Patents by Inventor Atsushi Oshima

Atsushi Oshima has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 8201905
    Abstract: With an appropriate signal transmission form, a drive pulse output circuit is mounted to an ink jet head, so that waveform distortion of an actuator drive pulse for jet of ink drops is inhibited or prevented. Modulated signal data in memory is read to output a modulated signal, which is power-amplified by a digital power amplifier. The amplified digital signal is smoothed to be output to an actuator as a drive pulse. As a result, the digital power amplifier having high amplification efficiency efficiently amplifies the power of the modulated signal, thereby eliminating the need to use a cooling unit. The drive pulse output circuit can be mounted to the ink jet heads, thereby shortening the transmission path of an actuator drive pulse, which inhibits or prevents any waveform distortion of the drive pulse. The transmission of the modulated signal data DATA is implemented with a low frequency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2012
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Toshiyuki Suzuki, Kunio Tabata, Osamu Shinkawa, Tomoki Hatano, Atsushi Oshima
  • Publication number: 20120126666
    Abstract: A power generating device which includes a transformation member that is transformed by receiving a transformation force in a transformation direction, a first piezoelectric device that is disposed on the transformation member, a second piezoelectric device that is disposed on the transformation member, an inductor comprising a resonance circuit including the first piezoelectric device, a switch that is disposed in the resonance circuit, and a control unit that controls the switch to be in a conductive state for a predetermined period by detecting a voltage generated in the second piezoelectric device as the second piezoelectric device is transformed in response to the transformation force being applied to the transformation member.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 17, 2011
    Publication date: May 24, 2012
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kunio TABATA, Atsushi OSHIMA, Hiroyuki YOSHINO, Noritaka IDE, Atsuya HIRABAYASHI
  • Publication number: 20120119618
    Abstract: A power generating device includes: a piezoelectric member that is formed from a piezoelectric material; one pair of electrodes that are installed to the piezoelectric member; a transformation unit that repeatedly transforms the piezoelectric member; an inductor that is installed between the one pair of electrodes and configures a resonance circuit together with a capacitive component of the piezoelectric member; a switch that is connected to the inductor in series; and a switch control unit that connects the switch when a transformation direction of the piezoelectric member is switched, and cuts off the switch when a time corresponding to a half period of a resonance period of the resonance circuit elapses.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 14, 2011
    Publication date: May 17, 2012
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kunio TABATA, Hiroyuki YOSHINO, Noritaka IDE, Atsushi OSHIMA
  • Publication number: 20120119797
    Abstract: A drive waveform signal is pulse-modulated and a modulated signal is generated, the obtained modulated signal is power-amplified, and then, a drive signal is demodulated using a low pass filter. Thus obtained drive signal is negatively fed back, and thereby, the resonance peak of the low pass filter is suppressed. In this regard, by bringing gain in a wider frequency domain to take a fixed value or more, a drive signal having a voltage exceeding a power supply voltage may be stably generated.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 14, 2011
    Publication date: May 17, 2012
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventor: Atsushi OSHIMA
  • Publication number: 20120120137
    Abstract: A liquid jet apparatus according to the present invention includes a drive circuit adapted to apply a drive signal to an actuator of a liquid jet head, and a power supply voltage control circuit adapted to control a power supply voltage to the drive signal to be a waveform voltage set previously based on a reference signal obtained from one of the drive signal and a signal in a generation stage of the drive signal,
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 18, 2012
    Publication date: May 17, 2012
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Atsushi OSHIMA, Kunio TABATA, Noritaka IDE, Shinichi MIYAZAKI, Hiroyuki AIZAWA, Seiichi TANIGUCHI
  • Publication number: 20120120136
    Abstract: A modulated signal is generated by performing pulse modulation of a drive waveform signal that is a reference for a drive signal to be applied to a capacitive load, and the drive signal is generated by performing power amplification of the acquired modulated signal and then smoothing the power-amplified modulated signal. Then, negative feedback of the drive signal applied to the capacitive load is applied to the drive waveform signal that is the reference for the drive signal. At this time, a predetermined analog compensation process for smoothing gain characteristics in a frequency band included in the drive signal is performed for the drive signal, then the acquired signal is converted into a digital signal, and negative feedback of the digital signal is applied to the drive waveform signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 14, 2011
    Publication date: May 17, 2012
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Atsushi OSHIMA, Kunio TABATA, Hiroyuki YOSHINO, Noritaka IDE
  • Patent number: 8172373
    Abstract: A fluid ejection device including, a drive element capable of storing a charge depending on a voltage applied to the drive element, a first capacitor, a second capacitor, and a power recovery module that recovers power from the drive element by connecting the first capacitor and the second capacitor to the drive element in series, wherein the power recovery module switches the first capacitor out of the in-series connection to further recover power from the drive element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2012
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Atsushi Oshima, Shinichi Miyazaki, Kunio Tabata, Nobuaki Azami, Hiroyuki Yoshino, Noritaka Ide
  • Publication number: 20120092401
    Abstract: A head drive of an inkjet printer includes nozzles and corresponding actuators that eject liquid ink drops. A drive unit applies a drive signal to the actuators. The drive unit includes a drive waveform generator that generates a drive waveform signal to control the drive of the actuators. A modulator pulse modulates the drive waveform. A digital power amplifier amplifies power of the modulated signal. A low pass filter smoothes the amplified digital signal and supplies the signal as a drive signal to the actuators. An inverse filter provided in a subsequent stage of the drive waveform generator corrects at least the frequency characteristics of the filter to predetermined frequency characteristics, independent of the number of the actuators to drive.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 21, 2011
    Publication date: April 19, 2012
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kunio TABATA, Toshiyuki SUZUKI, Osamu SHINKAWA, Tomoki HATANO, Atsushi OSHIMA
  • Patent number: 8111409
    Abstract: A detecting apparatus includes a target section in which target elements to be detected are arranged in the direction of the motion of a moving body; a detecting section that detects the target elements with the motion of the moving body and outputs a waveform signal having an output level corresponding to its detection sensitivity; a first-digital-signal output section that binarizes the waveform signal with reference to a first threshold to output a first digital signal; a second-digital-signal output section that binarizes the waveform signal with reference to a second threshold which is higher in absolute value than the first threshold to output a second digital signal; and a determining section that determines whether the second digital signal has changed in status.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2012
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Kunio Tabata, Kaneo Yoda, Toshiyuki Suzuki, Atsushi Oshima
  • Patent number: 8100493
    Abstract: A liquid jet apparatus according to the present invention includes a plurality of nozzles, an actuator provided for each nozzle and connected to the respective nozzle, and a drive unit for applying a drive signal to the actuator. The drive unit includes a drive waveform generator that generates a drive waveform signal for controlling the drive of the actuator, a modulator for performing a pulse modulation of the drive waveform signal to produce a modulated signal, a digital power amplifier for power amplifying the modulated signal to produce an amplified signal, a low-pass filter for smoothing the amplified signal and supplying the drive signal to the actuator, and a modulation signal correcting unit that corrects the modulated signal according to a power supply voltage of the digital power amplifier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2012
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Atsushi Oshima, Kunio Tabata
  • Patent number: 8100491
    Abstract: A liquid jet apparatus includes a plurality of nozzles provided to the liquid jet head, an actuator provided corresponding to each of the nozzles, drive unit that applies a drive signal to the actuator, drive waveform signal generation unit that generates a drive waveform signal providing a reference of a signal for controlling the actuator, modulator unit that pulse-modulates the drive waveform signal generated by the drive waveform signal generation unit, a digital power amplifier for power-amplifying the modulated signal, which is pulse-modulated by the modulator unit, and a low-pass filter provided individually corresponding to the actuator and for supplying the actuator with the power amplified modulated signal power-amplified by the digital power amplifier as a drive signal after smoothing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2012
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Atsushi Oshima, Kunio Tabata, Toshiyuki Suzuki, Osamu Shinkawa, Tomoki Hatano
  • Publication number: 20110273501
    Abstract: A liquid jet apparatus according to the present invention is a liquid jet apparatus including a plurality of nozzles, an actuator provided for each nozzle and connected to the respective nozzle, a drive waveform signal generation unit that generates a drive pulse, and a drive unit that applies the drive pulse to the actuator, wherein the drive unit includes a transistor pair, wherein the transistor pair: has two transistors connected to each other in a push-pull manner, and power-amplifies the drive pulse. The drive unit also includes a low-pass filter disposed between the transistor pair and the actuator.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 19, 2011
    Publication date: November 10, 2011
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kunio TABATA, Atsushi OSHIMA
  • Publication number: 20110254887
    Abstract: A capacitive load driving device includes a drive waveform generator that generates a drive waveform signal, a subtractor that outputs a difference signal between the drive waveform signal and a feedback signal, a modulator that pulse-modulates the difference signal to output a modulated signal, a digital power amplifier that amplifies the modulated signal to output an amplified digital signal, a low pass filter that smoothes the amplified digital signal to output a drive signal for a capacitive load, a feedback circuit that outputs the feedback signal obtained from the drive signal, and an adjusting section that adjusts frequency characteristics of the feedback circuit based on capacitance of the capacitive load to be driven.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 12, 2011
    Publication date: October 20, 2011
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Noritaka IDE, Kunio TABATA, Shinichi MIYAZAKI, Atsushi OSHIMA, Hiroyuki YOSHINO
  • Publication number: 20110242172
    Abstract: A capacitive load driving circuit includes: a drive waveform signal generator that generates a drive waveform signal; a subtractor that outputs a differential signal between the drive waveform signal and a feedback signal; a modulator that pulse-modulates the differential signal and outputs a modulated signal; a digital power amplifier that amplifies the power of the modulated signal and outputs a power-amplified modulated signal; a smoothing filter that smoothes the power-amplified modulated signal, and outputs a drive signal of the capacitive load; a compensator that causes a phase to precede the drive signal; and an attenuator that attenuates signal amplitude in a band at least including a modulation frequency of the modulated signal. A signal output from a connecting point between the inductor and the wire is made to pass through the compensator and the attenuator and is then used as a feedback signal to the subtractor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 30, 2011
    Publication date: October 6, 2011
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hiroyuki YOSHINO, Atsushi OSHIMA, Kunio TABATA, Shinichi MIYAZAKI, Noritaka IDE
  • Publication number: 20110234702
    Abstract: A capacitive load driving device includes a drive waveform generator adapted to generate a drive waveform signal, a subtraction section adapted to output a differential signal between the drive waveform signal and two feedback signals, a modulator adapted to perform pulse modulation on the differential signal to obtain a modulated signal; a digital power amplifier adapted to power-amplify the modulated signal to obtain an amplified digital signal, a low pass filter including an inductor and a capacitor, and adapted to smooth the amplified digital signal to obtain a drive signal of a capacitive load, a first feedback circuit adapted to feedback the drive signal to the subtraction section as a first feedback signal, and a second feedback circuit adapted to set forward a phase of the drive signal and to feed back the drive signal to the subtraction section as a second feedback signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 25, 2011
    Publication date: September 29, 2011
    Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Atsushi OSHIMA, Kunio TABATA, Hiroyuki YOSHINO, Shinichi MIYAZAKI, Noritaka IDE
  • Publication number: 20110229881
    Abstract: An ink, which contains DNA and is hardly decomposed by an external stimulus such as ultraviolet light, heat, an acid or an alkali, is provided. A method of easily analyzing a DNA in an ink composition is also provided. An ink composition containing a DNA and having a water-tolerance at a certain level or higher is prepared. The DNA in a print that is produced by using the above ink composition is quickly extracted with water or an aqueous solution and analyzed. Furthermore, a DNA in a print that is produced by using an oil- and water-based ink composition containing the DNA is quickly extracted with water or an aqueous solution and analyzed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 11, 2008
    Publication date: September 22, 2011
    Applicants: NAGAHAMA BIO-LABORATORY INCORPORATED, EDUCATIONAL CORPORATION KANSAI BUNRI SOUGOUGAKUEN
    Inventors: Atsushi Oshima, Fumie Yusa
  • Patent number: 8022743
    Abstract: A pulse width modulation circuit includes: a reference signal generator which generates a plurality of mutually differing reference signals; a comparator which compares the reference signals and an input signal with respect to magnitude, and outputs results of the comparison as a plurality of comparison signals with mutually differing phases; and a synthesizer which, using a logical operation, outputs the plurality of comparison signals output from the comparator as a pulse width modulated signal configured of one or more binary signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2011
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Shinichi Miyazaki, Hiroyuki Yoshino, Nobuaki Azami, Atsushi Oshima, Noritaka Ide, Kunio Tabata
  • Patent number: 7984956
    Abstract: A liquid jet apparatus according to the present invention is a liquid jet apparatus including a plurality of nozzles, an actuator provided for each nozzle and connected to the respective nozzle, a drive waveform signal generation unit that generates a drive pulse, and a drive unit that applies the drive pulse to the actuator, wherein the drive unit includes a transistor pair, wherein the transistor pair: has two transistors connected to each other in a push-pull manner, and power-amplifies the drive pulse. The drive unit also includes a low-pass filter disposed between the transistor pair and the actuator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2011
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Kunio Tabata, Atsushi Oshima
  • Patent number: 7984957
    Abstract: A liquid jet apparatus including a plurality of nozzles provided to a liquid jet head, an actuator corresponding to each of the nozzles, and drive unit that applies a drive pulse to each of the actuators, wherein the drive unit includes correction value storing unit that stores a drive pulse application timing correction value corresponding to the number of actuators to be driven at the same time, and drive pulse application timing correction unit that corrects the drive pulse application timing using the drive pulse application timing correction value stored in the correction value storing unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 26, 2011
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Kunio Tabata, Toshiyuki Suzuki, Atsushi Oshima, Osamu Shinkawa, Tomoki Hatano
  • Patent number: 7971948
    Abstract: A liquid jet apparatus of the invention includes a drive waveform generator that generates a drive waveform signal, a modulator that pulse-modulates the drive waveform signal so as to produce a modulated signal, a digital power amplification circuit that amplifies the power of the modulated signal so as to produce an amplified digital signal, and a low pass filter that smoothes the amplified digital signal so as to produce a drive signal. The digital power amplification circuit includes multiple stages of digital power amplifiers each including a pair of switching elements that are push-pull-connected. The amplified digital signal is a multi-value signal that reaches a larger number of steps of electric potentials than the number of digital power amplifiers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2011
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Atsushi Oshima