Patents Examined by Anthony Nguyen
  • Patent number: 9552938
    Abstract: A data entry and/or operating system, particularly a keyboard, also a POS keyboard, includes a lower part and an upper part as well as at least one circuit board and at least one retainer plate, the retainer plate lying on the lower part. One or more bushings are integrated for the purpose of connecting the circuit board to the retainer plate. The upper part is formed from a rubber mat having keys, and the stability of the keyboard is assured by the circuit board, bushing and metal retainer sheet. The lower part is connected to the upper part in a sealed manner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2017
    Assignee: PrehKeyTec GmbH
    Inventor: Klaus Schmoeger
  • Patent number: 9522525
    Abstract: Apparatus, printers, and methods to remove material from a printer surface are disclosed. An example apparatus includes a fluid remover to remove printing material from a printer surface, and a coating material reservoir to store coating material and to apply the coating material to the fluid remover to reduce an amount of printing material transferred to the fluid remover from the printer surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Daihua Zhang, Napoleon J. Leoni, Henryk Birecki, Omer Gila
  • Patent number: 9523955
    Abstract: A sheet feeder of a friction pad separation type, which can be included in an image forming apparatus, includes a feeder body, a rotary feed body, a separation body, a holder, and a leaf spring. The rotary feed body is disposed in the feeder body and feeds a recording medium along a sheet conveying direction. The separation body is fixed to the feeder body while facing the rotary feed body. The separation body separates the recording medium with the rotary feed body. The holder has a rotary shaft and holds the separation body while being rotatably supported by the rotary shaft. The leaf spring has a flexible deforming part that contacts an area adjacent to the rotary shaft and a line of action of a pressing force of the flexible deforming part passing close by the rotary shaft.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Hirofumi Horita, Mizuna Tanaka, Toshikane Nishii, Ikuo Fujii, Tomoya Tanaka
  • Patent number: 9519255
    Abstract: The provided is an electrographic type label printer to properly supply a roll paper to the printer, having a transfer portion of a toner image, a fixing portion, an unwinder that feeds a roll paper, a rewinder that takes up the roll paper, a conveyance mechanism, and slack detection sensors that detect a slack degree of a medium between the transfer portion and the fixing portion. The conveyance mechanism has a conveyance belt to be rotated while mounting the medium on an upper surface facing the upper side, and an intake mechanism for tightly fitting the medium to the upper surface of the conveyance mechanism. When selecting a mode to convey the roll paper, a paper feed unit controller controls passing speed at which the medium passes through a pass-through portion provided in the fixing portion in accordance with output signals from the slack detection sensors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2016
    Assignee: Graphtec Corporation
    Inventors: Shinichi Sasaki, Hiroshi Ohtsuka, Susumu Shoji
  • Patent number: 9507311
    Abstract: There is provided an image forming apparatus including a paper feed tray configured to accommodate at least one sheet, a paper feed roller configured to send the sheet from the paper feed tray, and a cleaning member at the paper feed tray, the cleaning member being configured to clean a surface of the paper feed roller. The paper feed tray is movable between a paper feeding position from which the paper feed roller sends the sheet and a cleaning position at which the paper feed roller comes into contact with the cleaning member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2016
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Masakazu Sone
  • Patent number: 9505245
    Abstract: The present teachings disclose various embodiments of a printing system for printing a substrate, in which the printing system can be housed in a gas enclosure, where the environment within the enclosure can be maintained as a controlled printing environment. A controlled environment of the present teachings can include control of the type of gas environment within the gas enclosure, the size and level particulate matter within the enclosure, control of the temperature within the enclosure and control of lighting. Various embodiments of a printing system of the present teachings can include a Y-axis motion system and a Z-axis moving plate that are configured to substantially decrease excess thermal load within the enclosure by, for example, eliminating or substantially minimizing the use of conventional electric motors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2016
    Inventors: Robert B. Lowrance, Alexander Sou-Kang Ko, Justin Mauck, Eliyahu Vronsky, Aleksey Khrustalev, Karl Mathia, Shandon Alderson
  • Patent number: 9499001
    Abstract: According to an embodiment, an image elimination apparatus eliminates an image formed on a sheet. A sheet supply unit supplies the sheet on which the image is formed. A first reader reads the sheet supplied by the sheet supply unit. An image eliminator eliminates the image formed on the supplied sheet. A second reader reads the sheet passing through the image eliminator. A discharge unit stacks the sheet to be discharged. A controller causes the first reader to read the sheet at a first speed in order to judge whether the sheet is reusable or not based on the reading result of the first reader. The controller also causes the second reader to read the sheet at a second speed faster than the first speed in order to judge whether the image formed on the sheet has been eliminated or not based on the reading result of the second reader.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2016
    Assignees: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA, TOSHIBA TEC KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Ken Iguchi
  • Patent number: 9483007
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a transfer device, a fixing device, an introduction guide member that introduces the leading edge of a recording medium to the fixing device, and a contact guide member that causes the leading edge of the recording medium to contact the introduction guide member. The contact guide member has a first guide part and a second guide part. The first guide part causes the leading edge of a first recording medium, which includes a recording medium of a double-sheet structure, to contact the introduction guide member at a first contact angle. The second guide part causes the leading edge of a second recording medium, which has a feed width greater than the passage width of the first guide part, to contact the introduction guide member at a second contact angle. The first contact angle is greater than the second contact angle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2016
    Assignee: FUJI XEROX CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Akira Shimodaira
  • Patent number: 9475273
    Abstract: There is described an ink wiping system (100; 100?; 100?) of an intaglio printing press comprising a wiping tank (101) and a rotatable wiping roller assembly (102; 102*) supported on and partly located in the wiping tank (101) for wiping excess ink from the surface of a rotatable intaglio printing cylinder (80) of the intaglio printing press. The ink wiping system (100; 100?; 100?) comprises a wiping roller retracting device (150) which forms an integral part of the ink wiping system (100; 100?; 100?) and is adapted to be coupled to the wiping roller assembly (102; 102*) to move the wiping roller assembly (102; 102*) between a working position (W) where the wiping roller assembly (102; 102*) is supported on and partly located in the wiping tank (101) for cooperation with the intaglio printing cylinder (80) and a parking position (P) where the wiping roller assembly (102; 102*) is retracted out of the wiping tank (101) and away from the intaglio printing cylinder (80).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2016
    Assignee: KBA—NotaSys SA
    Inventors: Volker Scharkus, Ralf Harald Sokol, Volkmar Rolf Schwitzky, Laurent Claude, Alain Würsch, Johannes Georg Schaede
  • Patent number: 9477195
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier that carries a developer image, a carrying part that carries a medium; and a guide part that forms a carrying path to guide the medium carried by the carrying part toward a transfer position where the developer image carried by the image carrier is transferred to the medium. The guide part is configured to change a thickness of the carrying path according to a kind of the medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2016
    Assignee: Oki Data Corporation
    Inventor: Toshiyuki Totsuka
  • Patent number: 9471024
    Abstract: An image reading device includes a document container; a document transport path; a reading member that reads an image of a document passing a predetermined read position; a skew correcting member that corrects a skew of the document; a first detecting member that detects the document; a second detecting member that detects the document; a correction switcher that performs switching in accordance with whether or not skew correction is to be executed at the skew correcting member; a skew-amount measurer that measures a skew amount of the document based on a first time period if the skew of the document is to be corrected, and that measures the skew amount based on a second time period if the skew of the document is not to be corrected; and a transport stopping unit that stops transporting of the document if the skew amount exceeds a predetermined skew amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2016
    Assignee: FUJI XEROX CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Ryusuke Nakata
  • Patent number: 9469095
    Abstract: In one example, a web press includes a web press station (610) and a convertible buffer (600) near the web press station, the convertible buffer being configured to convert to a platform (630) for accessing the web press station. A method for performing web press maintenance is also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2016
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Indigo B.V.
    Inventors: Eyal Peleg, Itzik Kent, Benji Ruhm, Erez Elias
  • Patent number: 9465333
    Abstract: A recording material conveying device includes a stripping claw being in contact with one rotary body of a first pair of rotary bodies, and a supporting member supporting a recording material curved when a jam occurs. The supporting member includes a supporting section located more away from the stripping claw than an imaginary straight line (C) passing a nip portion of the first pair of rotary bodies and a surface on a conveying path's side of the stripping claw, and the supporting section supports the recording material curved when the jam occurs. The recording material conveying device further includes a conveyance guide that is disposed on the downstream side from the supporting member and is displaced toward a pressed direction by a pressing force acting when the curved recording material comes into contact with the conveyance guide.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 20, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2016
    Assignee: SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Susumu Murakami
  • Patent number: 9463617
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for the photopolymerization and the washing in series of digital printing plates for flexography. The method according to the present invention is characterized in that it implements in series the exposure and washing steps of the printing plate, which is continuously moved. The present invention further concerns an apparatus adapted to implementing said method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2016
    Assignee: SASU VIANORD ENGINEERING
    Inventor: Riccardo De Caria
  • Patent number: 9459580
    Abstract: An imaging apparatus including an imaging system and an optical sensor for detecting a print medium within a paper path. The optical sensor may include at least one light emitter and at least one light detector. The light detector is configured to output two or more light intensities sequentially onto the paper path, which reflects from the paper path or transmits directly onto the optical sensor. Data indicating an amount of light received by the at least one light detector is received by the controller, which performs data analysis to determine the presence or absence of a print medium in the paper path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2016
    Assignee: XEROX CORPORATION
    Inventor: Daniel H. Burnett
  • Patent number: 9459581
    Abstract: Provided is an image forming apparatus performing automatic recovery from a paper non-feeding jam. It includes plural paper feeding cassettes, a sensing sensor, paper non-feeding jam determining part, and system control part. Plural paper feeding cassettes are detachably loaded inside apparatus main body. Sensing sensor is disposed in a carrying passage, and senses a paper sheet fed from paper feeding cassette. Paper non-feeding jam determining part determines whether or not a paper non-feeding jam has occurred in paper feeding cassette, on apparatus operation state and result of sensing by sensing sensor, and if a paper non-feeding jam has occurred, releases error state for paper non-feeding jam after a prescribed time period has elapsed, notifying that paper feeding is to be changed over. System control part controls changeover of paper feeding to that from another paper feeding cassette, on notification from paper non-feeding jam determining part.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2016
    Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventor: Naoki Takeuchi
  • Patent number: 9454122
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a sheet post-processing apparatus includes a standby unit, a processing unit, and a discharge unit. The standby unit puts a sheet on standby. The processing unit is disposed below the standby unit. The processing unit includes a conveyance reference plane, a distance between which and a conveyance reference plane for the sheet in the standby unit changes to decrease from an upstream side toward a downstream side in a conveying direction of the sheet. The processing unit processes the sheet supplied from the standby unit. The discharge unit is disposed on the downstream side in the conveying direction of each of the standby unit and the processing unit. The discharge unit is provided with an opening section for causing the sheet discharged from the standby unit or the processing unit to pass.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2016
    Assignees: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA, TOSHIBA TEC KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Shoichi Dobashi
  • Patent number: 9434153
    Abstract: A numbering machine (100, 200) includes a housing (101, 201) and a wheel axle (107), arranged in a removable manner in the housing (101, 201), with a plurality of number wheels (108), which can each be moved individually and are arranged in for rotation. The number wheels (108) can be driven by a gearwheel (114). A drive shaft (111, 112), with a drive pinion (113), is connected to the drive shaft (111, 112) for each number wheel (108) which can be driven by means of a gearwheel (114). A displaceable drive shaft (112) can be transferred from an operating position, in which the number wheel (108) is driven by a gearwheel (114) by the displaceable drive shaft (112), to a removal position, in which the displaceable drive shaft (112) releases the number wheel (108) which can be driven by means of a gearwheel (114) and the wheel axle (107).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2016
    Assignees: PAUL LEIBINGER GMBH & CO. KG, Nummerier-und Markierungssysteme
    Inventors: Dietmar Waizenegger, Josef Anton Waizenegger
  • Patent number: 9420824
    Abstract: The present invention is a tool and method for imprinting encoded messages on a food product. The tool comprises an imprinting device that engages with the opening of a container that holds the food product. The imprinting device has a geometric configuration with at least 5 flat planes. The imprinting device functions as a lid of the container. Each of the flat plane contain the following symbols: a long line, a shorter liner, a large half-circle, and a shorter half-circle, and a small circle designating a period The method of the system involves creating each number and alphabet in the English language utilizing five designated symbols incorporated on each plane of the cube.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2016
    Inventor: Patricia Dicostanzo
  • Patent number: 9421757
    Abstract: An apparatus and method cleans rollers on printing presses that print indicia on three dimensional objects such as candies, confectionaries and other comestible items. The cleaning apparatus moves in three axes to position itself alternately opposite an engraved roller and a blanket roller. The cleaning apparatus dry cleans one roller and dry and/or wet cleans the other roller. The apparatus has a cleaning pad that extends toward a web of cleaning material to press the cleaning material against a roller. The apparatus moves across the roller to wipe ink and/or debris from the surface of the roller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2016
    Inventor: Ronald G. Egan