Patents by Inventor Kouichi Serizawa

Kouichi Serizawa 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).

  • Publication number: 20220016882
    Abstract: A printing apparatus prints by discharging ink to a transfer member from a first printhead, discharging a transfer accelerator to the ink from a second printhead, and transferring an image formed on the transfer member to a print medium. When inspecting a discharge state of each of plural nozzles provided in each of the first and second printheads, the apparatus controls the second printhead so as to discharge the transfer accelerator from at least one nozzle of the second printhead to a discharge area of the transfer member to which the ink is discharged by the first printhead for inspection of the discharge states of the plural nozzles of the first printhead, while inspecting a discharge state of a nozzle different from the at least one nozzle of the second printhead by discharging the transfer accelerator from the nozzle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 1, 2021
    Publication date: January 20, 2022
    Inventors: Masahiko Umezawa, Kouichi Serizawa, Satoshi Kitai, Yoshiaki Murayama, Takeshi Murase
  • Patent number: 11155078
    Abstract: A printing apparatus prints by discharging ink to a transfer member from a first printhead, discharging a transfer accelerator to the ink from a second printhead, and transferring an image formed on the transfer member to a print medium. When inspecting a discharge state of each of plural nozzles provided in each of the first and second printheads, the apparatus controls the second printhead so as to discharge the transfer accelerator from at least one nozzle of the second printhead to a discharge area of the transfer member to which the ink is discharged by the first printhead for inspection of the discharge states of the plural nozzles of the first printhead, while inspecting a discharge state of a nozzle different from the at least one nozzle of the second printhead by discharging the transfer accelerator from the nozzle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2021
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masahiko Umezawa, Kouichi Serizawa, Satoshi Kitai, Yoshiaki Murayama, Takeshi Murase
  • Patent number: 10596812
    Abstract: According to an embodiment of the present invention, to improve processing performance, a printing apparatus that performs printing by using a printhead formed by a plurality of headchips includes one CPU, a table configured to store processing contents set by the CPU, and a plurality of processing units configured to process, in parallel, printing data to be used in each headchip by commonly using the table and in accordance with the processing contents set in the table. In addition, the apparatus includes a plurality of control units configured to wait for the completion of the processing of each processing unit, synchronize the plurality of processing units for next processing, and cause each of the processing units to execute the next processing in accordance with the processing contents set in the table.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 24, 2020
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Satoshi Kitai, Masahiko Umezawa, Kouichi Serizawa, Kazuya Koizumi
  • Patent number: 10576737
    Abstract: A recording apparatus includes a recording head having a plurality of recording elements configured to generate energy for discharging ink, a first heating element configured to heat ink in the vicinity of one of said recording elements positioned at a first position, insufficiently to discharge ink, and a second heating element positioned at a second position different from the first position, which are arranged on a same substrate, a heating control unit configured to control the heating operation of the ink by driving the first and the second heating elements by applying voltage to the first and the second heating elements, and a recording control unit configured to control the recording operation by driving the plurality of recording elements, wherein the heating control unit is configured to control the heating operation to drive the first heating element and the second heating element at timings different from each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2020
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kouichi Serizawa, Satoshi Kitai, Masahiko Umezawa, Atsushi Takahashi
  • Publication number: 20200047492
    Abstract: A printing apparatus prints by discharging ink to a transfer member from a first printhead, discharging a transfer accelerator to the ink from a second printhead, and transferring an image formed on the transfer member to a print medium. When inspecting a discharge state of each of plural nozzles provided in each of the first and second printheads, the apparatus controls the second printhead so as to discharge the transfer accelerator from at least one nozzle of the second printhead to a discharge area of the transfer member to which the ink is discharged by the first printhead for inspection of the discharge states of the plural nozzles of the first printhead, while inspecting a discharge state of a nozzle different from the at least one nozzle of the second printhead by discharging the transfer accelerator from the nozzle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 7, 2019
    Publication date: February 13, 2020
    Inventors: Masahiko Umezawa, Kouichi Serizawa, Satoshi Kitai, Yoshiaki Murayama, Takeshi Murase
  • Patent number: 10507646
    Abstract: Priority order is updated so that an ejection port that is selected as an ejection port subjected to ejection failure determination in a pixel row in which a previous ejection operation is to be performed has the lowest priority order, which is used for selecting an ejection port subjected to ejection failure determination, in a pixel row in which a subsequent ejection operation is to be performed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2019
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Satoshi Kitai, Kouichi Serizawa, Masahiko Umezawa, Atsushi Takahashi, Shinsuke Ikegami, Takeshi Murase, Masashi Hayashi, Yuki Sawai
  • Patent number: 10500840
    Abstract: A printing apparatus includes a control unit that, when continuously printing on a plurality of cut sheets of a same size, controls a print unit to cause a transfer member to continue movement, controls the print unit and a supply unit so as to stop supply of a cut sheet by the supply unit based on information concerning a time taken to process image data representing an image of a print target by an image processing unit, and controls the print unit not to form an ink image in a partial area on the transfer member that passes through a transfer area at a timing when the supply of the cut sheet to the transfer area is stopped, and to form the ink image in a remaining area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2019
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masahiko Umezawa, Satoshi Kitai, Kouichi Serizawa, Atsushi Takahashi
  • Publication number: 20180345664
    Abstract: According to an embodiment of the present invention, to improve processing performance, a printing apparatus that performs printing by using a printhead formed by a plurality of headchips includes one CPU, a table configured to store processing contents set by the CPU, and a plurality of processing units configured to process, in parallel, printing data to be used in each headchip by commonly using the table and in accordance with the processing contents set in the table. In addition, the apparatus includes a plurality of control units configured to wait for the completion of the processing of each processing unit, synchronize the plurality of processing units for next processing, and cause each of the processing units to execute the next processing in accordance with the processing contents set in the table.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 29, 2018
    Publication date: December 6, 2018
    Inventors: Satoshi Kitai, Masahiko Umezawa, Kouichi Serizawa, Kazuya Koizumi
  • Publication number: 20180281382
    Abstract: There is provided a printing apparatus having a transfer member that moves to cyclically pass through a formation area of an ink image and a transfer area where the ink image is transferred to a cut sheet, and a supply that supplies the cut sheet to the transfer member continuously. The printing apparatus controls, when continuously printing on a plurality of cut sheets of the same size, stops the supply of the cut sheet based on a time taken to process image data representing an image of a print target, does not form the ink image in a partial area on the transfer member that passes through the transfer area at a timing when the supply of the cut sheet is stopped, and forms the ink image in a remaining area, while continuing the movement of the transfer member.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 20, 2018
    Publication date: October 4, 2018
    Inventors: Masahiko Umezawa, Satoshi Kitai, Kouichi Serizawa, Atsushi Takahashi
  • Publication number: 20180281399
    Abstract: A recording apparatus includes a recording head having a plurality of recording elements configured to generate energy for discharging ink, a first heating element configured to heat ink in the vicinity of one of said recording elements positioned at a first position, insufficiently to discharge ink, and a second heating element positioned at a second position different from the first position, which are arranged on a same substrate, a heating control unit configured to control the heating operation of the ink by driving the first and the second heating elements by applying voltage to the first and the second heating elements, and a recording control unit configured to control the recording operation by driving the plurality of recording elements, wherein the heating control unit is configured to control the heating operation to drive the first heating element and the second heating element at timings different from each other.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 28, 2018
    Publication date: October 4, 2018
    Inventors: Kouichi Serizawa, Satoshi Kitai, Masahiko Umezawa, Atsushi Takahashi
  • Publication number: 20180086048
    Abstract: Priority order is updated so that an ejection port that is selected as an ejection port subjected to ejection failure determination in a pixel row in which a previous ejection operation is to be performed has the lowest priority order, which is used for selecting an ejection port subjected to ejection failure determination, in a pixel row in which a subsequent ejection operation is to be performed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 19, 2017
    Publication date: March 29, 2018
    Inventors: Satoshi Kitai, Kouichi Serizawa, Masahiko Umezawa, Atsushi Takahashi, Shinsuke Ikegami, Takeshi Murase, Masashi Hayashi, Yuki Sawai
  • Patent number: 9358812
    Abstract: A printing apparatus for performing printing on a recording medium includes a printing unit configured to perform printing a plurality of images sequentially on a recording medium, a detection unit configured to detect an unsuitable area that is not suitable for printing on the recording medium, and a control unit configured to control, when the detection unit detects the unsuitable area, so as to define an unprintable region, including the unsuitable area, where the image is not to be printed on the recording medium based on a length of the unsuitable area in a direction of conveyance of the recording medium, and to continue printing the images while avoiding the set unprintable region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2016
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Kouichi Serizawa
  • Patent number: 8430486
    Abstract: Small and large flat electrodes and between which alternating current voltage is applied are touch on respective outer side surfaces of an ink bag of each of main ink tanks to so as to face each other. Surface area (B) of the large electrode is set equal to a surface area of the largest outer side surface of the main ink tank, for example, so as to be much different from surface area (A) of the small electrode. The surface area (A) of the small electrode is set to about one tenth of the surface area (B).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kouichi Serizawa, Masahiro Sakamoto
  • Patent number: 8382227
    Abstract: A printing apparatus for performing printing on a recording medium includes a printing unit configured to perform printing a plurality of images sequentially on a recording medium, a detection unit configured to detect an unsuitable area that is not suitable for printing on the recording medium, and a control unit configured to control, when the detection unit detects the unsuitable area, so as to define an unprintable region, including the unsuitable area, where the image is not to be printed on the recording medium based on a length of the unsuitable area in a direction of conveyance of the recording medium, and to continue printing the images while avoiding the set unprintable region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2013
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Kouichi Serizawa
  • Publication number: 20110310151
    Abstract: A printing apparatus for performing printing on a recording medium includes a printing unit configured to perform printing a plurality of images sequentially on a recording medium, a detection unit configured to detect an unsuitable area that is not suitable for printing on the recording medium, and a control unit configured to control, when the detection unit detects the unsuitable area, so as to define an unprintable region, including the unsuitable area, where the image is not to be printed on the recording medium based on a length of the unsuitable area in a direction of conveyance of the recording medium, and to continue printing the images while avoiding the set unprintable region.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 30, 2010
    Publication date: December 22, 2011
    Applicant: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Kouichi Serizawa
  • Publication number: 20110025790
    Abstract: Small and large flat electrodes and between which alternating current voltage is applied are touch on respective outer side surfaces of an ink bag of each of main ink tanks to so as to face each other. Surface area (B) of the large electrode is set equal to a surface area of the largest outer side surface of the main ink tank, for example, so as to be much different from surface area (A) of the small electrode. The surface area (A) of the small electrode is set to about one tenth of the surface area (B).
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 21, 2010
    Publication date: February 3, 2011
    Applicant: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kouichi Serizawa, Masahiro Sakamoto