Patents Examined by Hoan H. Tran
  • Developing cartridge
    Patent number: 11029624
    Abstract: A developing cartridge may include: a casing for accommodating developer therein; a developing roller rotatable about an axis extending in a first direction and positioned at one side of the casing in a second direction; a storage medium having an electric contact surface; and a holder movable relative to the casing in the second direction with the electric contact surface between a first position and a second position, the holder having an outer surface at which the electric contact surface is positioned.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 8, 2021
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Nao Itabashi
  • Developer carrying member, process cartridge, and electrophotographic apparatus
    Patent number: 11029622
    Abstract: Provided is a developer carrying member that enables stable formation of images of high quality even on recording paper having a high talc content. The developer carrying member includes a conductive base member and a surface layer, wherein the surface layer includes a urethane resin, and the urethane resin has a carbonate bond and a tertiary amine structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 8, 2021
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Sosuke Yamaguchi, Minoru Ito, Takashi Koyanagi, Takahiro Miyazawa, Shohei Urushihara, Kentarou Nakamura
  • Image forming apparatus
    Patent number: 11029635
    Abstract: A drawer is moveable between an inner position and an outer position through an opening when a cover is located at an opening position. A waste toner conveying tube is movable in a second direction between a first connection position and a first disconnection position when a drum cartridge is attached to a drawer and the drawer is at the inner position. When the cover moves from a closing position toward the opening position, the waste toner conveying tube moves from the first connection position toward the first disconnection position in conjunction with the movement of the cover. The drawer is movable from the inner position toward to the outer position when the drum cartridge is attached to the drawer, the drawer is at the inner position, and the waste toner conveying tube is at the first disconnection position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 8, 2021
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Shougo Sato, Masato Making
  • Image formation device
    Patent number: 11022927
    Abstract: An image formation device includes: a first unit for image formation, attachably and detachably disposed in the image formation device, a power source unit configured to supply electric power to the first unit, a second unit for image formation, attachably and detachably, independently of the first unit, disposed in the image formation device, and disposed between the first unit and the power source unit and a power supply path provided in the second unit, and configured to be supplied with the electric power from the power source unit and supply the electric power to the first unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2021
    Assignee: FUJI XEROX CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Takashi Akaike, Kazuaki Iikura
  • Electrophotographic image forming apparatus
    Patent number: 11022932
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a first developing cartridge including a first developing roller and a first projection, the first developing cartridge being detachably mounted to a first mounting portion of a frame such that the first developing cartridge is movable relative to the frame between a position where the first developing roller contacts a first photosensitive drum and the first projection is located in a first lower position and a position where the first projection is located in a first upper position above the first lower position. The apparatus also includes a first contacting member contactable with the first projection. The force applying portion is configured to apply a force to the first developing cartridge such that the first projection being held in the first upper position by the first contacting portion is moved to the first lower position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2021
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Ken Kikuchi
  • Print substance valves
    Patent number: 11022911
    Abstract: Examples described herein relate to a system consistent with the disclosure. For instance, the system may comprise a valve body having a first opening, a print substance valve disposed inside of the valve body including a second opening, and a liner coupled to the print substance valve including a third opening, where the liner is to clean print substance, when present, from the system responsive to the transition of the system into either of a closed position or an open position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2021
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Mathew Lavigne, Dean Richtsmeier, Jeff Luke
  • Image forming apparatus
    Patent number: 11022921
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a driven unit and a drive transmitter. The drive transmitter includes a drive source, a drive gear, and a driven gear. The drive source is configured to drive the driven unit. The drive gear is configured to receive a driving force from the drive source. The driven gear is meshed with the drive gear. The drive transmitter is configured to transmit the driving force from the drive source to the driven unit. The drive gear or the driven gear is a crowned gear crowning-processed and the crowned gear has a crowning amount less than 50 ?m.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2021
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Yasuhiro Maehata, Hiroaki Takagi, Kenji Tomita
  • Power receiving unit, rotating component, process cartridge, and assembly and disassembly methods thereof
    Patent number: 11022937
    Abstract: Power receiving unit, rotating component, process cartridge, and assembly and disassembly methods thereof are provided. The process cartridge is detachably mounted in an image formation apparatus configured with a swingable power output unit, an outer circumference of the power output unit contains a recessed portion, and the power receiving unit is engaged with the power output unit to receive a driving force. The power receiving unit comprises a wheel hub, a power receiving part, and a bias part. The wheel hub is disposed on an end of a rotating component in the process cartridge. The power receiving part includes a fixing protrusion and a notch that are oppositely disposed, the fixing protrusion is inserted into the recessed portion, and the notch provides a swinging space for the power output unit. The bias part provides a bias force toward the fixing protrusion for the power output unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2021
    Assignee: NINESTAR CORPORATION
    Inventors: Likun Zeng, Lai Luo, Qijie Liang
  • Image forming apparatus
    Patent number: 11016414
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a toner container and an apparatus main body. The toner container contains a toner. To the apparatus main body, the toner container is attached in a detachable manner. The toner container includes a container main body and a shutter. The container main body has a toner discharge port. The shutter is rotatable between a close position where the shutter closes the toner discharge port and an open position where the shutter opens the toner discharge port. The apparatus main body includes a driving source and a connection mechanism connectable the driving source to the shutter. When the driving source is driven in a state where the connection mechanism connects the driving source to the shutter, a driving force of the driving source is transmitted to the shutter via the connection mechanism, and the shutter is rotated from the close position to the open position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 25, 2021
    Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventor: Takashi Morita
  • Image forming apparatus and developer container
    Patent number: 11016424
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus of the embodiment has a fixing unit and a temperature controller. The fixing unit performs the fixing process of developer transferred to a sheet by applying heat to the sheet at a predetermined fixing temperature. The temperature controller corrects the fixing temperature in the fixing process based on information indicating the manufacturing time of the developer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 25, 2021
    Assignee: TOSHIBA TEC KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Takahiro Nakajima
  • Image forming apparatus including a dispersion unit
    Patent number: 11009813
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes: an intermediate transfer belt that carries a toner image first transferred and is rotated to transport the toner image to a second transfer position; a second transfer belt that is rotated to come into contact with the intermediate transfer belt and pass through the second transfer position of the intermediate transfer belt; a plate-like cleaning unit that comes into contact with an outer circumferential surface of the second transfer belt to clean the outer circumferential surface; and a dispersion unit that comes into contact with a portion of the outer circumferential surface of the second transfer belt to disperse toner which passes through the portion on a downstream side of the cleaning unit and on an upstream side of the second transfer position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 18, 2021
    Assignee: FUJI XEROX CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kaoru Matsushita, Koichi Sato, Kazutoshi Sugitani, Masakazu Shirai, Hibiki Sasaki, Kiyotoshi Kaneyama
  • Image forming apparatus
    Patent number: 10996615
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a drawer and a main body. The drawer includes a drawer-side electrical contact part and a socket. The main body includes a main body-side connector including: a main body-side electrical contact part; and a holder including a base, a panel, and an elastic member interposed between the base and the panel. The holder holds the main body-side electrical contact part to be movable in an intersection direction intersecting with an extension and contraction direction of the elastic member. When the holder contacts the socket, the panel moves relative to the base in the intersection direction together with the main body side-electrical contact part, and the main body side-electrical contact part and drawer-side electrical contact part are in contact with each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 4, 2021
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Shota Shinoya, Isao Kishi
  • Image forming apparatus
    Patent number: 10996585
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes an image forming portion, a high-voltage generation circuit, a current detection portion and a control portion. The image forming portion includes an image carrying member, a charging device, an exposure device and a developing device which includes a developer carrying member for carrying a developer including a carrier and a toner. The control portion can perform a development ghost prediction mode that includes a step of measuring the amount of charge of the toner within the developing device at the time of non-image formation, a step of measuring, as a carrier current, the direct-current component of a development current when the amount of development of the toner is 0 [mg/cm2] and a step of estimating the level of occurrence of development ghost and the cause of occurrence based on the amount of charge of the toner and the carrier current which are measured.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 4, 2021
    Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventors: Tamotsu Shimizu, Mitsuhiro Hashimoto, Takahiro Okubo, Kazuhiro Nakachi, Shiro Kaneko
  • Image forming apparatus
    Patent number: 10996580
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a first image forming unit and a second image forming unit to form first toner images and second toner images, respectively, of different colors, a transfer member to transferred received toner images to a position, and a contact/separation unit to switch between first and second modes. Where a first, second, and third image are formed in order on sheets, the mode is switched from the first to the second mode after the transfer member receives the first image to the transfer member and before formation of the second image by the first image forming unit is started if a first image length in a conveyance direction is smaller than a predetermined length. After the sheet receives the first image, the contact/separation unit switches the mode from the first to the second mode if the first image length is greater than the predetermined length.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 4, 2021
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hiromi Shimura, Hiroto Nishihara, Keita Takahashi, Teruhito Kai
  • Image forming apparatus correcting exposure amount of photosensitive member
    Patent number: 10990029
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a photosensitive member; a scan unit configured to scan the photosensitive member with light based on image data, and form a latent image on the photosensitive member; a developing unit configured to form an image on the photosensitive member by attaching toner to the latent image formed on the photosensitive member; and a correction unit configured to correct an exposure amount of the photosensitive member such that a density change of the image in a main scanning direction due to a configuration of the scan unit and a density of the image to be formed is reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 27, 2021
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Tomoo Akizuki, Kenichi Iida, Hikaru Osada, Yusuke Shimizu
  • Developing cartridge
    Patent number: 10983476
    Abstract: A developing cartridge may include a housing configured to hold toner. The cartridge may further include a developing roller including a developing roller shaft, a supply roller including a supply roller shaft, a developing electrode and a supply electrode. The developing electrode and supply electrode may be configured to guide an electrical contact of an image forming apparatus in one or more directions. In some examples, the developing electrode and supply electrode may have angled surfaces that extend toward one another.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 3, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2021
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Takeyuki Takagi, Hiroki Mori
  • Waste toner detection device
    Patent number: 10983474
    Abstract: A waste toner detection device includes a stirring shaft for stirring waste toners, a transmission member moveable in response to a rotational load of the stirring shaft between an engaged position and a disengaged position where the transmission member does not transmit rotation to the stirring shaft, a rotary arm drivenable by the transmission member when the transmission member is located at the disengaged position, and an indication member. The indication member is restricted by the rotary arm at a retracted position when the rotary arm is located at a locked position, and the indication member is driven by a biasing force to move to an extended position when the rotary arm is located at a released position. As a result, the waste toner detection device can accurately detects whether the amount of the waste toners stored in a waste toner container has reached a predetermined amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2021
    Assignee: GENERAL PLASTIC INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Kuan-Tung Li
  • Developer carrying member, process cartridge, and electrophotographic apparatus
    Patent number: 10976684
    Abstract: Provided is a developer carrying member that enables stable formation of images of high quality even on recording paper having a high talc content. The developer carrying member includes a conductive base member and a surface layer, wherein the surface layer includes a urethane resin, and the urethane resin has a carbonate bond and a tertiary amine structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 13, 2021
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Sosuke Yamaguchi, Minoru Ito, Takashi Koyanagi, Takahiro Miyazawa, Shohei Urushihara, Kentarou Nakamura
  • Fixing device including mechanism for varying pressure at nip region between rotary body and pressure body
    Patent number: 10969719
    Abstract: A fixing device includes: a rotary body; a pressure body; a frame supporting the rotary body; and a pressure varying mechanism for providing a nip pressure to a nip region formed between the rotary body and the pressure body. The pressure varying mechanism includes a first spring and a second spring for urging one of the rotary body and the pressure body. The first spring applies a first urging force, and the second spring applies a second urging force acting in an opposite direction from the first urging force. The pressure varying mechanism can vary the nip pressure between a first nip pressure and a second nip pressure smaller than the first nip pressure. The nip pressure becomes the first nip pressure while only the first urging force is applied, and becomes the second nip pressure while both of the first urging force and the second urging force are applied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2021
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Hiroshi Handa, Tokifumi Tanaka, Shuhei Fukue, Tomonori Watanabe
  • Image forming apparatus
    Patent number: 10969721
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus including an image forming unit, which is detachably mounted to the image forming apparatus. The image forming unit includes a storage unit configured to store a computer program for forming an image on the sheet; a detector configured to detect whether the image forming unit and the controller are connected to each other; a door to be opened to draw out the image forming unit from the image forming apparatus; and a locking unit configured to switch between a locked state and an unlocked state. The controller is configured to rewrite the computer program stored in the storage unit under a state in which the locking unit is in the locked state and the detector detects the connection between the image forming unit and the controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2021
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Kazuhiro Honda