Patents by Inventor Kozo Tao

Kozo Tao 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: 11288024
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus (1) includes an image forming section (6), a plurality of recording paper trays (7a to 7n), storage (5), and a paper feed stage selecting section (12). The image forming section (6) performs advanced printing based on a paper profile. The paper feed stage selecting section (12) selects a recording paper tray (7) from the recording paper trays (7a to 7n) from which recording paper is to be fed to the image forming section (6) based on a printing instruction. When a specific paper profile is not associated with the selected recording paper tray (7), the paper feed stage selecting section (12) notifies the image forming section (6) of a manual setting and causes the image forming section (6) to perform simple printing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventors: Kozo Tao, Daiki Sone
  • Publication number: 20220027099
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus (1) includes an image forming section (6), a plurality of recording paper trays (7a to 7n), storage (5), and a paper feed stage selecting section (12). The image forming section (6) performs advanced printing based on a paper profile. The paper feed stage selecting section (12) selects a recording paper tray (7) from the recording paper trays (7a to 7n) from which recording paper is to be fed to the image forming section (6) based on a printing instruction. When a specific paper profile is not associated with the selected recording paper tray (7), the paper feed stage selecting section (12) notifies the image forming section (6) of a manual setting and causes the image forming section (6) to perform simple printing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 12, 2019
    Publication date: January 27, 2022
    Applicant: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventors: Kozo TAO, Daiki SONE
  • Patent number: 11175619
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a medium storing part storing mediums, a sheet feeding part feeding the medium from the medium storing part, an image forming part forming an image to the medium, a residual quantity detecting part, a storage part, and a residual medium estimating part. The residual quantity detecting part detects a residual quantity of the mediums stored in the medium storing part as a relative residual quantity with regard to a maximum storing quantity of the mediums in the medium storing part. The storage part stores maximum storing number of the mediums corresponding to the maximum storing quantity of the medium storing part. The residual medium estimating part calculates number of estimated residuals of the mediums stored in the medium storing part on the basis of the relative residual quantity detected by the residual quantity detecting part and the maximum storing number stored in the storage part.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 16, 2021
    Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventor: Kozo Tao
  • Publication number: 20200225609
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a medium storing part storing mediums, a sheet feeding part feeding the medium from the medium storing part, an image forming part forming an image to the medium, a residual quantity detecting part, a storage part, and a residual medium estimating part. The residual quantity detecting part detects a residual quantity of the mediums stored in the medium storing part as a relative residual quantity with regard to a maximum storing quantity of the mediums in the medium storing part. The storage part stores maximum storing number of the mediums corresponding to the maximum storing quantity of the medium storing part. The residual medium estimating part calculates number of estimated residuals of the mediums stored in the medium storing part on the basis of the relative residual quantity detected by the residual quantity detecting part and the maximum storing number stored in the storage part.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 10, 2020
    Publication date: July 16, 2020
    Applicant: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventor: Kozo TAO
  • Patent number: 10567620
    Abstract: An inkjet recording apparatus includes a recording head, a reading device, and a controller. The recording head ejects ink to form a sample image on a sheet. The reading device reads the sample image to generate read image data. The controller determines a start timing of reading processing by which the reading device reads the sample image. The controller causes the reading device to start the reading processing at the start timing. The controller determines a drive condition of the recording head based on the read image data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2020
    Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventor: Kozo Tao
  • Publication number: 20190084299
    Abstract: An inkjet recording apparatus includes a recording head, a reading device, and a controller. The recording head ejects ink to form a sample image on a sheet. The reading device reads the sample image to generate read image data. The controller determines a start timing of reading processing by which the reading device reads the sample image. The controller causes the reading device to start the reading processing at the start timing. The controller determines a drive condition of the recording head based on the read image data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 10, 2018
    Publication date: March 21, 2019
    Applicant: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventor: Kozo TAO
  • Patent number: 10104246
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a storage portion, a communication portion, a mechanism control portion, and a main control portion. The storage portion stores various kinds of information as to the image forming apparatus. The communication portion exchanges data and instructions with another image forming apparatus. The mechanism control portion controls operation of a mechanical system in the image forming apparatus. The main control portion performs a job related to a function of the image forming apparatus by controlling operation of constituent elements including the mechanism control portion in the image forming apparatus, and transmits an instruction to make the other image forming apparatus perform the job via the communication portion if, on detecting an error, the main control portion determines that only the main control portion has been rebooted based on a specific error of the image forming apparatus that is same as the error previously in the job.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2018
    Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventor: Kozo Tao
  • Patent number: 10013645
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus has a storage portion, a mechanism control portion, and a main control portion. The storage portion stores information as to the apparatus. The mechanism control portion controls the operation of a mechanical system in the apparatus. The main control portion performs a job related to a function of the apparatus by controlling the operation of individual constituent elements of the apparatus, and on detecting an error that prevents continuation of the operation of the mechanical system included in the job being performed, feeds the mechanism control portion with an instruction to interrupt the control of the operation of the mechanical system, stores in the storage portion uncompleted data of the job corresponding to the operation of the mechanism control portion left uncompleted as a result of the interruption, reboots itself, and restarts the job by using the uncompleted data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 3, 2018
    Assignee: KYOCERA DOCUMENT SOLUTIONS INC.
    Inventor: Kozo Tao
  • Publication number: 20170339289
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a storage portion, a communication portion, a mechanism control portion, and a main control portion. The storage portion stores various kinds of information as to the image forming apparatus. The communication portion exchanges data and instructions with another image forming apparatus. The mechanism control portion controls operation of a mechanical system in the image forming apparatus. The main control portion performs a job related to a function of the image forming apparatus by controlling operation of constituent elements including the mechanism control portion in the image forming apparatus, and transmits an instruction to make the other image forming apparatus perform the job via the communication portion if, on detecting an error, the main control portion determines that only the main control portion has been rebooted based on a specific error of the image forming apparatus that is same as the error previously in the job.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 15, 2017
    Publication date: November 23, 2017
    Applicant: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventor: Kozo TAO
  • Publication number: 20170337455
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus has a storage portion, a mechanism control portion, and a main control portion. The storage portion stores information as to the apparatus. The mechanism control portion controls the operation of a mechanical system in the apparatus. The main control portion performs a job related to a function of the apparatus by controlling the operation of individual constituent elements of the apparatus, and on detecting an error that prevents continuation of the operation of the mechanical system included in the job being performed, feeds the mechanism control portion with an instruction to interrupt the control of the operation of the mechanical system, stores in the storage portion uncompleted data of the job corresponding to the operation of the mechanism control portion left uncompleted as a result of the interruption, reboots itself, and restarts the job by using the uncompleted data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 12, 2017
    Publication date: November 23, 2017
    Applicant: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventor: Kozo TAO
  • Publication number: 20170168437
    Abstract: This image forming apparatus includes: a plurality of sheet accommodating portions each including a sheet placement portion on which a sheet is placed; a lifting/lowering portion configured to lift and lower the sheet placement portion; an image forming portion configured to form an image on the sheet supplied from each sheet accommodating portion; and an engine control portion configured to control the image forming portion on the basis of inputted print data. The engine control portion causes the lifting/lowering portion to lift the sheet placement portion to a predetermined sheet feed possible position in response to reception of the type of the sheet, and after the image formation by the image forming portion is finished, the engine control portion causes the lifting/lowering portion to lower the sheet placement portion to a predetermined original position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 8, 2016
    Publication date: June 15, 2017
    Inventor: Kozo Tao
  • Patent number: 9509866
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a processing circuit, a memory, a data reception circuit, a bus, and a transmission amount control circuit. The processing circuit concurrently executes a plurality of jobs including a fax job and a print job. The memory is used for a work area of the processing circuit. The data reception circuit stores the image data received via the communication network in the memory. The bus connects a plurality of modules including the processing circuit and the data reception circuit to the memory. The transmission amount control circuit reduces an amount of data transmission from the data reception circuit to the memory via the bus when the processing circuit executes the print job concurrently with the fax job, compared with a case where the print job is executed concurrently with any job other than the fax job.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2016
    Assignee: Kyocera Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventor: Kozo Tao
  • Publication number: 20160295052
    Abstract: In an image processing device and an image processing system according to the present invention, a storage unit holds image processing jobs received by a job receiving unit. An authority information acquiring unit acquires authority information indicating authority that a user specified by a user specifying unit has with respect to the image processing job in the storage unit. Based on the authority information acquired by the authority information acquiring unit, a processable job extracting unit extracts an image processing job for which the user specified by the user specifying unit has authority to delete or execute from among the image processing jobs in the storage unit. A display unit displays the image processing job extracted by the processable job extraction unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 17, 2014
    Publication date: October 6, 2016
    Applicant: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventor: Kozo Tao
  • Patent number: 9417583
    Abstract: In absence of a paper feed source matching paper information specified in settings that are input by a user for a job to be executed, permission information associated with the user may not permit use of a manual feed tray as a substitute paper feed source. Upon completion of the job executed in response to selection of a forced execution key, a forced execution determination section determines whether or not an execution number exceeds a predetermined threshold. The execution number indicates how many times a job has been executed in response to selection of the forced execution key. When the execution number exceeds the threshold, a permission information updating section updates the permission information associated with the user so as to permit use of the manual feed tray as the substitute paper feed source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2016
    Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventor: Kozo Tao
  • Publication number: 20160062291
    Abstract: In absence of a paper feed source matching paper information specified in settings that are input by a user for a job to be executed, permission information associated with the user may not permit use of a manual feed tray as a substitute paper feed source. Upon completion of the job executed in response to selection of a forced execution key, a forced execution determination section determines whether or not an execution number exceeds a predetermined threshold. The execution number indicates how many times a job has been executed in response to selection of the forced execution key. When the execution number exceeds the threshold, a permission information updating section updates the permission information associated with the user so as to permit use of the manual feed tray as the substitute paper feed source.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 27, 2015
    Publication date: March 3, 2016
    Applicant: KYOCERA DOCUMENT SOLUTIONS INC.
    Inventor: Kozo TAO
  • Publication number: 20150370510
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a processing circuit, a memory, a data reception circuit, a bus, and a transmission amount control circuit. The processing circuit concurrently executes a plurality of jobs including a fax job and a print job. The memory is used for a work area of the processing circuit. The data reception circuit stores the image data received via the communication network in the memory. The bus connects a plurality of modules including the processing circuit and the data reception circuit to the memory. The transmission amount control circuit reduces an amount of data transmission from the data reception circuit to the memory via the bus when the processing circuit executes the print job concurrently with the fax job, compared with a case where the print job is executed concurrently with any job other than the fax job.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 20, 2015
    Publication date: December 24, 2015
    Inventor: Kozo Tao
  • Patent number: 9025201
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus includes bus, adding portion, image processing portion, and output processing portion. In the case where document sheet data as a processing target is monochrome image data, the adding portion outputs, to the bus, color image data obtained by adding, to the monochrome image data, dummy image data pieces for a plurality of colors each corresponding to a predetermined processing unit amount which corresponds to a part of the monochrome image data. The image processing portion performs image processing per data amount equal to or smaller than the processing unit amount and outputs the resultant data to the bus. The output processing portion outputs image data pieces for a plurality of colors included in the color image data processed by the image processing and acquired from the bus, in accordance with synchronization signals inputted for the respective image data pieces for the plurality of colors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2015
    Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventor: Kozo Tao
  • Patent number: 8917410
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus has: pluralities of sheet storage units; a printing unit; a sheet driving unit that feeds a sheet of paper from the sheet storage units to the printing unit; a group setting maintaining unit that forms a group of the sheet storage units; a residual sheet amount detecting unit that detects sheet empty on any of the sheet storage units in the group; a sheet storage switching control unit that controls the sheet driving unit to select another one of the sheet storage units in the same group for feeding a sheet, if the residual sheet amount detecting unit detects the sheet empty; and a sheet empty warning unit that warns a user of the sheet empty detected by the residual sheet amount detecting unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 23, 2014
    Assignee: Kyocera Document Solutions, Inc.
    Inventors: Toru Nakayama, Yoshiteru Nishikawa, Kozo Tao, Hiromi Yamagami, Norifumi Miyahara, Ryuichi Ishizu, Shinichi Hashimoto, Naoki Takeuchi
  • Patent number: 8848204
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes: a manual feed detecting unit that detects if a recording medium is set in a manual medium feeding unit; a print data receiving unit that receives print data; a medium orientation setting unit that receives an instruction for an orientation of the recording medium to be fed from the manual medium feeding unit, and sets the orientation; a printing control unit that controls the printing device to print an image based on the print data and executes a manual feed forcing operation if the manual feed detecting unit has detected the recording medium; and an image generating unit that generates the image based on the print data and determines an orientation of the image based on the orientation of the recording medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 30, 2014
    Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventor: Kozo Tao
  • Patent number: 8705087
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes an image data conversion unit configured to convert print data into bitmap data, a sheet feeding unit configured to store and feed a sheet on which printing is to be performed, a detecting unit configured to detect an orientation of the sheet in the sheet feeding unit, a print unit configured to print the bitmap data onto the sheet fed from the sheet feeding unit, a determination unit configured to determine whether or not a data orientation in which pieces of pixel data of the bitmap data are arranged matches the sheet orientation detected by the detecting unit, and an image rotating unit configured to rotate the bitmap data when the determination unit determines that the data orientation does not match the sheet orientation, whereby the data orientation matches with the sheet orientation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2014
    Assignee: Kyocera Document Solutions Inc.
    Inventor: Kozo Tao