Patents Examined by Luis A Gonzalez
  • Patent number: 11530014
    Abstract: Exemplary embodiments are directed to a pedal for a bicycle that includes a body, a spindle rotatably secured to the body and for connection with the bicycle, a first magnetic platter non-rotatably secured within the body, and a second magnetic platter rotatably secured within the body and overlaying the first magnetic platter. The first and second magnetic platters each include two magnetic blocks that are separated and magnetically charged by a respective permanent magnet plate positioned therebetween. The second magnetic platter includes a keyed protrusion configured to be engaged by a ferrous metal cleat, which can rotate the second magnetic platter between a first position where the pedal is in a magnetically inactive state and a second position where the pedal is in a magnetically active state magnetically securing the cleat to the second magnetic platter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2022
    Assignees: Smart Clips LLC, Magswitch Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Steven Ball
  • Patent number: 11530104
    Abstract: A sheet feeding apparatus includes an apparatus body, an opening/closing member supported on the apparatus body, a sheet support supported on the opening/closing member, and a rotary feeding member provided on the apparatus body to feed the sheet supported on the sheet support in a feeding direction. A first engagement member is provided in the apparatus body, and a second engagement member is provided on a downstream end portion of the sheet support in the feeding direction and engages with the first engagement member in a vertical direction that intersects an axial direction of the rotary feeding member when the opening/closing member is positioned at the open position. The rotary feeding member is lowered toward the sheet supported on the sheet support in a case where the opening/closing member is positioned at the open position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2022
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Shunsuke Okazaki
  • Patent number: 11530102
    Abstract: A device is provided for feeding sheets to a sheet-processing machine having at least one processing mechanism. A feeder head is provided for cyclically separating the sheets from a pile of such sheets and has transporting suckers for transporting the sheets to a belt table. The belt table has at least one revolving transport belt which is guided over at least two feed rollers. A first drive is assigned to at least one feed roller and a sheet flap, which is connected to a pivotally mounted shaft, is provided between the transporting suckers and the at least one transport belt. A second drive is assigned to the shaft, for pivoting that shaft. A sheet arrival sensor, which is arranged between the belt table and the processing mechanism, generates first signals representing the arrival of the sheets for a sequence of sheets.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2022
    Assignee: KOENIG & BAUER AG
    Inventors: Martina Sünder, Bernd Hanke, Benjamin Gohl, Richard Dorninger
  • Patent number: 11524854
    Abstract: A bearing which supports one end side of a driving roller includes a first restriction portion which is restricted from rotating and moving with respect to a first frame, and a bearing which supports the other end side of the driving roller includes a second restriction portion which is restricted from rotating and moving with respect to a second frame. As viewed from a direction perpendicular to a width direction of an intermediate transfer belt, a phase of shape of the first restriction portion in a state of being held by the first frame and a phase of shape of the second restriction portion in a state of being held by the second frame are equal to each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2022
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Chikara Imaizumi
  • Patent number: 11505423
    Abstract: A loading unit includes a processing tray, alignment units, and a paddle. In the processing tray, a medium is placed. The alignment units are disposed an interval in a Y direction to align a downstream tip end in a positive A direction of the medium. The paddle moves the medium that has been fed onto the processing tray toward the alignment units. A coefficient of friction of a contact surface of the alignment unit is higher than a coefficient of friction of a front face of the alignment unit, and the contact surface is positioned downstream of the front face in the positive A direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2022
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Chiaki Shimada, Masaki Miyazawa, Kei Sadakuni, Hirohisa Kodaira
  • Patent number: 11498637
    Abstract: An armrest handlebar and a bicycle handlebar assembly having the armrest handlebar are disclosed. The bicycle handlebar assembly includes a steering handlebar, the armrest handlebar, and two armrest pads. The steering handlebar is pivotally engaged with a frame. The armrest handlebar includes two extending tubes which are engaged with the steering handlebar. Each of the extending tubes includes a combining segment, a lifting segment, a leaned segment, and a holding segment which are sequentially disposed. The lifting segment is raised above the combining segment at a first angle, and the leaned segment is raised above the combining segment at a second angle. A curved surface is formed by recessing from a top surface of each of the leaned segments. Each of the two armrest pads is engaged with the steering handlebar and has a concave surface for a rider to lean on.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2022
    Assignee: TIEN HSIN INDUSTRIES CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Fong-Syuan Gu
  • Patent number: 11485599
    Abstract: An image forming system includes: an image former that forms an image; a stacker that stacks a recording medium on which an image has been formed by the image former and which has been discharged from the image former; a lifter that raises or lowers the stacker between a stacking position where the recording medium is stacked and a lower position located below the stacking position; a recording medium detector that detects the recording medium stacked on the stacker; and a hardware processor that controls driving of the lifter so as to lower the stacker from the stacking position to the lower position when it is determined that the recording medium is on the stacker on the basis of a detection result of the recording medium detector within start-up time from a time when power is switched on to a time of shifting to an image formable state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 1, 2022
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventor: Kenichi Yamada
  • Patent number: 11479427
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a sheet storage unit including a sheet tray on which one or more sheets are to be stacked, a sensor configured to detect that the sheet storage unit is being operated, and a processor configured to execute a predetermined process after the sensor detects that the sheet storage unit has been operated, and a predetermined condition relating to an occurrence of the sheet conveyance error is satisfied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2022
    Assignee: TOSHIBA TEC KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Norio Tanaka
  • Patent number: 11472652
    Abstract: A sheet transport system for moving a sheet in a transport direction while adjusting a position of the sheet in a lateral direction normal to the transport direction to a target position, includes first and second pinch roller sets spaced apart from one another in the transport direction, each pinch roller set including two pairs of pinch rollers spaced apart from one another in the lateral direction, each pair forming a nip for pinching and driving the sheet with an individually controllable speed; a detection system for detecting a position of the sheet in the lateral direction while the sheet is pinched by the first pinch roller set; and a control system configured for carrying out the following actions: by controlling the speeds of the pinch rollers of the first pinch roller set before the sheet has reached the second pinch roller set, rotating the sheet by a first rotation angle for adjusting a given reference point on a leading part of the sheet to its target position; and when the sheet has left the fi
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2022
    Assignee: CANON PRODUCTION PRINTING HOLDING B.V.
    Inventors: Sjirk H. Koekebakker, Joseph A. Schulkes, Johan P. Smits
  • Patent number: 11472648
    Abstract: A sheet supporting apparatus includes a sheet supporting unit having a sheet supporting portion including a supporting surface on which a sheet is supported, and a first engagement unit attached to the sheet supporting portion, and a second engagement unit to draw in the sheet supporting unit toward an attaching position where the sheet supporting unit is attached to an apparatus body. The first engagement unit includes a first engagement portion, a base portion supported by the sheet supporting portion, and a holder that is supported movably in a perpendicular direction perpendicular to the supporting surface by the base portion and configured to hold the first engagement portion. The base portion supports the holder swingably around a swing shaft that extends in a direction orthogonal to both the perpendicular direction and an inserting direction in which the sheet supporting unit is inserted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2022
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kazuya Morohashi, Akira Matsushima
  • Patent number: 11465867
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes first and second light emitting units, a light receiving unit for receiving light of the first light emitting unit when it is reflected, and receiving light of the second light emitting unit when it is not reflected, to output a signal of a predetermined level, and a control unit for starting light emission of the first light emitting unit before a front end of a paper sheet reaches an area, stopping light emission of the first light emitting unit while starting light emission of the second light emitting unit before a rear end of the paper sheet passes the area, and detecting a length of the paper sheet based on time after the output signal becomes a predetermined level during light emission of the first light emitting unit until the output signal becomes the predetermined level during light emission of the second light emitting unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2022
    Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventor: Okito Ogasahara
  • Patent number: 11459197
    Abstract: The document feeder includes a lift plate, a pickup roller, a lift motor, a retard roller, and a control unit. In a manual feed mode, the control unit rotates the retard roller to feed a document in a document conveyance direction. Further, the control unit causes the lift motor to start lowering the lift plate while the pickup roller is feeding a document after starting to rotate the pickup roller. When there is a document set on the lift plate at the time when the pickup roller stops, the control unit automatically resumes the feeding in the manual feed mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2022
    Assignee: KYOCERA DOCUMENT SOLUTIONS INC.
    Inventors: Koji Fujii, Taro Kurahashi
  • Patent number: 11459198
    Abstract: A medium feeding apparatus includes a pickup roller that feeds a medium from a medium mount section. A support member supports a pickup roller and swings around a swing axis to switch between a feeding position and a non-feeding position. A separation roller separates the medium from other media. A feed roller feeds the medium toward the downstream end. The separation and feed rollers are disposed downstream of the pickup roller. A control section controls a position of the support member. After the pickup roller and the feed roller start rotating, when the control section determines that the separation roller stops rotating or returns the medium by rotating in a reverse direction, based on a detection signal from a rotation sensing section configured to detect rotation of the separation roller, the control section causes the support member to switch from the feeding position to the non-feeding position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2022
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Keisuke. Miyauchi, Kazuhiko Arimori
  • Patent number: 11440762
    Abstract: A card separation apparatus includes a movable tray having a surface onto which a sheet is conveyed after a card has been separated from the sheet, and a card separation unit mounted on the surface for movement with the movable tray, the card separation unit having an opening through which the sheet is conveyed, and a controller configured to send an instruction to the movable tray to be moved at a predetermined timing after a leading edge of the sheet to which the card is attached enters the opening, so as to cause the sheet to be initially separated from the card.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2022
    Assignees: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA, TOSHIBA TEC KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Kikuo Mizutani
  • Patent number: 11434094
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a sheet conveying device includes a conveying path forming unit and an orthogonal movement permitting part. The conveying path forming unit forms a path for conveying a sheet. The orthogonal movement permitting part is provided in the conveying path. The orthogonal movement permitting part conveys the sheet along the conveying direction. The orthogonal movement permitting part allows the sheet to move in a conveying orthogonal direction orthogonal to the conveying direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2022
    Assignee: TOSHIBA TEC KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yuichi Saito, Toshiaki Oshiro
  • Patent number: 11427429
    Abstract: A stacker includes a medium stacking portion for receiving and stacking a medium processed and discharged by a processing unit, a medium butting portion for aligning the medium by contacting a leading end of the medium, and a paddle that includes a feeding portion and is for transporting the medium received by the medium stacking portion in a direction toward the medium butting portion by rotating. Furthermore, the stacker has a first mode in which the paddle stops in a state in which the feeding portion does not contact the medium on the medium stacking portion and a second mode in which the paddle stops in a state in which the feeding portion comes into contact with the medium on the medium stacking portion and is deformed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2022
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroshi Shiobara, Akinobu Nakahata, Tsuyoshi Furumido, Kohei Ueno
  • Patent number: 11427416
    Abstract: A device for separating a lowermost sheet from a stack, having a hopper for holding the stack and a pushing device arranged underneath the hopper and having a pushing element capable of being moved linearly back and forth, of which the pushing edge is movable relative to the bearing plane of the stack in the hopper, wherein the projection for positive conveying of this pushing edge changes with respect to the bearing plane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2022
    Assignee: Kolbus GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventor: Patrick Seifert
  • Patent number: 11427419
    Abstract: A sheet feeder includes a frame, a roller holder, and a holder stopper. The roller holder includes a feed roller for feeding a sheet. The roller holder is detachably attachable to the frame. The holder stopper is configured to move between a restricting position and a non-restricting position. In a case where the holder stopper is located at the restricting position, the holder stopper restricts the roller holder from moving from an attached position at which the roller holder is fixed to the frame. In a case where the holder stopper is located at the non-restricting position, the holder stopper allows the roller holder to move relative to the frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2022
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Mariko Uchida
  • Patent number: 11420837
    Abstract: A sheet placement device includes a placement member on which a sheet is placed; a limiter that is movable with respect to the placement member to limit a position of an end of the sheet placed on the placement member; a contact member provided in the limiter and to be displaced by contacting with the end of the sheet; and a detector that detects displacement of the contact member. The detector is provided in the placement member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2022
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventor: Kazune Nakamura
  • Patent number: 11414283
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a sheet feeding device having a plurality of sheet feeding units, an opening and closing controlling unit, and a receiving unit. The opening and closing controlling unit controls opening and closing of the sheet feeding unit. Where the receiving unit receives an instruction for assigning a sheet having selected one attribute to designated one sheet feeding unit, the opening and closing controlling unit opens the designated one sheet feeding unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2022
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Nobuhiro Kawamura, Yuzo Harano, Hideaki Ooba, Aya Ito, Yusuke Kimura