Patents by Inventor Hiroshi Sendo

Hiroshi Sendo 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: 10800621
    Abstract: A sheet feeding apparatus includes a sheet loader, a rear end holder, an air blower, a front end holder, a sender and an air controller. The sheet loader stores stacked sheets. The rear end holder holds a rear end of a topmost sheet on the sheet loader. The air blower blows air to the loaded sheets to raise a sheet. The front end holder holds a front end of the raised topmost sheet. The sender sends the sheet in the sheet feeding direction. The air controller controls the air blower to start blowing a raising air to raise the sheet after the rear end holder holds the rear end of a next sheet that is stacked under the topmost sheet before a rear end of the topmost sheet sent in the sheet feeding direction by the sender passes through the front end holder.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2020
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventor: Hiroshi Sendo
  • Patent number: 10507994
    Abstract: A paper feeder for transporting paper sheets, includes: a head fan that blows air on the paper sheets; a suction fan that applies negative pressure to the paper sheets blown by the head fan; a switching member that changes the direction of the air from the head fan; a head shutter that blocks the flow of the air directed by the switching member; and a hardware processor that determines the blocking time of the airflow, wherein the switching member changes the air direction between a first direction for floating the paper sheets and a second direction toward the suction fan, and the hardware processor determines stop timing of the air blow in the second direction directed by the switching member as the start timing of clocking the blocking time of the airflow, based on the weight and the resistance to an external force of the paper sheets.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2019
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventor: Hiroshi Sendo
  • Publication number: 20190218048
    Abstract: A sheet feeding apparatus includes a sheet loader, a rear end holder, an air blower, a front end holder, a sender and an air controller. The sheet loader stores stacked sheets. The rear end holder holds a rear end of a topmost sheet on the sheet loader. The air blower blows air to the loaded sheets to raise a sheet. The front end holder holds a front end of the raised topmost sheet. The sender sends the sheet in the sheet feeding direction. The air controller controls the air blower to start blowing a raising air to raise the sheet after the rear end holder holds the rear end of a next sheet that is stacked under the topmost sheet before a rear end of the topmost sheet sent in the sheet feeding direction by the sender passes through the front end holder.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 8, 2019
    Publication date: July 18, 2019
    Inventor: Hiroshi SENDO
  • Publication number: 20180118483
    Abstract: A paper feeder for transporting paper sheets, includes: a head fan that blows air on the paper sheets; a suction fan that applies negative pressure to the paper sheets blown by the head fan; a switching member that changes the direction of the air from the head fan; a head shutter that blocks the flow of the air directed by the switching member; and a hardware processor that determines the blocking time of the airflow, wherein the switching member changes the air direction between a first direction for floating the paper sheets and a second direction toward the suction fan, and the hardware processor determines stop timing of the air blow in the second direction directed by the switching member as the start timing of clocking the blocking time of the airflow, based on the weight and the resistance to an external force of the paper sheets.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 18, 2017
    Publication date: May 3, 2018
    Inventor: Hiroshi SENDO
  • Patent number: 9405263
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a feeder having a longer side direction orthogonal to a conveyance direction of a recording medium, and feeds a maximum size recording medium with a longer side first, an image forming unit having a maximum sheet feed width corresponding to a longer side length of the maximum size recording medium, and prints a toner image onto the recording medium, and a sub feeder that can feed the maximum size recording medium to the image forming unit independently from the feeder. A post processing apparatus receives a printed recording medium and executes post processing on a side of the recording medium. A feeding source of the maximum size recording medium is selected from the feeder and the sub feeder for executing the post processing on the longer and shorter sides of the maximum size recording medium, respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2016
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA BUSINESS TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Sendo, Teruo Nagashima, Osamu Okada, Hideyuki Kurahashi, Kenji Tsuru, Shigeo Nakamura
  • Patent number: 8515330
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes: an image forming section attached on an apparatus main body, having a forming and writing section that forms and writes an electrostatic latent image on an image carrier based on image information, and a transfer section which transfers a developed image after the electrostatic latent image has been developed, onto a sheet; a sheet conveyance section detachably attached on the apparatus main body, which conveys the sheet to the image forming section; a sheet detection section attached on the apparatus main body, which detects a sheet position conveyed to the image forming section by the sheet conveyance section; and a position correction section which corrects an image writing position for an image in the image forming section based on information of the detected sheet position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2013
    Assignee: Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Sendo, Yuichi Omori
  • Publication number: 20130136470
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes: an image forming section attached on an apparatus main body, having a forming and writing section that forms and writes an electrostatic latent image on an image carrier based on image information, and a transfer section which transfers a developed image after the electrostatic latent image has been developed, onto a sheet; a sheet conveyance section detachably attached on the apparatus main body, which conveys the sheet to the image forming section; a sheet detection section attached on the apparatus main body, which detects a sheet position conveyed to the image forming section by the sheet conveyance section; and a position correction section which corrects an image writing position for an image in the image forming section based on information of the detected sheet position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 23, 2013
    Publication date: May 30, 2013
    Applicant: Konica Minolta Holdings, Inc.
    Inventors: Hiroshi SENDO, Yuichi OMORI
  • Publication number: 20120321365
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a feeder having a longer side direction orthogonal to a conveyance direction of a recording medium, and feeds a maximum size recording medium with a longer side first, an image forming unit having a maximum sheet feed width corresponding to a longer side length of the maximum size recording medium, and prints a toner image onto the recording medium, and a sub feeder that can feed the maximum size recording medium to the image forming unit independently from the feeder. A post processing apparatus receives a printed recording medium and executes post processing on a side of the recording medium. A feeding source of the maximum size recording medium is selected from the feeder and the sub feeder for executing the post processing on the longer and shorter sides of the maximum size recording medium, respectively.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 14, 2012
    Publication date: December 20, 2012
    Applicant: Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Hiroshi SENDO, Teruo Nagashima, Osamu Okada, Hideyuki Kurahashi, Kenji Tsuru, Shigeo Nakamura
  • Patent number: 8219001
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes: a drum-shaped image carrier; a transfer and separation device which includes a conveyor belt for conveying a transfer material, a transfer roller for supporting the conveyor belt, and a nip regulating roller that is disposed downstream of the transfer roller in a conveyance direction of the transfer material; a transfer region changing section adapted to change a downstream end of the transfer region in a conveyance direction of the transfer material by changing a position of the nip regulating roller; and a transfer pressure changing section which changes a transfer pressure that corresponds to a pressure by the transfer roller against the image carrier, wherein the transfer pressure changing section changes the transfer pressure in correspondence with the change of the downstream end of the transfer region by the transfer region changing section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 4, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2012
    Assignee: Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Sendo, Toshiaki Tomino, Kouki Takahashi
  • Publication number: 20100239278
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes: an image forming section attached on an apparatus main body, having a forming and writing section that forms and writes an electrostatic latent image on an image carrier based on image information, and a transfer section which transfers a developed image after the electrostatic latent image has been developed, onto a sheet; a sheet conveyance section detachably attached on the apparatus main body, which conveys the sheet to the image forming section; a sheet detection section attached on the apparatus main body, which detects a sheet position conveyed to the image forming section by the sheet conveyance section; and a position correction section which corrects an image writing position for an image in the image forming section based on information of the detected sheet position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 18, 2010
    Publication date: September 23, 2010
    Applicant: KONICA MINOLTA BUSINESS TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Hiroshi SENDO, Yuichi OMORI
  • Publication number: 20090279918
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus having: a drum-shaped image carrier; a transfer and separation device which comprises: a conveyor belt for conveying a transfer material; a transfer roller for supporting the conveyor belt; and a nip regulating roller that is disposed downstream of the transfer roller in a conveyance direction of the transfer material; and a transfer region changing section adapted to change a downstream end of the transfer region in a conveyance direction of the transfer material by changing a position of the nip regulating roller; wherein the transfer region changing section sets the nip regulating roller, at a first position at which the conveyor belt is supported such that a direction of separation of the conveyor belt from the image carrier at the downstream end of the transfer region coincides with a tangential direction with respect to the image carrier, or at a second position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 4, 2009
    Publication date: November 12, 2009
    Applicant: Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Hiroshi SENDO, Toshiaki TOMINO, Kouki TAKAHASHI