Patents by Inventor Kiichiroh Gotoh

Kiichiroh Gotoh 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: 8523165
    Abstract: A recording media sheet processing system includes a folding device including a folding unit to fold a sheet and a squeezing unit to squeeze the folded sheet, an insertion device to insert in an envelope an enclosure, and a controller. The folding device. The controller includes an envelope selector, a selector for selecting whether to fold the sheet and a folding style of the sheet, a first storage unit for storing a folding-related equivalent quantity into which a quantity of each sheet is converted corresponding to the folding style and the number of times the sheet is squeezed, a second storage unit for storing a maximum quantity of sheets insertable, a calculator to calculate a total converted quantity of the enclosure, a determination unit to determine whether the selected envelope type accommodates the enclosure, and a squeezing setter to set the number of times of squeezing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2013
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Akira Kunieda, Kiichiroh Gotoh, Junichi Iida, Takeshi Sasaki, Masahiro Tamura, Satoshi Saito, Ikuhisa Okamoto, Junichi Tokita, Shingo Matsushita, Takahiro Watanabe
  • Patent number: 8474807
    Abstract: A conveying device that conveys a sheet bundle with a flattened back-face portion includes a first conveying unit, a driving unit, and a second conveying unit. The first conveying unit retracts to a position where no driving force is exerted on the sheet bundle before a leading end of the sheet bundle formed in a flat spine shape enters, and abuts on the sheet bundle to exert conveying force after the leading end of the sheet bundle passes a conveying position. The driving unit moves the first conveying unit to retract to the position and to abut on the sheet bundle. The second conveying unit is positioned on an upstream side of the first conveying unit in a sheet bundle conveying direction and conveys the sheet bundle towards the first conveying unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2013
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Limited
    Inventors: Shinji Asami, Nobuyoshi Suzuki, Naohiro Kikkawa, Kazuhiro Kobayashi, Tomohiro Furuhashi, Kiichiroh Gotoh
  • Patent number: 8469201
    Abstract: An image forming system includes an SSP unit (sorting guide portion and envelope chuck portion) that functions as an enclosing unit or an enclosing device to enclose, in envelopes, paper on which an image is formed by a copy machine functioning as an image forming device, a weight measuring device that includes a load cell to measure the weight of the paper-enclosed envelopes, and a sorting device that sorts the paper-enclosed envelopes, on the basis of weight data of each of the paper-enclosed envelopes of which the weight is measured by the weight measuring device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2013
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Limited
    Inventors: Takeshi Sasaki, Kiichiroh Gotoh, Junichi Iida, Masahiro Tamura, Satoshi Saito, Ikuhisa Okamoto, Junichi Tokita, Shingo Matsushita, Takahiro Watanabe, Akira Kunieda
  • Publication number: 20120269601
    Abstract: A conveying device that conveys a sheet bundle with a flattened back-face portion includes a first conveying unit, a driving unit, and a second conveying unit. The first conveying unit retracts to a position where no driving force is exerted on the sheet bundle before a leading end of the sheet bundle formed in a flat spine shape enters, and abuts on the sheet bundle to exert conveying force after the leading end of the sheet bundle passes a conveying position. The driving unit moves the first conveying unit to retract to the position and to abut on the sheet bundle. The second conveying unit is positioned on an upstream side of the first conveying unit in a sheet bundle conveying direction and conveys the sheet bundle towards the first conveying unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 27, 2012
    Publication date: October 25, 2012
    Inventors: Shinji Asami, Nobuyoshi Suzuki, Naohiro Kikkawa, Kazuhiro Kobayashi, Tomohiro Furuhashi, Kiichiroh Gotoh
  • Patent number: 8282091
    Abstract: A spine formation device includes a sheet conveyer, a clamping unit disposed downstream from the sheet conveyer in a sheet conveyance direction, for squeezing a folded portion of a bundle of folded sheets, a contact member against which the folded portion of the bundle is pressed, disposed downstream from the clamping unit, and a controller to cause the bundle of folded sheets to bulge by stopping the sheet conveyer after the bundle of folded sheets is transported a predetermined conveyance distance from a contact position between the contact member and the folded portion of the bundle and to cause the clamping unit to squeeze a bulging portion of the bundle created between the sheet conveyer and the contact member with the folded portion pressed against the contact member. The predetermined distance is set in accordance with a predetermined sheet-related variable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 9, 2012
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Tomohiro Furuhashi, Shinji Asami, Nobuyoshi Suzuki, Naohiro Kikkawa, Kazuhiro Kobayashi, Kiichiroh Gotoh
  • Patent number: 8256758
    Abstract: A bookbinding system that includes: a center folding unit configured to perform center folding on an integrated sheet bundle; an additionally folding unit configured to additionally perform folding of a folded portion of the center-folded sheet bundle; a back surface forming unit configured to form a back surface on the sheet bundle by pressing a front end of the folded portion of the center-folded sheet bundle and both surfaces of the sheet bundle; and a control unit configured to change the content of additionally folding according to whether to perform the back surface forming or not.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2012
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Limited
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Kobayashi, Nobuyoshi Suzuki, Shinji Asami, Naohiro Kikkawa, Tomohiro Furuhashi, Kiichiroh Gotoh
  • Patent number: 8220791
    Abstract: An spine formation device includes a sheet conveyer that conveys the bundle of folded sheets with a folded portion of the bundle of folded sheets forming a front end portion of the bundle of folded sheets, a spine formation unit disposed downstream from the sheet conveyer in a sheet conveyance direction for forming the spine of the bundle of folded sheets by squeezing the folded portion of the bundle from a folded leading side, a front side, and a back side of the bundle, a discharge unit to discharge the bundle of folded sheets outside the spine formation device, disposed downstream form the spine formation unit in the sheet conveyance direction, and a controller to cause the spine formation unit to operate in one of multiple selectable control modes for controlling the spine formation unit in accordance with at least one of multiple predetermined sheet-related variables.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2012
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Nobuyoshi Suzuki, Shinji Asami, Naohiro Kikkawa, Kazuhiro Kobayashi, Tomohiro Furuhashi, Kiichiroh Gotoh
  • Patent number: 8109495
    Abstract: An spine formation device includes a sheet conveyer, a contact member including a first row of grooves provided in a contact surface thereof to house a projection projecting from a folded portion of a bundle of folded sheets, a driving unit to move the contact member, first and second sandwiching units to squeeze the bundle, a discharge unit, and a controller. The first row of grooves extends in parallel to the folded portion of the bundle and includes at least a first pair of grooves inclined in different directions with an interval therebetween varying in size with location of the grooves in a first direction perpendicular to a sheet conveyance direction. The contact member is moved to change the size of interval between the first pair of grooves at a position aligned with the projection projecting from the folded portion of the bundle of folded sheets.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2012
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Limited
    Inventors: Naohiro Kikkawa, Nobuyoshi Suzuki, Shinji Asami, Kazuhiro Kobayashi, Tomohiro Furuhashi, Kiichiroh Gotoh
  • Publication number: 20110277418
    Abstract: A recording media sheet processing system includes a folding device including a folding unit to fold a sheet and a squeezing unit to squeeze the folded sheet, an insertion device to insert in an envelope an enclosure, and a controller. The folding device. The controller includes an envelope selector, a selector for selecting whether to fold the sheet and a folding style of the sheet, a first storage unit for storing a folding-related equivalent quantity into which a quantity of each sheet is converted corresponding to the folding style and the number of times the sheet is squeezed, a second storage unit for storing a maximum quantity of sheets insertable, a calculator to calculate a total converted quantity of the enclosure, a determination unit to determine whether the selected envelope type accommodates the enclosure, and a squeezing setter to set the number of times of squeezing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 25, 2011
    Publication date: November 17, 2011
    Applicant: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Akira Kunieda, Kiichiroh Gotoh, Junichi Iida, Takeshi Sasaki, Masahiro Tamura, Satoshi Saito, Ikuhisa Okamoto, Junichi Tokita, Shingo Matsushita, Takahiro Watanabe
  • Publication number: 20110220557
    Abstract: An image forming system includes an SSP unit (sorting guide portion and envelope chuck portion) that functions as an enclosing unit or an enclosing device to enclose, in envelopes, paper on which an image is formed by a copy machine functioning as an image forming device, a weight measuring device that includes a load cell to measure the weight of the paper-enclosed envelopes, and a sorting device that sorts the paper-enclosed envelopes, on the basis of weight data of each of the paper-enclosed envelopes of which the weight is measured by the weight measuring device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 8, 2011
    Publication date: September 15, 2011
    Applicant: Ricoh Company, Limited
    Inventors: Takeshi Sasaki, Kiichiroh Gotoh, Junichi Iida, Masahiro Tamura, Satoshi Saito, Ikuhisa Okamoto, Junichi Tokita, Shingo Matsushita, Takahiro Watanabe, Akira Kunieda
  • Publication number: 20110184889
    Abstract: An image forming system includes: an image forming unit that forms an image on a sheet including a mail; a size recognizing unit that recognizes a size of the mail on which the image is formed by the image forming unit; and a postage calculating unit that calculates the postage of the mail, on the basis of a signal output from the size recognizing unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 18, 2011
    Publication date: July 28, 2011
    Applicant: Ricoh Company, Limited
    Inventors: Junichi Tokita, Kiichiroh Gotoh, Junichi Iida, Takeshi Sasaki, Masahiro Tamura, Satoshi Saito, Ikuhisa Okamoto, Shingo Matsushita, Takahiro Watanabe, Akira Kunieda
  • Publication number: 20110103919
    Abstract: A spine formation device includes a sheet conveyer, a clamping unit disposed downstream from the sheet conveyer in a sheet conveyance direction, for squeezing a folded portion of a bundle of folded sheets, a contact member against which the folded portion of the bundle is pressed, disposed downstream from the clamping unit, and a controller to cause the bundle of folded sheets to bulge by stopping the sheet conveyer after the bundle of folded sheets is transported a predetermined conveyance distance from a contact position between the contact member and the folded portion of the bundle and to cause the clamping unit to squeeze a bulging portion of the bundle created between the sheet conveyer and the contact member with the folded portion pressed against the contact member. The predetermined distance is set in accordance with a predetermined sheet-related variable.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 19, 2010
    Publication date: May 5, 2011
    Inventors: Tomohiro Furuhashi, Shinji Asami, Nobuyoshi Suzuki, Naohiro Kikkawa, Kazuhiro Kobayashi, Kiichiroh Gotoh
  • Publication number: 20110103921
    Abstract: An spine formation device includes a sheet conveyer that conveys the bundle of folded sheets with a folded portion of the bundle of folded sheets forming a front end portion of the bundle of folded sheets, a spine formation unit disposed downstream from the sheet conveyer in a sheet conveyance direction for forming the spine of the bundle of folded sheets by squeezing the folded portion of the bundle from a folded leading side, a front side, and a back side of the bundle, a discharge unit to discharge the bundle of folded sheets outside the spine formation device, disposed downstream form the spine formation unit in the sheet conveyance direction, and a controller to cause the spine formation unit to operate in one of multiple selectable control modes for controlling the spine formation unit in accordance with at least one of multiple predetermined sheet-related variables.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 7, 2010
    Publication date: May 5, 2011
    Applicant: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Nobuyoshi Suzuki, Shinji Asami, Naohiro Kikkawa, Kazuhiro Kobayashi, Tomohiro Furuhashi, Kiichiroh Gotoh
  • Publication number: 20110103863
    Abstract: A conveying device that conveys a sheet bundle with a flattened back-face portion includes a first conveying unit, a driving unit, and a second conveying unit. The first conveying unit retracts to a position where no driving force is exerted on the sheet bundle before a leading end of the sheet bundle formed in a flat spine shape enters, and abuts on the sheet bundle to exert conveying force after the leading end of the sheet bundle passes a conveying position. The driving unit moves the first conveying unit to retract to the position and to abut on the sheet bundle. The second conveying unit is positioned on an upstream side of the first conveying unit in a sheet bundle conveying direction and conveys the sheet bundle towards the first conveying unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 13, 2010
    Publication date: May 5, 2011
    Inventors: Shinji Asami, Nobuyoshi Suzuki, Naohiro Kikkawa, Kazuhiro Kobayashi, Tomohiro Furuhashi, Kiichiroh Gotoh
  • Publication number: 20110091259
    Abstract: A bookbinding system that includes: a center folding unit configured to perform center folding on an integrated sheet bundle; an additionally folding unit configured to additionally perform folding of a folded portion of the center-folded sheet bundle; a back surface forming unit configured to form a back surface on the sheet bundle by pressing a front end of the folded portion of the center-folded sheet bundle and both surfaces of the sheet bundle; and a control unit configured to change the content of additionally folding according to whether to perform the back surface forming or not.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 6, 2010
    Publication date: April 21, 2011
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Kobayashi, Nobuyoshi Suzuki, Shinji Asami, Naohiro Kikkawa, Tomohiro Furuhashi, Kiichiroh Gotoh
  • Publication number: 20110064541
    Abstract: An spine formation device includes a sheet conveyer, a contact member including a first row of grooves provided in a contact surface thereof to house a projection projecting from a folded portion of a bundle of folded sheets, a driving unit to move the contact member, first and second sandwiching units to squeeze the bundle, a discharge unit, and a controller. The first row of grooves extends in parallel to the folded portion of the bundle and includes at least a first pair of grooves inclined in different directions with an interval therebetween varying in size with location of the grooves in a first direction perpendicular to a sheet conveyance direction. The contact member is moved to change the size of interval between the first pair of grooves at a position aligned with the projection projecting from the folded portion of the bundle of folded sheets.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 17, 2010
    Publication date: March 17, 2011
    Inventors: Naohiro Kikkawa, Nobuyoshi Suzuki, Shinji Asami, Kazuhiro Kobayashi, Tomohiro Furuhashi, Kiichiroh Gotoh