Patents Examined by Sevan A Aydin
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Patent number: 12105456Abstract: An image forming device, including: a drawer movable from an inside position where the drawer is located inside a housing to an outside position where the drawer is located outside the housing via an intermediate position; a stopper movable between a first position where the stopper stops the drawer from moving from the intermediate position to the outside position and a second position where the stopper allows the drawer to move from the intermediate position to the outside position; a drum cartridge mountable on the drawer; and a toner cartridge mountable on the drawer; wherein the toner cartridge mounted on the drawer is detachable from the drawer in a state in which the drawer is located at the intermediate position, and wherein the drum cartridge mounted on the drawer is detachable from the drawer in a state in which the drawer is located at the outside position.Type: GrantFiled: December 15, 2022Date of Patent: October 1, 2024Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Kazuna Taguchi, Shougo Sato
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Patent number: 12092983Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a photosensitive member, a charging member, a developing member, a contacting member contacting the developing member, and first to third power sources. The first power source generates a first voltage and applies it to the charging member. The second power source generates a second voltage, lower than the first voltage, from the first voltage and applies it to the contacting member. The third power source generates a third voltage, lower than the second voltage, from the second voltage and applies it to the developing member.Type: GrantFiled: November 3, 2022Date of Patent: September 17, 2024Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Hiroki Hanayama, Hiroki Asano
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Patent number: 12078940Abstract: A developing device includes: a rotating member that delivers a developer to a latent image of an image holding body while rotating; a supply member that extends in an axial direction of the rotating member and is disposed diagonally below the rotating member as viewed from the axial direction, transports the developer while rotating, and supplies the developer to the rotating member; and an upper member disposed on an opposite side of the rotating member with respect to a tangent line extending in an upward-downward direction in contact with a portion of the rotating member on a supply member side and above the supply member, as viewed from the axial direction.Type: GrantFiled: October 5, 2022Date of Patent: September 3, 2024Assignee: FUJIFILM Business Innovation Corp.Inventors: Kenji Hayamizu, Masayuki Shimoda
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Patent number: 12078945Abstract: A thermopile sensor that is a temperature measuring device of a fusing device is held on a substrate. The substrate is provided with a cylindrical member extending in front of the thermopile sensor and an aperture disposed at an end of the cylindrical member.Type: GrantFiled: August 17, 2022Date of Patent: September 3, 2024Assignee: SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventor: Shinji Yamana
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Patent number: 12072651Abstract: A heating device includes a rotator that rotates and a heater that heats the rotator. A rotator holder holds each lateral end of the rotator in a longitudinal direction of the rotator. The rotator holder is adhered with one of silicone oil and silicone grease, that contains siloxanes that are not smaller than a dodecamer and not greater than a heptadecamer and have a concentration not greater than 1,250 ppm.Type: GrantFiled: April 20, 2023Date of Patent: August 27, 2024Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.Inventors: Toshiyuki Kabata, Kota Shiodera, Takayuki Andoh, Masahiro Samei, Hiroshi Yoshinaga
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Patent number: 12066777Abstract: According to an embodiment, a fixing device includes a cylindrical body that rotates about an axial direction and a heater that heats the cylindrical body. The heater includes a substrate with a length direction matching the axial direction. The substrate has a first portion with a width in a width direction that is greater than a width of a second portion in the width direction. A first heating element is on a central portion of the substrate overlapping with the second portion. A first temperature sensing element is at a position along the axial direction that does not overlap with the second portion.Type: GrantFiled: December 13, 2022Date of Patent: August 20, 2024Assignee: Toshiba Tec Kabushiki KaishaInventor: Ryota Saeki
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Patent number: 12055877Abstract: A fixing apparatus includes a heating rotary member and a pressing rotary member, which form a nip portion, at which a toner image is fixed to a recording material, a mixture job is a job with a mixture of recording materials including a recording material with a first grammage and a recording material with a second grammage greater than the first grammage, one of a plurality of modes is performable in the mixture job, in which a maximum value of an amount of toner on the recording material with the first grammage is greater than a maximum value of the amount of toner on the recording material with the second grammage in the first mode whereas the maximum value on the recording material with the first grammage is equal to the maximum value on the recording material with the second grammage in the second mode.Type: GrantFiled: March 15, 2023Date of Patent: August 6, 2024Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Daigo Matsuura, Hiroki Kawai, Ayano Ogata, Yasuharu Toratani, Misa Kawashima
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Patent number: 12055879Abstract: A fixing unit includes a film including a tubular shape and configured to rotate, a heater arranged inside the film and including a heating resistor configured to generate heat by passing alternating current therethrough and an insulator configured to cover the heating resistor, a sliding member arranged between the heater and the film and configured to be in sliding contact with an inner surface of the film, the sliding member having electric conductivity, a pressing member configured to be in pressure contact with the sliding member across the film to form a nip portion between the sliding member and the pressing member, and a conductive member electrically connected to a ground potential via at least one impedance element. The sliding member is electrically connected to the conductive member.Type: GrantFiled: June 1, 2023Date of Patent: August 6, 2024Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Kouji Yasukawa, Yusuke Nakashima, Ryo Okuzumi
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Patent number: 12050419Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit, a fixing unit, first and second rotating members, and a discharge unit to discharge a recording material to an outside. The fixing unit fixes an image from the image forming unit onto the recording material. The first rotating member comes into contact with and guides the image bearing recording material, and is driven to rotate by conveyance of the recording material. The second rotating member comes into contact with the image bearing recording material more on a downstream side than the first rotating member in a conveyance direction of the recording material, guides the recording material, and is driven to rotate by conveyance of the recording material. The first rotating member does not perform swinging motion by coming into contact with the recording material, and the second rotating member performs swinging motion by coming into contact with the recording material.Type: GrantFiled: September 6, 2023Date of Patent: July 30, 2024Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Ai Suzuki, Osamu Sasaoka, Kensuke Umeda, Shinsuke Kobayashi
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Patent number: 12050423Abstract: In a drive mechanism, a first engagement portion of a drive member includes a first contact portion capable of contacting with a second engagement portion in a case where a coupling member is at a first position and the drive member rotates in a first rotation direction, a second contact portion capable of contacting with the second engagement portion in a case where the coupling member is at a second position and the drive member rotates in the first rotation direction, and a third contact portion capable of contacting with the coupling member so as to regulate movement of the second engagement portion from the second position to the first position in a rotation axis direction when the coupling member is at the second position and the second contact portion and the coupling member are in a contact state by rotation of the drive member in the first rotation direction.Type: GrantFiled: December 19, 2022Date of Patent: July 30, 2024Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventor: Shuichi Gofuku
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Patent number: 12038697Abstract: An image forming apparatus is used, including a rotary member, on which a developer image by a developer is formed, a collection unit for collecting the developer by a blade member from a surface of the rotary member, and a control unit for controlling an image forming operation on the surface of the rotary member and a supply operation for supplying the developer to a contact portion between the rotary member and the blade member, wherein, assuming that the supply operation for supplying the developer to inside of a printable area is a first supply operation and the supply operation for supplying the developer to outside the printable area is a second supply operation, the control unit controls such that the first supply operation and the second supply operation are performed at different timing.Type: GrantFiled: September 1, 2022Date of Patent: July 16, 2024Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Shohei Ishio, Keisuke Ishizumi, Shinji Katagiri
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Patent number: 12038706Abstract: A fixing apparatus includes a fixing belt, a steering roller, a pressure rotation member, and a contact-separation mechanism. The contact-separation mechanism moves the pressure rotation member to a position where the pressure rotation member is in a contact state with the fixing belt and a position where the pressure rotation member is in a separated state from the fixing belt. Swing of the steering roller is controlled so that the fixing belt moves to a predetermined position in a fixing belt width direction. A distance between a center position of the fixing belt in tilting the steering roller for a first time after the center position is separated from a center position of a range of movement of the fixing belt and the center position of the range of movement of the fixing belt in the width direction is smaller in the separated state than in the contact state.Type: GrantFiled: June 21, 2023Date of Patent: July 16, 2024Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventor: Yuhei Takei
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Patent number: 12032329Abstract: A developing cartridge includes: a casing; a developing roller; a shaft; and a cam. The casing is configured to accommodate developer therein. The developing roller is rotatable about a first axis extending in an axial direction. The shaft extends along a second axis extending in the axial direction. The shaft is movable along the second axis. The cam is movable along the second axis in response to axial movement of the shaft. The cam has a cam surface non-parallel with the second axis.Type: GrantFiled: April 27, 2023Date of Patent: July 9, 2024Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Yuwen Wang, Junichi Hashimoto, Isao Kishi, Kazuaki Ooka
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Patent number: 12025934Abstract: The fixing device includes: a fixing belt that is heated by a heater lamp; a pressure roller that makes contact with the fixing belt; a fixing pad that sandwiches the fixing belt from the inner side of the fixing belt and is arranged opposing the pressure roller, and which forms a nip portion between the fixing belt and the pressure roller; a sliding sheet provided between the fixing pad and the fixing belt, which reduces the frictional force with the fixing belt; and a pad heat transfer plate provided between the sliding sheet and the fixing pad, which adjusts the heat transfer in a longitudinal direction of the fixing belt. The fixing pad has protrusions and that make contact with the pad heat transfer plate, and forms a gap between the fixing pad and the pad heat transfer plate in a location where the protrusions and are not making contact.Type: GrantFiled: January 19, 2023Date of Patent: July 2, 2024Assignee: SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventor: Kouta Yoshikawa
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Patent number: 12025942Abstract: An image forming apparatus is configured to perform image forming processing. The image forming apparatus includes a photosensitive drum, a main motor configured to generate a driving force, a drum clutch having a transmission state in which the driving force is transmitted to the photosensitive drum and a disconnected state in which the driving force is not transmitted to the photosensitive drum, a sheet sensor configured to detect a rear edge of a sheet upstream of the photosensitive drum in a sheet conveying direction, and a controller. In a case where a start command for subsequent image forming processing is not received after the sheet sensor detects a rear edge of a last sheet in image forming processing performed based on received print data, the controller executes drum clutch disconnection processing, and then executes main motor rotation stop processing.Type: GrantFiled: August 4, 2022Date of Patent: July 2, 2024Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Masaaki Furukawa, Sota Hirano, Takahito Yamaji, Toshiyuki Sano, Tadao Kyotani
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Patent number: 12025938Abstract: An information processing apparatus communicating with an image forming apparatus on which toner containers containing toners of different colors are mounted and which forms an image using the toners of different colors includes an acquisition unit configured to acquire, for each color, a stock request of a toner container to be stocked being different from the toner containers mounted on the image forming apparatus, and a display unit configured to display, for each color, stock information indicating that stocking of a spare toner container is required, in accordance with the stock request acquired by the acquisition unit.Type: GrantFiled: June 22, 2022Date of Patent: July 2, 2024Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Daisuke Kawaguchi, Jiro Shirakata
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Patent number: 12025926Abstract: An electrophotographic member having an endless shape comprises: a substrate; and an elastic layer on an outer peripheral surface thereof. The elastic layer contains a silicone rubber and metal silicon fillers dispersed in the silicone rubber. An average of area ratios of the metal silicon fillers in respective first binarized images is 42% or less, and an average of area ratios of the metal silicon fillers in respective second binarized images is 42% or less. The elastic layer has ? of 1.30 W/(m·K) or more, where ? is a thermal conductivity of the elastic layer in a thickness direction thereof, and the elastic layer has ?V of 9.0 LOG ?·cm or more, where ?V is a common logarithm value of a volume resistivity thereof.Type: GrantFiled: April 12, 2023Date of Patent: July 2, 2024Assignee: CANON KABU SHIKI KAISHAInventors: Yasuhiro Miyahara, Shigeo Kuroda, Matsutaka Maeda, Yuji Kitano, Makoto Souma, Yutaro Yoshida
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Patent number: 12019380Abstract: An image-forming apparatus includes first and second photosensitive drums, first and second image-forming portion including first and second development rollers configured to bear developers composed of first and second toner particles and organosilicon protrusions formed on surfaces of the first and second toner particles, an intermediate transfer member to which a developer image is to be transferred in first and second contact portions in contact with the first and second photosensitive drums, and a transfer member configured to transfer the developer image to a recording material in a transfer portion. The first contact portion is formed downstream of the transfer portion and upstream of the second contact portion in a movement direction of the surface of the intermediate transfer member. A protrusion formed on the second developer has a lower height than a protrusion formed on the first developer.Type: GrantFiled: January 19, 2023Date of Patent: June 25, 2024Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Takanori Mitani, Takao Kume, Satoshi Nishida, Isamu Takeda, Kohei Okayasu
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Patent number: 12013657Abstract: A printing drum mounting system and method of assembling the mounting system. The mounting system comprising a rotatable shaft; a first mount and a second mount arrangeable on the shaft to clamp a printing drum therebetween, wherein the first mount comprises a first engaging surface to form a mating contact with a corresponding first end surface of the printing drum and the second mount comprises a second engaging surface to form a mating contact with a corresponding end surface of the printing drum; a double-walled flexure to flexibly mount the first engaging surface and the shaft, the flexure to provide the first engaging surface with a single degree of freedom of axial movement relative to the shaft and to maintain mating contact between the first engaging surface and the first end surface of the printing drum as the printing drum thermally expands and contracts; and a releasable fixing to align and rigidly engage the second engaging surface relative to the shaft.Type: GrantFiled: December 13, 2019Date of Patent: June 18, 2024Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.Inventors: Israel Katz, Sergey Guralnik, Avi Barazani
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Patent number: 12001152Abstract: A processor causes a printing portion to execute test image transfer processing for transferring a plurality of test toner images onto an area outside a secondary transfer area on a surface of an intermediate transfer member, and secondary voltage stop processing for stopping a supply of a secondary transfer voltage. The processor acquires a plurality of first sensing densities. The processor causes the printing portion to execute the test image transfer processing and secondary voltage supply processing for supplying the secondary transfer voltage. The processor acquires a plurality of second sensing densities. The processor compares the plurality of first sensing densities and the plurality of second sensing densities to determine a state of a toner charging amount in each of the plurality of test toner images.Type: GrantFiled: December 28, 2022Date of Patent: June 4, 2024Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.Inventor: Kenichi Tamaki