belt module that is provided with a pressure belt, a pressure roller supporting the pressure belt and pressing the rotation member, and a belt-supporting roller supporting the pressure belt. The pressure roller includes a first roller that is formed into a cylindrical shape, and a second roller that is disposed inside the first roller and formed into a crown shape, in which an axially central portion thereof is larger in outer diameter than both end portions thereof.

Abstract: A provably correct computer program can be generated using genetic programming techniques. A desired behavior is used to define a formal specification. An initial population of programs is created where each program has a meaning that can be defined using a formalization technique. A fitness function is applied to measure a distance between the meaning of a program, i.e., its actual behavior, and the specification. Any program having a zero value as the measure of distance between the meaning of the program and the specification is determined to be provably correct. After the fitness of some or all of the programs in the current generation of programs has been computed, a provably correct program has not yet been found in the current generation, mutation and/or crossover techniques are performed on at least some of the fittest individuals in the current generation to create the programs of a next generation.

Abstract: A sheet feeding device includes an elastic support member, a following movable member disposed so as to contact an uppermost sheet of a stack of sheets stacked on a sheet tray and can follow and move in accordance with the change in the stacking amount of the sheets, a restraining mechanism that restrains the elastic support member in accordance with the stacking amount of the sheets so that the position of the uppermost sheet is held at a substantial constant, and a release mechanism that interlocks with the movement of the following movable member to release the restrained state. The restraining mechanism includes an engagement member that moves together with the elastic support member and a restraining member that restrains the movement of the engagement member. The restraining member moves along a straight locus at least near an engaging portion to engage with and disengage from the engagement member.

Abstract: An image forming device equipped with a light scanning device having a polygon mirror that deflects laser light by rotating, a focusing element for focusing deflected laser light onto a photosensitive body, and a reflection mirror reflecting and guiding to the photosensitive body the laser light which passes through the focusing element, given that a distance L between an end surface of the focusing element and the reflection mirror is 8 mm?L?25 mm, and an angle ? formed by incident light and reflected light of the reflection mirror is 25°???45°, the focusing element, the reflection mirror, and the photosensitive body are disposed such that a relationship between L and ? satisfies 8 mm ?Ltan??12 mm is provided.

Abstract: A failure diagnosis method diagnoses failure occurring in an image forming apparatus. The failure causes defect in an image output from the image forming apparatus. The failure diagnosis method includes acquiring operation state signals indicating operation states during the image forming apparatus operating in different operation conditions, respectively; and analyzing the acquired operation state signals based on a failure probability model, which is obtained by modeling a cause of the failure occurring in the image forming apparatus with using probabilities, to execute failure diagnosis with respect to each of constituent members constituting the image forming apparatus.

Abstract: A system and method comprising RF tags, RFID readers, voice input devices, and voice recognition software may capture even characteristics associated with a workflow. Workflow characteristics, such as JobId, OperatorID, StationId and EventId may be stored in RF tags and may be captured along with a timestamp, when brought together in the close proximity of a RFID reader. Next node information may be captured to construct detailed workflow diagrams based upon captured data. Quantity information, as well as other information, may be entered verbally and converted to computer readable form using voice recognition software.

Abstract: What is disclosed is a system and method for specifying a custom document as a multi-criteria constraint optimization problem, and a method to automatically create the specified document using existing constraint optimization solving algorithms. The present method specifies the document, its content components, its layout requirements, and its desired aesthetic criteria are expressed as elements of a constraint optimization problem which when solved, results in an automated document layout for the set of content components that satisfies not only certain primitive content and layout constraints, but which also advantageously fulfills desired design properties and which provides a way to ensure that the generated document is well designed.

Abstract: A fuser member includes a substrate and an outer layer comprising a polymeric material, wherein the polymeric material is post-halogenated to provide a post-halogenated polymeric material. The fuser member is advantageously used without a release oil applied to the outer layer.

Abstract: Disclosed is a printing agent service method for performing agent printing on a printing agent printer in accordance with a print request of a client terminal, and selects a printing agent printer that is nearest to a client. This method has the steps of receiving a print request and location information from a client terminal (1); retrieving the printing agent printer site (8-1) closest to the location of the client terminal (1) based on the location information; sending the nearest printing agent printer site (8-1) to the client terminal (1) for display; and receiving the printing agent printer site (8-1) specified from the above-mentioned client terminal (1), and sending the print data of the print request to a printer (11) at the specified printing agent printer site. Therefore, a client can easily select a printing agent printer that is close to his current location.

Abstract: A printing device includes a first printer and a second printer which continuously print one or plural pieces of printing data onto a printing medium. In the printing device, the second printer includes a reading sensor, the first printer first prints the one or plural pieces of printing data onto the printing medium by forming a mark indicating a page of the printing medium or each of the plural pieces of the printing data, the reading sensor in the second printer subsequently reads the mark and matches printing surfaces of the printing medium to be printed by the first and second printers, and the second printer thereafter prints the printing data onto the printing medium.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus has at least one replaceable unit replaceably mounted to an image forming apparatus main body. The image forming apparatus outputs a message purporting that a reservation of an operation mode can be received, at the timing that a replacement timing of the replaceable unit which is currently mounted is close in time. If so, prior to the replacement of the replaceable unit which is current mounted, a reservation of an operation mode for a replaceable unit which is to be mounted next time may be received. Further, if the replacement of the replaceable unit is detected, the image forming apparatus starts the control according to the reserved operation mode.

Abstract: The method and apparatus of the present invention identifies the logical components of a message, determines the conversational relationships among messages and then structures and formats the core components into a single document to facilitate efficient assimilation of the structure and content of the contained conversations. The message analysis technique delineates the material to be retained and omitted using a combination of a recursive descent analyzer and a single weighted finite state machine for the core process.

Abstract: A method of organizing electronic document-related information at least includes generating a collection of electronic documents, forming from the collection, at least one cluster of documents based upon a user's selection of a subject, and determining for each author of documents in the cluster, the number of times each the author is an author of a document corresponding to the subject. The authors are ranked and presented to the user in the form of an index. The ranked index can be interpreted as a ranking of subject matter experts.

Abstract: Document fragments are managed by the use of fragment objects. Fragment objects contain a reference to a portion of a source document. Referencing documents contain a reference to a fragment object which delivers the content of the fragment of the source document to the referencing document. The source document can be directly updated through updating the fragment of the source document contained in the referencing document via the use of the fragment object. Source document deletion is controlled by storing the references to the source document by fragment objects so that no fragment object has a reference to a nonexistent source document.