Patents Examined by Ruben Parco, Jr.
  • Patent number: 8843004
    Abstract: An area calculating unit calculates an image area of a toner image formed on a sheet recording member. A behavior detecting unit detects behavior of the recording member fed out of a conveying nip formed by a pair of conveying members. A thickness obtaining unit obtains thickness information of the recording member. An index calculating unit calculates an index value indicating windability of the recording member with respect to the conveying members based on the image area, the behavior, and the thickness information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 23, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Osamu Satoh, Yasushi Nakazato, Kohji Ue, Jun Yamane
  • Patent number: 8833248
    Abstract: A support assembly includes a lid, a plug body, and a conduit. The lid engages a target object having an exterior surface on which an image is to be printed. The plug body is disposed in an interior volume of the target object when the lid is engaged with the target object. The plug body engages an interior surface of the target object to form a sealed chamber inside the target object. The conduit extends through the lid to an orifice disposed between the lid and the plug body. The conduit delivers a pressurizing fluid into the sealed chamber in order to increase a pressure inside the sealed chamber in the target object. The pressure inside the sealed chamber provides a resistive force that prevents the exterior surface of the target object from changing shape when the image is printed on the exterior surface of the target object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2014
    Assignee: Illinois Tool Works Inc.
    Inventors: Todd Skakal, William Elliott, Daniel Destino, Doug Samuel
  • Patent number: 8737901
    Abstract: Systems and methods are described that facilitate counterfeit deterrence in a printer or the like. A final image is scanned from a photoreceptor belt before or after transfer of the image to a print medium or from the print medium itself prior to output, and the scanned image data is assessed using a set of stored criteria to detect counterfeit signatures in the scanned image. Upon a determination that the scanned image includes a restricted image, and therefore contains one or more counterfeit image, the printer is shut down, electronically locked until serviced, and/or caused to damage or mark the printed counterfeit image(s).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 27, 2014
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Mark F. Enzien, Gregg A. Bonikowski
  • Patent number: 8734035
    Abstract: A media cartridge is disclosed for insertion into a cartridge receptacle of a printer. The media cartridge includes a cartridge housing having one or more shifting ribs on the cartridge housing. At a position of initial insertion of the media cartridge into the cartridge receptacle, the shifting ribs are configured to center a length of media and an ink ribbon of the media cartridge between a print head and a platen roller in the cartridge receptacle. As the insertion of the media cartridge into the cartridge receptacle continues, the shifting ribs shift the length of media and the ink ribbon toward one of the print head and the platen roller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 27, 2014
    Assignee: Brady Worldwide, Inc.
    Inventors: Alan J. Suva, Richard L. Carriere
  • Patent number: 8714086
    Abstract: This invention pertains to a method for making a cylindrically-shaped element, and particularly a cylindrically-shaped element for use as a base sleeve for printing or as a support for a print form. The method includes wrapping a sheet of a material having a first end and a second end to bring the second end adjacent the first end to form a base sleeve having an axial seam of the first and second ends. The first end has a non-linear edge having an amplitude. Portions between the first end and the second end overlap and form the axial seam. The method can include applying an imageable material adjacent an exterior surface of the base sleeve that covers at least a portion of the axial seam.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 23, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2014
    Assignee: E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company
    Inventors: David Anthony Belfiore, William Paul Rhodes, John E. Gantzhorn, Jr.
  • Patent number: 8655256
    Abstract: A recording material processing apparatus includes a recording material supplying device supplying a recording material, an image recording device recording an image on the recording material, a recording material transporting mechanism and a burr curing device including a pressurizing member for curing the burrs at the edge of the recording material. The recording material transporting mechanism changes a transporting state of the recording material at a predetermined transportation changing position. The pressurizing member is provided on a recording material transporting path between the recording material supplying device and the transportation changing position and is provided on the side nearer to the recording material supplying device than a trailing end position. The trailing end position indicates a position of the trailing end of the recording material in the transporting path when a leading end of the recording material in the transporting direction passes the transportation changing position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2009
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2014
    Assignee: Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Fumio Furusawa, Masataka Konishi, Yasushi Kawahata, Masakazu Takahashi
  • Patent number: 8620183
    Abstract: In a sheet conveying apparatus according to the present invention, a guide unit is rotatably disposed in an apparatus body. The sheet conveying apparatus includes a conveying portion which is disposed in the guide unit in such a manner as to be movable relatively to a cover and conveys the sheet on a second conveyance path, and a positioning portion which is disposed in the cover and positions the conveying portion at the cover when the cover is closed with respect to the apparatus body. The guide unit is moved to a closure position during the operation for closing the cover, and thereafter, the positioning portion positions the conveying portion by the operation for closing the cover.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Shinichiro Hosoi
  • Patent number: 8606168
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus comprises: a pair of first sheet ejecting rollers and a pair of second sheet ejecting rollers that eject a sheet on which an image is formed; a guide member that guides the sheet to the pair of first sheet ejecting rollers or the pair of second sheet ejecting rollers; a controller that performs control so that, while a sheet that is to be ejected by the pair of first sheet ejecting rollers onto an ejected-sheet tray is being held by the pair of first sheet ejecting rollers in a stopped state, the pair of second sheet ejecting rollers is in a stopped state and hold an immediately subsequent sheet above the ejected-sheet tray; and a fan that moves air toward the sheet held by the pair of first sheet ejecting rollers and the immediately subsequent sheet held by the pair of second sheet ejecting rollers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2013
    Assignee: Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Yusuke Murakami, Shigeki Nozawa
  • Patent number: 8600288
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit, a first sheet stack portion, a sheet output section, and a post processing unit. The image forming unit forms an image on a sheet. The first sheet stack portion is provided at an upper face of the image forming unit. The sheet output section outputs the sheet on which the image is formed by the image forming unit from one side of the image forming apparatus to the first sheet stack portion. The post processing unit is provided adjacent to a lateral side of the image forming unit at an upstream side of the sheet output section to execute post processing on the sheet. A sheet subjected to post-processing by the post-processing unit is output to the first sheet stack portion from the same direction as a sheet not subjected to post-processing by the post-processing unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2013
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Takamasa Shiraki, Kazushige Kawamura, Yoshihide Ohta, Takayuki Andoh, Masato Ogawa, Takuji Takahashi, Tetsuya Fujioka, Yasunobu Youda, Kohji Hatayama
  • Patent number: 8590447
    Abstract: Automated marking devices for self-administering hand markings and methods of use are provided. A device for self-administering hand markings includes a housing, a stamp driving assembly, a stamp assembly, and a planar surface for receiving a patron's hand. The stamp assembly is configured to substantially leave a full stamp impression on the patron's hand, regardless of varying topologies, sizes, and orientations of hands that are placed in the hand marking device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2013
    Assignee: Museum of Science
    Inventors: Jonathan Burke, Heather Calvin, Aileen Duffy, Michael Horvath, Kevin McEleney
  • Patent number: 8582987
    Abstract: In a printing device, the conveying mechanism has a first path from a accommodating unit to the printing position and a second path that conveys the sheet that has once passed through the printing position to the printing position in an inverted state. The controller controls the conveying mechanism to perform an automatic duplex print. Printing on the one side is executed by using the first path and printing on the another side is executed by using the second path. The another side printing error disables printing of an image, by using the second path, on the another side of the sheet, whose one side has already been printed. When the another side printing error occurs, the controller controls the conveying mechanism to convey, through the first path, a sheet and controlling the printing unit to print the image on the sheet based on the set of image data to be printed on the another side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2013
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Masataka Yamazaki
  • Patent number: 8540442
    Abstract: An adjustable print media path system and method are disclosed. In one form, the print media path system incorporates a frame and a guide member that is moveably coupled to the frame between a cartridge position and an external media position. Inserting print media into the receptacle moves the guide member between the external media position and the cartridge position, thereby adjusting the print media path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2013
    Assignee: Brady Worldwide, Inc.
    Inventors: Yaw Horng Yap, Soon Ling Tan, Shao Hwa Lee
  • Patent number: 8532559
    Abstract: A print system includes: a first printer that performs printing on continuous-form paper; a second printer that performs printing on the continuous-form paper printed by the first printer; a measuring unit that measures a paper length between the first printer and the second printer; a calculator that calculates a post-conveyance amount as a distance to convey the continuous-form paper after the printing, for the first printer or the second printer, based on the paper length measured by the measuring unit; and a conveyance operation controller that controls post-conveyance operations in the first printer and the second printer based on the post-conveyance amount calculated by the calculator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2013
    Assignee: Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Daisuke Fujii
  • Patent number: 8515333
    Abstract: A notch forming device, comprises a notch forming section to form a notch on an edge of a sheet constituting a sheet bundle to be outputted in accordance with an execution of a job; a shifting section to shift a position of a notch to be formed on a sheet by the notch forming section; and a control section to control the shifting section. When plural sheet bundles are outputted in accordance with the execution of the job, the control section controls the shifting section to make a position of a notch on a leading sheet of each sheet bundle at the same position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2013
    Assignee: Konica Minolta Business Business Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Tomoya Motoyoshi
  • Patent number: 8503923
    Abstract: An image recording apparatus includes a particular tray, a sheet feeder configured to feed a sheet from the particular tray to a first conveying path in a feed direction, a recording unit positioned along the first conveying path, and a driving roller positioned along a second conveying path and configured to convey the sheet, after the sheet passes the recording unit, along the second conveying path and back to the first conveying path. The particular tray includes a side guide configured to position the sheets in a widthwise direction perpendicular to the feeding direction. The side guide includes a guide member that defines at least a portion of the second conveying path and is configured to guide the sheet along the second conveying path, and a driven roller rotatably supported on the guide member and configured to pinch the sheet against the driving roller as the sheet is conveyed along the second conveying path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2013
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Tetsuo Asada, Naokazu Tanahashi, Shota Iijima, Masatoshi Izuchi, Satoru Nakakita
  • Patent number: 8494435
    Abstract: Disclosed is an image forming system including an image forming device to form an image on a paper and a plurality of post processing devices, and the image forming device includes an ejecting place information informing unit, a comparing unit and a stopping permission information informing unit, and the post processing devices include a determination unit, a permission request unit and an actuation determination unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2013
    Assignee: Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.
    Inventor: Motoki Nakamichi
  • Patent number: 8494433
    Abstract: A recording-medium positioning device includes a gate, a roller pair, a roller-pair shift unit, a recording-medium detector, and a drive control device. The gate is disposed at an upstream side of a fixing device in a conveyance direction of a recording medium. The roller pair includes two roller members disposed at an upstream side of the gate. The roller-pair shift unit moves the roller pair in accordance with a first position of the recording medium in the conveyance direction to shift the recording medium in a width direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction. The recording-medium detector is disposed between the fixing device and the gate to detect a second position of the recording medium in the width direction. The drive control device moves the recording medium to a reference position by driving the roller-pair shift unit in accordance with the second position and cyclically shifts the reference position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2013
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Takeshi Uchida, Kiyomi Tsuchiya
  • Patent number: 8457543
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit to form an image on a sheet of recording media, an image reading unit to read image data of an original document, disposed above the image forming unit, a sheet discharge space defined by the image reading unit and the image forming unit and disposed therebetween, a discharge port formed in a first inner side wall of a main body of the image forming apparatus, through which the sheet is discharged into the sheet discharge space, a positioning member to position and detachably mount a positioning member to position and detachably mount an auxiliary unit adjacent to the discharge port in the sheet discharge space.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2013
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Limited
    Inventors: Shuuya Nagasako, Junichi Iida, Shinya Kitaoka
  • Patent number: 8418614
    Abstract: A method for calibrating a rotary printing press, in which a bearing structure for a printing cylinder is adjusted relative to another component of the printing press, and positions of the bearing structure are measured, including the steps of mounting a calibration tool on a mandrel that is supported in the bearing structure, the calibration tool having at least one contact sensitive switch, moving the bearing structure until the at least one switch contacts the other component, and upon detection of a signal from the at least one switch, storing a measured position of the bearing structure as a reference position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2013
    Assignee: Fischer & Krecke GmbH & Co. KG
    Inventors: Gordon Whitelaw, Wolfgang Brusdeilins
  • Patent number: 8408830
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a moving roller capable of axial movement; a medium end position detecting section for detection in the main scanning direction; and a control section for calculating the amount of misalignment of the medium from the detected end position; wherein the control section obtains the correction amount of the image forming position of the medium according to the amount of misalignment of the medium having been calculated, or the amount of misalignment of the medium and information of moving position of the roller, and provides control such that the medium or another medium coming later than the medium by a predetermined number of pages is moved by the moving roller by the difference between the correction amount of the image forming position and the amount of misalignment of the target medium, and the image forming position is corrected according to the correction amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2013
    Assignee: Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Satoshi Ogata, Jun Onishi, Shinpei Kawasaki