Patents Examined by John Wallace
  • Patent number: 9224076
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes: a communication unit for receiving unmodified data and modified data obtained when the unmodified data is modified; an image-reading unit for reading a confirmation document over which commentary has been written, and generating scan data; a storage unit for storing the unmodified data, the modified data, and the scan data; a comparison processing unit for comparing the unmodified data, the modified data, and the scan data, and recognizing confirmation places of the modified data, which are modified places that correspond to the commentary and have been modified from the unmodified data; and a printing unit for printing only those pages of the modified data that comprise the confirmation places recognized by the comparison processing unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2015
    Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventor: Masafumi Tsutsumi
  • Patent number: 9224081
    Abstract: An image recording apparatus includes: at least one container, a recorder, a communication unit, an input device, a memory, a display, and a controller. The controller performs: receiving a recording command via the communication unit; storing the recording command in the memory; and detecting a remaining amount of the consumables in the container. And the controller further performs: calculating a consumption amount of the consumables in accordance with the stored recording command; receiving authentication information; authenticating the stored recording command and comparing the detected remaining amount of the consumables with the calculated consumption amount to be consumed for the image of the authenticated recording command; and displaying information of a first authenticated recording command with a first indication indicating the first authenticated recording command is executed, when the calculated consumption amount is equal to or less than the detected remaining amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2015
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Shan Xu
  • Patent number: 9224072
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and machine-readable media for generating a user interface from a printer description file are discussed. The system comprising an interface module, an option module, and an interface generation module. The interface module may be configured to receive a printer description file comprising a plurality of printer options for a remote printer and the option module may be configured to select a subset of the plurality of printer options for the remote printer based on a list of prioritized printer options. The interface generation module may be configured to generate rendering code based on the subset of the plurality of printer options for the remote printer, the rendering code to enable a computing device to generate a user interface for the remote printer. The rendering code may be transmitted to a computing device in response to receiving, from the computing device, a print request for the remote printer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2015
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Scott Byer, Abhijit Kalamkar, Yevgeniy Alexandrovich Gutnik, Sanjeev Radhakrishnan
  • Patent number: 9152116
    Abstract: A printing apparatus including: a plurality of reception units, wherein at least one of the plurality of reception units receives a printing job; a printing unit that performs printing based on the printing job received by the at least one of the plurality of reception units; a determination unit that determines a difficulty level of reprinting based on which of the plurality of reception units received the printing job; a setting unit that sets a correction-performing condition based on the determined difficulty level of reprinting, wherein the correction-performing condition becomes easier to satisfy as the determined difficulty level of reprinting increases; and a correction unit that performs a correcting process by causing the printing unit to form a pattern and by correcting an image to be printed based on a result of measuring the pattern, if the correction-performing condition is satisfied when the printing job is received.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2015
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Masataka Yamazaki
  • Patent number: 9104358
    Abstract: A system and method for pre-print visualization of a job to be printed are described. The method includes submitting the content of the printing job, and associated printing environment data, in order to create a virtual rendering of the job in 3D on a user interface. In one embodiment, the rendering may be a low-resolution rendering and in another embodiment or later step, the virtual rendering would employ print-quality representations of content. The virtual rendering further allows a user to observe job-specific aspects and change a point of view relative to the rendering, including selecting and viewing individual pages of the print job. The method and system may be employed to facilitate obtaining user approval for production of the print job before forwarding the job for production.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2015
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventor: Robert J Rolleston
  • Patent number: 9077826
    Abstract: The present invention allows desired printing to be easily achieved not with complex operation but with intuitive operation. In the present invention, short-range communications can be made between a portable terminal device and a copy machine. When the portable terminal device is placed on a placement table of the copy machine, the copy machine detects the placement state of the portable terminal device (for example, landscape orientation or portrait orientation), determines a print format (for example, printing in a vertical direction or a horizontal direction as a printing direction) according to this placement state, and performs printing of print data received from the portable terminal device according to the print format.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2015
    Assignee: CASIO COMPUTER CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Shinichirou Tabata, Ryo Oe
  • Patent number: 9071774
    Abstract: A control device includes a first acquisition unit that acquires a first notification reservation request which requests a notification reservation of an event and includes first identification information for identifying a notification destination of the event, a second acquisition unit that acquires a second notification reservation request which requests a notification reservation of an event and includes second identification information for identifying a notification destination of the event, and a first controller that performs a control such that information regarding the notification reservation of the event requested by the second notification reservation request is stored in a memory according to a difference between the first identification information and the second identification information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2015
    Assignee: FUJI XEROX CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Shin Ohtake
  • Patent number: 9013765
    Abstract: A solid-state imaging apparatus comprises a plurality of unit cell groups including a plurality of unit cells each including a plurality of light shielded optical black pixels, non-light shielded effective pixels and amplifying circuits for amplifying signals from the pixels; and holding capacitors each receiving a signal from corresponding unit cell, so that signals are transferred from all the pixels by a vertical transfer operation and a horizontal transfer operation, each of which is repeated by the number of times equal to the number of the unit cell groups, such that the signals from an optical black pixel and an effective pixel are respectively transferred by the vertical transfer operation and the signals transferred by the vertical transfer operation are successively read out by the horizontal transfer operation to reduce the degrading image quality due to artifact by properly removing an offset varying for each output if it occurs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2015
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Hirofumi Totsuka
  • Patent number: 8995003
    Abstract: A menu displaying system and method having an icon for editing image data in an AV (Audio and Video) device, the AV device having a recording medium capable of storing image data and audio data, and which is capable of reproducing image data and audio data. The method comprises steps for displaying icons and additional information corresponding to the image data stored at the recording medium, selecting one of the icons displayed, and reproducing image data corresponding to the selected icon. A corresponding program stored at the AV device having a recording media such as a hard disc drive, is then reproduced upon a menu screen such that image data stored at the AV device can be easily observed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 15, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2015
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Eung-sun Kim
  • Patent number: 8947713
    Abstract: A system has information processing devices and a server which controls information processing executed by the devices. One of the devices includes a querying part to transmit a query to the server whether the device is permitted to execute the information processing, a notifying part to notify the server of location information indicating a location of the device, and an executing part to execute the information processing in response to an instruction from the server. The server includes a receiving part to receive the query from the device, an identifying part to identify an area in which the device exists according to the information notified by the device which has transmitted the query, and an instructing part to instruct the device which has transmitted the query to execute the information processing based on how many other devices are executing the information processing in the area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 3, 2015
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Takumi Komori
  • Patent number: 8928912
    Abstract: A printing control device includes units that: distribute received image data page by page, perform image processing for converting the image data distributed by page into print data, and control output in accordance with a plurality of image output sections, and control the output processing of each of the plurality of the image output sections based on the print data generated by the image processing, when aggregate printing where images of a plurality of pages are merged into one image is executed. The image data is distributed so that the image data is subjected to the image processing by a single image processing unit. The plurality of the output control units generate print data in a plurality of pages by combining the plurality of page print data transferred from the image processing units, and transmit the generated print data to the image output sections corresponding to the output control units.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 6, 2015
    Assignee: Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Satoshi Misawa
  • Patent number: 8902453
    Abstract: A client device to set a job profile for an image forming apparatus, the client device including: a driver unit to receive job option information from the image forming apparatus; and an application program unit to execute an application program for generating a user interface (UI) that provides a job profile corresponding to the received job option information. If the job profile is selected through the UI, the driver unit controls the image forming apparatus to perform a job by applying the job option information corresponding to the selected job profile. Accordingly, a user can easily perform the job setting.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 2, 2014
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Jung-mo Hong
  • Patent number: 8767268
    Abstract: A correction-data generating unit divides, into a matrix of row blocks in a sub scanning direction and column blocks in a main scanning direction, white data on a transfer drum read by a reading unit during a predetermined time period that is shorter than a time period in which the read point of the transfer drum is returned to a position where the reading unit has started reading the first white reference member, calculates, for each column of the matrix, a correction-data candidate value corresponding to a variation ratio of a mean of data of the row blocks in the sub-scanning direction, and determines a minimum value of the calculated correction-data candidate values as the correction data. A shading-data correcting corrects the shading data by using the generated correction data. A shading correcting unit performs shading correction on image data of a document after the correction data is generated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Limited
    Inventors: Hajime Tsukahara, Makio Kondo
  • Patent number: 8749833
    Abstract: In the case to print an image of a set page that sets a plurality of combine pages, it is possible to adjust an arrangement position of the combine pages without changing the direction of the combine pages and raising a reduction rate. In the print section, a reduction rate selection scene display section 110 is configured to display a selection scene for selecting a vertical sheet number and a horizontal sheet number of the combine pages arranged in the set page on a displaying section 40; an image forming and processing section 120 generates combine pages in a reduction rate that is selected by the reduction rate selection scene display section 110; and a set page generation section 130 generates a set page by arranging the combine pages.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 10, 2014
    Assignee: Oki Data Corporation
    Inventor: Toshinori Agata
  • Patent number: 8711427
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus includes an anti-aliasing processing unit configured to perform an anti-aliasing process on gloss-control plane image data that specifies a type of a surface effect applied to a recording medium and a drawing area to which the surface effect is to be applied to the recording medium and on color plane image data indicative of a drawing area of a color image. The anti-aliasing processing unit corrects a pixel value of each pixel in the color plane image data to a value obtained by multiplying the pixel value by a first area ratio of a drawing area of the color plane image data before rasterization in each pixel, and corrects a pixel value of each pixel in the gloss-control plane image data to a value obtained by multiplying the pixel value by an area ratio of 100 percent.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 29, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Limited
    Inventors: Yuji Tokushima, Hiroaki Suzuki
  • Patent number: 8687250
    Abstract: An image reading apparatus includes a first reading unit, a second reading unit, and a determination unit. The first reading unit reads an image on a first side of a document conveyed through a document conveyance path. The second reading unit is disposed in the document conveyance path at a reading position that is different from a reading position of the first reading unit and reads an image on a second side that is different from the first side on the document. The determination unit determines whether the document is a color document, according to whether a color image is included in an image in a predetermined region of the first side read by the first reading unit, and in an image in a region that is different from the predetermined region in the first side and read by the second reading unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2014
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Yasuyuki Nakamura
  • Patent number: 8643922
    Abstract: A method is provided for gamut clipping with preprocessing enabled as software instructions stored in a computer-readable medium and executable by a processor. The instructions provide a color in a color space defined by at least three attributes. If the color lies outside a gamut boundary in the first color space, a distance is measured from the color to the gamut boundary. In response to the measured distance, a weight is calculated for an attribute of the color. Then, it is determined if the attribute of the color is to be shifted. If so, an attribute shift amount is derived. The attribute shift amount of the color is modified by applying the weighting. The attribute of the first color is shifted by the weighted attribute shift amount, creating a post-processed color. The post-processed color is then clipped.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2014
    Assignee: Sharp Laboratories of America, Inc.
    Inventors: John Dairymple, James Zhixin Chang, Chizu Watanabe
  • Patent number: 8643909
    Abstract: An image reader is provided, which includes a reference position determining unit configured to, in a state where a bright area and a dark area are formed on a reflection surface when a light projecting unit projects light toward a part of the reflection surface, receive the light reflected from the reflection surface with a light receiving portion of a reading unit while restricting a light emitting portion of the reading unit from emitting light, detect a position of the bright area and a position of the dark area in a main scanning direction, and determine a reference position in the main scanning direction based on the detected positions of the bright area and the dark area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2014
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yoshinori Osakabe, Takayuki Akimatsu
  • Patent number: 8610921
    Abstract: Methods disclosed facilitate the identification of printers from among a plurality of network accessible printers based on information about at least one printer sub-state using commonly available messaging techniques such as e-mail. In some embodiments, an email message, which includes queries with search criteria pertaining to the at least one printer sub-state, is received and a sub-state database is queried based on the search criteria pertaining to the printer sub-state to obtain a set of printers that satisfy the search criteria. The sub-state database comprises information that correlates printer identification information with corresponding printer sub-state information of the plurality of network accessible printers. The response to the query is used to respond to the e-mail request with the e-mail response including identification information about printers in the set of printers that satisfy the search criteria.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2013
    Assignee: Konica Minolta Laboratory U.S.A., Inc.
    Inventor: Kiyoshi Miyake
  • Patent number: 8605335
    Abstract: An image processing device, such as multifunction peripheral, includes a reading section, a judging section and a transmission section. The reading section reads an image on each of a plurality of objects and outputs a plurality of pieces of image data. Each piece of image data represents the image on each of the plurality of objects. The judging section judges whether each piece of image data meets a predetermined criterion. The transmission section transmits one or more pieces of image data that are judged by the judging section to meet the predetermined criterion to a predetermined destination set in relation with the criterion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2013
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Akihiro Yamada