Patents Examined by Hoan H. Tran
  • Patent number: 11803138
    Abstract: A fixing apparatus can include a heater roller, a tension roller, a belt movable from the heater roller to the tension roller, a pressure roller to make pressure contact with the heater roller via the belt to form a fixing nip, and a blower member including a first opening to direct air toward the belt and a second opening to direct air toward the heater roller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Takayuki Horie, Yasuo Suzuki
  • Patent number: 11796936
    Abstract: Alight scanning apparatus according to the present invention includes a deflecting unit configured to deflect a light flux to scan a scanned surface in a main scanning direction, and an imaging optical system configured to guide the light flux deflected by the deflecting unit to the scanned surface and to have different partial magnifications in the main scanning direction between an on-axis image height and an outermost off-axis image height. A ratio of a reflectivity at a first outermost off-axis deflection point on one side with respect to an on-axis deflection point on a deflecting surface of the deflecting unit to that at the on-axis deflection point, and a ratio of the reflectivity at a second outermost off-axis deflection point on the other side with respect to the on-axis deflection point on the deflecting surface to that at the on-axis deflection point are each appropriately set.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2023
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Ryota Sato, Seiji Kuwabara
  • Patent number: 11796957
    Abstract: A cleaning blade includes a contact part coming into contact with a member to be cleaned, the contact part being constituted by a member containing polyurethane rubber produced by polymerizing at least a polyol component and a polyisocyanate component. The ratio (M100/Re) of 100% modulus (M100 [MPa]) to rebound resilience coefficient (Re [%]) of the member is 0.25 or more. The rebound resilience coefficient (Re [%]) of the member is less than 25%. The tensile stress at 23° C. and 200% strain of the member is 15 MPa or more.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2023
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Business Innovation Corp.
    Inventors: Shota Oshima, Daisuke Tano
  • Patent number: 11796940
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus employs a constitution in which, in a case that a relative position between an inner roller and an outer member with respect to a circumferential direction of the inner roller is changed in a period after a preceding recording material passes through a transfer portion and until a recording material subsequent to the preceding recording material reaches the transfer portion during execution of a job for forming and outputting images on a plurality of recording materials, a controller controls a position changing mechanism and a contact and separation mechanism so that a separating operation for separating the outer roller from a belt is performed and then the above-described relative position is changed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2023
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Koichi Taniguchi
  • Patent number: 11789384
    Abstract: In an image forming apparatus, in a case that a relative position between an inner roller and an outer member with respect to a circumferential direction of the inner roller is changed in a period from a state in which the outer member separated from a belt until first transfer in a job for forming and outputting an image on a recording material is started when the job is executed, a controller controls a position changing mechanism and a contact and separation mechanism so that a contact operation for bringing the outer member into contact with the belt is performed after changing the relative position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2023
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Koichi Taniguchi
  • Patent number: 11782359
    Abstract: A developer storing apparatus according to the present disclosure includes a developer container and a container supporting portion that holds the developer container at a predetermined attachment position. The developer container includes a container body, an inlet, a first handle portion, and a second handle portion. The inlet is provided at a container upper portion of the container body, at a position near a first end portion on a side of an insertion direction of the developer container. From the inlet, the developer is caused to flow inside the container body. The first handle portion is provided at the container upper portion of the container body. The second handle portion is provided at a second end portion of the container body on a side of a draw-out direction opposite to the insertion direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2023
    Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventor: Kazuhiro Okamoto
  • Patent number: 11782372
    Abstract: A detection device includes a first detection unit that detects a leading edge portion and a trailing edge portion of a medium before the medium is heated, and a second detection unit that differs from the first detection unit and that detects the leading edge portion and the trailing edge portion of the medium after the medium is heated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 5, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2023
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Business Innovation Corp.
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Suzuki, Naohito Otsuki, Takehiko Koizumi, Yuta Chino
  • Patent number: 11782371
    Abstract: A fixing belt includes a substrate layer inducting a first base resin and a first thermally conductive filler dispersed in the first base resin; and a release layer provided on the substrate layer, wherein the first base resin includes at least one selected from a polyimide, a polyamide, and a polyamideimide and the first thermally conductive filler includes at least one selected from carbon black, graphite, boron nitride (BN), carbon nanotubes (CNTs), and carbon fibers, and the substrate layer has a thermal conductivity in a thickness direction of about 1.5 W/m·K or more.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2023
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Sunhyung Lee, Sungwoo Kang
  • Patent number: 11774877
    Abstract: A developer cartridge includes a housing to accommodate a developer and including a developer outlet, and a sensing portion that forms a sensing area to detect whether or not the developer inside the housing is miming out. The sensing portion is recessed into a portion of a lower wall of the housing accordingly having a thickness less than a thickness of a remaining portion of the lower wall.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2023
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Jonghyun Park, Seil Kwon, Jeonghyun Lee
  • Patent number: 11774895
    Abstract: A printing device includes a printing engine to selectively output print material, a replaceable item of the printing engine, and a subsystem for the printing engine. A machine learning model is used to control controllable parameters of the subsystem for the printing engine, based on physical characteristic measurements of the printing device, to maximize a lifespan of the replaceable item.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2023
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Vitaly Portnoy, Michel Assenheimer, Nailson Boaz Costa Leite, Brian Schmitz Tani
  • Patent number: 11768456
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus controls the number of rotations of a photosensitive drum based on information related to the use of the photosensitive drum and a suspension time in a rotation operation of rotating the photosensitive drum after a lapse of the suspension time between a first image forming operation of forming an image on a transfer material and a second image forming operation performed after the first image forming operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2023
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Shinsuke Kobayashi, Ai Suzuki, Kensuke Umeda, Kazuhiro Funatani
  • Patent number: 11768450
    Abstract: A drum member includes: a substantially cylindrical drum body having a hollow part extending in an axial direction; a sheet member wound on the drum body; an adjusting mechanism configured to adjust tension in the sheet member, the adjusting mechanism including a moving member that holds an end of the sheet member in a circumferential direction and moves in a depth direction of the hollow part, and a fixing member that fixes the moving member to the drum body; and one or more positioning members that position the moving member such that the moving member does not move in the circumferential direction of the drum body when the moving member is fixed with the fixing member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2023
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Business Innovation Corp.
    Inventors: Kazuki Kishi, Koichiro Yuasa, Kazuyoshi Hagiwara, Kei Tanaka, Tomoaki Yoshioka, Toshiaki Baba, Yoko Miyamoto, Hirotaka Tanaka
  • Patent number: 11768448
    Abstract: A toner container includes a container body, an opening, a cover, a toner discharge port, a shutter, a cylindrical structure, protrusions, and an identifier. The shutter is attached to the cover and includes a main shutter covering the toner discharge port. The main shutter moves between a closed position to close the toner discharge port and an open position to open the toner discharge port. The protrusions are on both sides of the cover and protrude in a direction orthogonal to a toner container mounting direction. The identifier is on the cover to indicate a toner color. The cylindrical structure's leading end is downstream of leading ends of the protrusions in the mounting direction. The main shutter's leading end is downstream of the protrusions' leading ends in the mounting direction when the main shutter is in the closed position. The protrusions are downstream of the identifier in the mounting direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2023
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Yasufumi Takahashi, Kunihiro Ohyama, Masayuki Yamane, Takeshi Uchitani, Tadashi Hayakawa, Takuji Takahashi, Shouji Okabe, Akira Shinshi, Yuichiro Ueda, Masaki Takahashi, Yuuki Satoh
  • Patent number: 11762306
    Abstract: An electroconductive roll includes a core member, a rubber base material disposed around the core member, and a surface layer disposed around the rubber base material. The arithmetic mean peak curvature Spc of a surface of the surface layer is equal to or greater than 1,880 (1/mm), and is equal to or less than 14,024 (1/mm).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2023
    Inventors: Kousuke Oura, Shogo Suzuki, Satoshi Fukuoka, Kenji Sasaki
  • Patent number: 11762311
    Abstract: A drum unit detachably attachable to an image forming apparatus includes: a frame; a photosensitive drum; a toner cartridge including a toner casing and a toner memory; a connector electrically connected to the image forming apparatus; and a relay board electrically relaying the toner memory and the connector. The toner memory performs communication according to a standard that sets a value of data on a basis of a voltage for data communication at a timing when a prescribed period of time has elapsed since the voltage has made a prescribed change. The toner memory consists of three terminals as electrical contacts. The three terminals are a power supply terminal for supplying a supply voltage to the toner memory, a ground terminal, and a data terminal for communication of data to be written into the toner memory and data to be read from the toner memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 19, 2023
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masaaki Wakizaka, Shinta Sugiura, Shunsuke Aiba, Keita Inoue
  • Patent number: 11754960
    Abstract: Parameters particular to the consumable item and that affect calculation of an estimated remaining life of the consumable item when used in the printing device for printing are received. A payload is constructed based on the parameters. The printing device is to use the parameters when calculating the estimated remaining life of the consumable item during usage of the consumable item for printing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2023
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Gabriel Scott McDaniel, Jeffrey H. Luke, Paul L. Jeran
  • Patent number: 11754951
    Abstract: A heat generating member includes a plurality of heat generating portions configured to generate heat and including a first heat generating portion having a meandering shape, and a plurality of second heat generating portions between two of which the first heat generating portion is disposed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2023
    Assignee: Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Osamu Takagi
  • Patent number: 11747757
    Abstract: Provided is an image forming apparatus including a temperature sensing circuit to which a temperature sensing element is electrically connected, wherein a surface of a heater on a side where the temperature sensing element is provided is in contact with the inner surface of a film, a heating element is provided in a primary side circuit which is electrically connected to a commercial power supply, and the temperature sensing circuit is electrically insulated from both of the primary side circuit and a secondary side circuit which is electrically insulated from the primary side circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2023
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yasuhiro Shimura, Yusuke Saito, Ryota Ogura
  • Patent number: 11747752
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a developer that forms a toner image on an endless belt that is suspended over outer portions of a plurality of rollers, a driver that rotates at least one driving roller out of the plurality of rollers, a position adjustment mechanism that corrects relative positions of the plurality of rollers relative to one another, and a hardware processor, wherein the hardware processor controls the position adjustment mechanism to correct a relative position between the belt and the driving roller with tension applied to the belt being a second tension smaller than a first tension that is applied in a developing state in which a toner image is formed on the belt by the developer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2023
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventors: Hidetoshi Noguchi, Kazuki Shimizu
  • Patent number: 11747747
    Abstract: An image forming portion applies a bias voltage in which an AC component is superimposed on a DC component between a first carrying member and a second carrying member, and transfers toner from the first carrying member to the second carrying member to form an image on the second carrying member. An AC setting processing portion performs AC calibration to set a magnitude of the AC component of the bias voltage. A potential measurement processing portion measures a surface potential of the first carrying member or the second carrying member based on a target current flowing between the first carrying member and the second carrying member. A drive processing portion executes the AC calibration before measurement of the surface potential in a case where, when measuring the surface potential, an activation condition is satisfied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2023
    Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventors: Tamotsu Shimizu, Yoshihiro Yamagishi, Kazunori Tanaka