Patents by Inventor Hirohiko Okabe

Hirohiko Okabe 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: 9759603
    Abstract: This is to provide a photometric apparatus improved in measurement precision by improving the state of light incident to a sensor, which photometric apparatus 1 comprises a photometric sensor 30 into which light which is an object to be measured is incident, a signal processing means for processing a sensor output by the photometric sensor, and optical systems 50, 100, 92, 93 and 150 which introduces external light into the photometric sensor, wherein a columnar fiber rod 100 in which a center axis is provided along a direction perpendicular to a light receiving surface of the photometric sensor is provided at a part of the optical system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2017
    Assignee: SEKONIC CORPORATION
    Inventors: Tomohide Kanzawa, Hiroshi Harada, Yasushi Fukazawa, Eigo Yoshikawa, Hirohiko Okabe
  • Publication number: 20160231174
    Abstract: Disclosed is a photometric apparatus improved in measurement precision by improving the state of light incident to a sensor. The photometric apparatus 1 includes a photometric sensor 30 into which light which is an object to be measured is incident, a signal processing element for processing a sensor output by the photometric sensor, and optical systems 50, 100, 92, 93 and 150 which introduces external light into the photometric sensor, wherein a columnar fiber rod 100 in which a center axis is provided along a direction perpendicular to a light receiving surface of the photometric sensor is provided at a part of the optical system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 2, 2015
    Publication date: August 11, 2016
    Inventors: Tomohide KANZAWA, Hiroshi HARADA, Yasushi FUKAZAWA, Eigo YOSHIKAWA, Hirohiko OKABE
  • Patent number: 7000912
    Abstract: A sheet finisher includes a conveyance member which conveys a sheet to an ejection direction, a sheet ejection section having paired rollers for ejecting the conveyed sheet by nipping the sheet by the paired rollers, and a control section for controlling the conveyance member and the sheet ejection section to separate the paired rollers from each other when conveying the sheet. After a front end portion of the sheet in the ejection direction passes a nipping position of the paired rollers, the control section makes the paired rollers press-contact with each other, nip and reconvey the sheet, and eject the sheet out of the finisher. The control section further controls the conveyance member and the sheet ejection section to temporarily release the press-contact of the paired rollers during reconveyance of the sheet to remove a sag from the sheet to then make the paired rollers press-contact with each other again, and to eject the sheet out of the finisher by nipping the sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2006
    Assignee: Konica Corporation
    Inventors: Hitoshi Tamura, Hiroto Ito, Nobutaka Kato, Hirohiko Okabe
  • Publication number: 20050023742
    Abstract: A sheet finisher having a sheet placing member for placing and adjusting a predetermined number of sheets to which a predetermined processing is carried out thereon; a stapling member for stapling the predetermined number of adjusted sheets; and an air-blowing member arranged above the sheet placing member. The air-blowing member is operated to press each of the sheets against the sheet placing member by blowing air and adjust when each of the sheets to which the predetermined processing is carried out is placed on the sheet placing member, and stapling is performed to the sheets by the stapling member.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 26, 2004
    Publication date: February 3, 2005
    Applicant: KONICA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hitoshi Tamura, Hiroto Ito, Nobutaka Kato, Hirohiko Okabe
  • Patent number: 6746390
    Abstract: A sheet finishing method in which a sheet delivered from an image forming apparatus main body is conveyed and stacked on a sheet placement table, and the stacked sheets are positioned and aligned, and then folded by a folding means composed of a paired folding rollers and a folding plate. The sheet finishing method is controlled such that a rotation motion of the paired folding rollers is switched between a state to be rotated along with an advancing motion of the folding plate and a state to be stopped in accordance with the number of sheets stacked on the sheet placement table.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 8, 2004
    Assignee: Konica Corporation
    Inventors: Hitoshi Tamura, Kohji Yoshie, Hiroto Ito, Masato Hattori, Hirohiko Okabe, Hirotaka Kataoka
  • Publication number: 20030155699
    Abstract: A sheet finisher having a sheet placing member for placing and adjusting a predetermined number of sheets to which a predetermined processing is carried out thereon; a stapling member for stapling the predetermined number of adjusted sheets; and an air-blowing member arranged above the sheet placing member. The air-blowing member is operated to press each of the sheets against the sheet placing member by blowing air and adjust when each of the sheets to which the predetermined processing is carried out is placed on the sheet placing member, and stapling is performed to the sheets by the stapling member.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 11, 2003
    Publication date: August 21, 2003
    Applicant: Konica Corporation
    Inventors: Hitoshi Tamura, Hisao Hosoya, Hiroto Ito, Kazuyoshi Omi, Nobutaka Kato, Yuji Kanazawa, Hirohiko Okabe
  • Patent number: 6575447
    Abstract: A sheet cutter for finishing a booklet by cutting, with a cutter, edges of a bundle of sheets folded double, wherein it is possible to load booklets on a booklet stand of a booklet storing section that stores a plurality of booklets which have been subjected to cutting processing, by overlapping sheet faces, with a folded portion of each booklet facing upward.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2001
    Date of Patent: June 10, 2003
    Assignee: Konica Corporation
    Inventors: Kohji Yoshie, Masato Hattori, Shinji Yashiro, Hirohiko Okabe, Hirotaka Kataoka, Makoto Tamura, Tadahiro Takahashi
  • Publication number: 20030040414
    Abstract: A sheet finishing method in which a sheet delivered from an image forming apparatus main body is conveyed and stacked on a sheet placement table, and the stacked sheets are positioned and aligned, and then folded by a folding means composed of a paired folding rollers and a folding plate. The sheet finishing method is controlled such that a rotation motion of the paired folding rollers is switched between a state to be rotated along with an advancing motion of the folding plate and a state to be stopped in accordance with the number of sheets stacked on the sheet placement table.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 12, 2002
    Publication date: February 27, 2003
    Inventors: Hitoshi Tamura, Kohji Yoshie, Hiroto Ito, Masato Hattori, Hirohiko Okabe, Hirotaka Kataoka
  • Patent number: 6375181
    Abstract: A finisher includes: a conveyor for conveying sheets; an intermediate stacker on which conveyed sheets are stacked; a stapler for stapling a stacked package of sheets; a sheet delivery device for delivering the stapled package of sheets; an up-and-down sheet exit tray on which the delivered package of sheets is stacked and which can move up and down; a driving device for driving the up-and-down sheet exit tray; an upper limit detector for detecting an upper limit position of a surface of the stapled package of sheets which is stacked on the up-and-down sheet exit tray; and a controller for controlling the driving device, wherein when a mode to staple a package of sheets which is not larger than a predetermined size and not larger than a predetermined number of sheets, is set, the controller temporarily withdraws the up-and-down sheet exit tray from the upper limit to a lower position before the stapled package of sheets has been delivered onto the up-and-down sheet exit tray; and when the sheet delivery devic
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2002
    Assignee: Konica Corporation
    Inventors: Minoru Kawano, Tsuyoshi Tsuchiya, Masaru Ohtsuka, Toshitaka Matsumoto, Hirohiko Okabe
  • Patent number: 6375180
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a sheet finisher, which receives sheets from an image forming apparatus, such as an electro-photographic copying machine, a printer, a facsimile, etc., to align and bind the sheets. There is described a sheet finisher which includes a conveyance roller pair to convey the sheets, an intermediate stacker to stack the sheets, an aligning device to align the sheets stacked on the intermediate stacker, a binder to bind the sheets stacked and aligned on the intermediate stacker, an ejector to convey and eject the sheets bound by the binder, a driver to drive the aligning device, a controller to control the driver and an overlapped sheets conveying device to grip and convey two sheets. In the sheet finisher, the controller controls the driver in a manner such that the aligning device aligns an initial one sheet stacked on the intermediate stacker under a first aligning condition, while the aligning device aligns two overlapped sheets under a second aligning condition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2002
    Assignee: Konica Corporation
    Inventors: Minoru Kawano, Tsuyoshi Tsuchiya, Masaru Ohtsuka, Toshitaka Matsumoto, Hirohiko Okabe, Tadahiro Takahashi
  • Publication number: 20010019191
    Abstract: A sheet cutter for finishing a booklet by cutting, with a cutter, edges of a bundle of sheets folded double, wherein it is possible to load booklets on a booklet stand of a booklet storing section that stores a plurality of booklets which have been subjected to cutting processing, by overlapping sheet faces, with a folded portion of each booklet facing upward.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 27, 2001
    Publication date: September 6, 2001
    Inventors: Kohji Yoshie, Masato Hattori, Shinji Yashiro, Hirohiko Okabe, Hirotaka Kataoka, Makoto Tamura, Tadahiro Takahashi
  • Patent number: 6213458
    Abstract: A sheet feeding apparatus for picking up, aligning, and feeding single sheets from a stack of a plurality of such sheets. The apparatus includes a driving means for the pick up, separator, and sheet feeder having a driving motor with a coupling in the drive path which is capable of providing a delay period between forward and backward rotations of the motor. There is a torque regulator between the coupling and a reverse roller which interrupts the driving force for a predetermined time. The apparatus also includes a control which stops the registration rollers while the single sheet collides with the circumferential surfaces thereof for alignment and, upon reversal of the driving motor, the sheet is fed while the reverse roller first stops for the predetermined time and then rotates in a direction opposite to the direction of feeding. Thus, the single sheets are aligned and double feeding is prevented.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 1998
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2001
    Assignee: Konica Corporation
    Inventors: Hitoshi Tamura, Hirohiko Okabe, Minoru Kawano, Katsunori Takahashi
  • Patent number: 5765824
    Abstract: In a sheet finisher for use with an image forming apparatus, for receiving and aligning sheets discharged from the image forming apparatus, for then stapling the sheets together and for ejecting the stapled sheets to an exit tray, the sheet finisher includes: an intermediate stacker for receiving, aligning and stapling sheets discharged from the image forming apparatus; a conveyor for superimposing a first sheet and a second sheet in a sheet conveyance path upstream of the intermediate stacker, and then for conveying the superimposed sheets to the intermediate stacker to form a succeeding set of sheets to be stapled which follows a preceding set of sheets to be stapled in the intermediate stacker; a driver for driving the conveyor; and a controller for controlling the driver with respect to an operation timing of the driver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 1997
    Date of Patent: June 16, 1998
    Assignee: Konica Corporation
    Inventors: Minoru Kawano, Masanobu Kawano, Hirohiko Okabe, Hirotaka Kataoka, Toshitaka Matsumoto
  • Patent number: 5741009
    Abstract: An apparatus for sorting sheets on a tray in which a stacking position of sheets is changed for each set number of sheets to one of different stacking positions on the tray, includes a movable pressing member coming in contact with a discharging roller on its low position so that a discharging speed of the sheet is reduced, a movable lower guide plate so that the lower guide plate is positioned lower than a upper portion of the discharging roller on its low position; a sensor to detect a passage of a sheet; and a driving device to move the lower guide plate and the pressing member in response to a signal from the sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 1995
    Date of Patent: April 21, 1998
    Assignee: Konica Corporation
    Inventors: Minoru Kawano, Masaaki Sekiguchi, Shigemi Yukizane, Hirotaka Kataoka, Hirohiko Okabe, Yoshiyuki Kikuiri
  • Patent number: 5622359
    Abstract: A sheet finishing apparatus for finishing sheets ejected from an image forming apparatus, which has a sheet conveyor, a stacker, a sheet stopper at a lower end of the stacker, a movable alignment plate on at least one side edge position of the sheets. The apparatus further includes a driver for driving the movable alignment plate, a stapler.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 1995
    Date of Patent: April 22, 1997
    Assignee: Konica Corporation
    Inventors: Minoru Kawano, Hirohiko Okabe, Kimitaka Yanai
  • Patent number: 5590871
    Abstract: A recording sheet finisher in use with an image forming apparatus such as a copier. The recording sheet finisher includes a stacker for stacking recording sheets, an aligning member for aligning the bundle of the recording sheets on the stacker, a counter for counting a number of the recording sheets bundled on the stacker, and a controller for controlling the aligning member so that the aligning member aligns the bundle of recording sheets after a first predetermined time period after the last one of the recording sheets is conveyed onto the other ones when the number of recording sheets bundled on the stacker is 25 or more, and aligns the bundle after a second predetermined time period when the number is not less than 25.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 1995
    Date of Patent: January 7, 1997
    Assignee: Konica Corporation
    Inventors: Hirohiko Okabe, Masaaki Sekiguchi, Shigemi Yukizane, Toshitaka Matsumoto, Minoru Kawano