Patents by Inventor Masaaki Konno

Masaaki Konno 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: 8197051
    Abstract: Disclosed are an ink jet recording ink set which is suppressed in bleeding and shot droplet interference and can form a high quality image and an ink jet image recording method. The ink jet recording ink set has plural liquids including at least a first liquid and a second liquid. The second liquid contains a polymerizable compound and the first liquid contains a high-boiling point organic solvent and the high-boiling organic solvent meets any one of the following requirements (A) to (C) and an ink jet image recording method includes supplying a first and a second liquid simultaneously or sequentially to a recording medium such that both liquids are in contact with each other, to form an image: (A) it has a viscosity of 100 mPa·s or less at 25° C. and a viscosity of 30 mPa·s or less at 60° C. and has a boiling point of 100° C.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2006
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2012
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventors: Toshiyuki Makuta, Masaaki Konno, Tetsuzo Kadomatsu
  • Patent number: 8128187
    Abstract: A recording head includes plural nozzle groups and a second nozzle. Each of the nozzle groups includes plural nozzles that respectively form dots, which make up an image, on a recording medium by discharging droplets. The nozzles are arranged in a straight line that is inclined with respect to a main scan direction at a predetermined angle. The plural nozzle groups are arranged in a sub scan direction such that intervals in the sub scan direction between nozzles adjacent in the sub scan direction are substantially identical and positions in the sub scan direction of nozzles belonging to the respective nozzle groups are substantially aligned. The second nozzle is disposed at a substantially central portion in the main scan direction between adjacent nozzles of nozzle groups adjacent in the sub scan direction so as not to overlap with any other nozzle in the main scan direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2012
    Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation
    Inventor: Masaaki Konno
  • Patent number: 8061830
    Abstract: The invention provides an ink-jet recording ink set including at least one first liquid A for at least forming an image and at least one second liquid B having a different composition from the composition of the first liquid A, wherein the first liquid A contains at least a polymer having a heterocyclic residue for forming a colorant, and a pigment, as well as an ink-jet recording method using the ink set.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2011
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventors: Toshiyuki Makuta, Masaaki Konno, Yutaka Maeno, Tsutomu Umebayasi, Shigetomo Tsujihata, Tetsuzo Kadomatsu
  • Patent number: 8033662
    Abstract: The image forming apparatus has: a head which has a liquid ejection surface and performs liquid ejection in which liquid is ejected from the liquid ejection surface; an intermediate transfer body moving in a movement direction with respect to the head and having an image forming surface opposing the liquid ejection surface of the head and a rear surface which is reverse to the image forming surface and on which a line pattern constituted by pattern elements is formed, the image forming surface having an image forming region in which an image is formed by the liquid ejected from the liquid ejection surface of the head, the pattern elements being arranged equidistantly in the movement direction; a transfer device which transfers the image formed in the image forming region of the intermediate transfer body to a recording medium; a reading device which is provided on an upstream side of the head in terms of the movement direction of the intermediate transfer body and reads light reflected by the line pattern; an
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2011
    Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation
    Inventor: Masaaki Konno
  • Patent number: 8025388
    Abstract: The image forming apparatus includes: an intermediate transfer body; a liquid adhesion device which provides a first liquid having a viscosity not less than 15 mPa·s and not greater than 300 mPa·s at 25° C, on the intermediate transfer body; a droplet ejection device which ejects a second liquid containing a coloring material onto a region of the intermediate transfer body where the first liquid is provided by the liquid adhesion device, in a state where the first liquid on the intermediate transfer body has a thickness not less than 1.6 ?m; a viscosity raising device which raises a viscosity of the second liquid on the intermediate transfer body; and a transfer device which transfers an image including dots of the second liquid formed on the intermediate transfer body, onto a recording medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2011
    Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation
    Inventors: Tetsuzo Kadomatsu, Yutaka Maeno, Toshiyuki Makuta, Tsutomu Umebayashi, Masaaki Konno
  • Patent number: 8011776
    Abstract: The present invention provides an inkjet-recording ink set including multiple kinds of liquid including at least first and second liquids, wherein the first liquid contains a metal compound dissolved therein, and at least one of the multiple kinds of liquid contains a polymerizable compound. The invention also provides an inkjet-recording ink including at least a high-boiling-point organic solvent and a metal compound. The multiple kinds of liquid contain substantially no water and no low-boiling-point organic solvent.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2011
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventors: Toshiyuki Makuta, Shigetomo Tsujihata, Masaaki Konno, Tetsuzo Kadomatsu
  • Patent number: 7914108
    Abstract: The image forming apparatus comprises: a treatment liquid deposition device which deposits treatment liquid onto a recording medium, the treatment liquid containing a polymerization initiator and particles introducing electrorheological properties; an electric field application device which applies an electric field to the treatment liquid having been deposited on the recording medium; an ink ejection device which ejects ink toward the recording medium on which the treatment liquid has been deposited, the ink containing a coloring material and a radiation-curable polymerizable compound; and a radiation irradiation device which irradiates radiation to cure the ink having been deposited on the recording medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 23, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2011
    Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation
    Inventors: Masaaki Konno, Tetsuzo Kadomatsu, Toshiyuki Makuta
  • Patent number: 7866807
    Abstract: An ink set for ink jet recording, an ink for ink jet recording and an ink jet recording method capable of suppressing bleeding and the interference between discharged droplets to form high-quality images can be achieved by an ink set for ink jet recording, having plurality of liquids containing at least a first liquid and a second liquid, wherein the first liquid has an oil-soluble polymer dissolved therein, and at least one of a plurality of the liquids contains a polymerizable compound, as well as by an ink jet image recording method which uses the ink set and applying the first and second liquids simultaneously onto a recording medium, or first applying one of the liquids and then the other onto a recording medium such that the two liquids contact each other to form an image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2006
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2011
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventors: Toshiyuki Makuta, Shigetomo Tsujihata, Masaaki Konno, Tetsuzo Kadomatsu
  • Patent number: 7862163
    Abstract: The image forming method for forming a desired image on a recording medium, includes the steps of: applying a first liquid on the recording medium, the first liquid containing no coloring material and having a dynamic surface tension at a surface age of 0.1 seconds measured at 25° C. of ?1(0.1 s); and then depositing droplets of a second liquid on a region of the recording medium where the first liquid has a form of a liquid film, the second liquid containing coloring material and having a dynamic surface tension at a surface age of 0.1 seconds measured at 25° C. of ?2(0.1 s) that is greater than ?1(0.1 s).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 4, 2011
    Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation
    Inventors: Yutaka Maeno, Masaaki Konno, Toshiyuki Makuta, Tsutomu Umebayashi, Tetsuzo Kadomatsu
  • Patent number: 7845786
    Abstract: The image forming apparatus comprises: an ink ejection device which ejects ink through nozzles, the ink containing coloring material; a treatment liquid ejection device which ejects treatment liquid through nozzles, the treatment liquid being a colorless transparent liquid containing infrared-absorbing material and having at least one of an action of insolubilizing the coloring material, an action of aggregating the coloring material, and an action of preventing dispersion of the coloring material; an infrared irradiating device which irradiates infrared light onto the treatment liquid having been ejected from the treatment liquid ejection device; and a treatment liquid determination device which includes a photoelectric transducer having sensitivity to the infrared light.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2010
    Assignee: FujiFilm Corporation
    Inventor: Masaaki Konno
  • Patent number: 7717551
    Abstract: The image forming method includes the steps of: depositing a first liquid containing at least a dispersion inhibitor, a polymerization initiator, and a high-boiling-point organic solvent, onto an image forming region of a recording medium where an image is to be formed according to image data, and onto a peripheral region of the image forming region; ejecting a second liquid containing at least a radiation-curable polymer compound and a coloring material, onto the recording medium according to the image data after the first liquid is deposited onto the image forming region and the peripheral region of the image forming region; ejecting a third liquid containing at least a radiation-curable polymer compound, onto at least the peripheral region of the image forming region after the first liquid is deposited onto the image forming region and the peripheral region of the image forming region, the third liquid having a transparent color, the same color as the recording medium, or a similar color to the recording m
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2006
    Date of Patent: May 18, 2010
    Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation
    Inventors: Tetsuzo Kadomatsu, Masaaki Konno, Toshiyuki Makuta
  • Patent number: 7712887
    Abstract: The image forming apparatus includes: a first liquid ejection device which, while scanning to and fro in a direction substantially orthogonal to a conveyance direction of a recording medium, ejects a first liquid containing a coloring material onto the recording medium; second liquid ejection devices which are disposed respectively on both regions in a scanning direction outside the first liquid ejection device, the second liquid ejection devices ejecting a second liquid onto at least an area of the recording medium on which the first liquid is to be deposited prior to the first liquid being deposited while the second liquid ejection devices perform a scan together with the first liquid ejection device; and first radiation irradiating devices which are disposed respectively on both regions in the scanning direction outside the first liquid ejection device, the first radiation irradiating devices irradiating an area of the recording medium on which the first liquid and the second liquid have been deposited wit
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2006
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2010
    Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation
    Inventors: Tetsuzo Kadomatsu, Masaaki Konno, Toshiyuki Makuta
  • Patent number: 7651212
    Abstract: The image forming apparatus comprises: an ink ejection device which ejects a droplet of radiation-curable ink onto a recording medium; a solvent separating device which separates a coloring material component and a solvent component in the droplet of the radiation-curable ink on the recording medium; a solvent removing device which removes the solvent component separated by the solvent separating device; and a curing device which irradiates radiation onto the droplet of the radiation-curable ink after the solvent component is removed by the solvent removing device, in such a manner that the droplet of the radiation-curable ink is cured.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2006
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2010
    Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation
    Inventors: Tetsuzo Kadomatsu, Masaaki Konno
  • Patent number: 7651213
    Abstract: The image forming apparatus attaches a plurality of liquids onto a recording medium so as to form a desired image, the image forming apparatus including: a first liquid attaching device that attaches onto the recording medium a first liquid which contains a high-boiling organic solvent, a polymerization initiator, and a diffusion preventing agent for preventing diffusion and smearing of a second liquid to be attached onto the recording medium after the first liquid is attached onto the recording medium; a second liquid attaching device that attaches the second liquid which contains a radiation-curable polymerizable compound, onto at least an area of the recording medium onto which the first liquid has been attached; a third liquid attaching device that attaches a third liquid which contains a polymerization initiator and a radiation-curable polymerizable compound, onto at least an area of the recording medium onto which the first liquid and the second liquid have been attached; and a first radiation irradiati
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2006
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2010
    Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation
    Inventors: Masaaki Konno, Toshiyuki Makuta, Tetsuzo Kadomatsu
  • Patent number: 7645036
    Abstract: An ink-jet recording ink set, containing at least one recording liquid containing a colorant and a polymerizable compound and an ink spread suppressing liquid containing at least one surfactant and substantially no colorant, wherein all of the following conditions (A), (B) and (C) are satisfied, and an ink-jet recording method using the same: (A) the surface tension of the ink spread suppressing liquid is smaller than that of at least one recording liquid contained in the ink-jet recording ink set; (B) at least one of the surfactants contained in the ink spread suppressing liquid satisfies the following relationship: ?s(0)??s(saturated)>1 mN/m; and (C) the surface tension of the ink spread suppressing liquid satisfies the following relationship: ?s<(?s(0)+?s(saturated)max)/2.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2010
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventors: Tsutomu Umebayashi, Toshiyuki Makuta, Yutaka Maeno, Masaaki Konno, Tetsuzo Kadomatsu
  • Patent number: 7637605
    Abstract: An ink jet recording method for recording an image on a recording medium using a first liquid A containing a polymerizable or crosslinkable material, and a second liquid B having a different composition from the composition of the first liquid A, the method including: applying the second liquid B, in which a compound having a difference of an inorganicity/organicity ratio estimated from a structure of compound (I/O value) of 3 or less from the polymerizable or crosslinkable material is contained in a range of 50% by mass or more, onto the same area at which the image is to be formed by the first liquid A or a wider area than the area at which the image is to be formed by the first liquid A, of the recording medium which is impermeable or slowly-permeable; jetting the first liquid A onto the recording medium where the second liquid B has been applied so that at least a droplet a1 and a droplet a2 of the first liquid A have an overlap portion; and providing activation energy within 60 seconds of impact of each
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2009
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventors: Toshiyuki Makuta, Masaaki Konno, Tetsuzo Kadomatsu
  • Patent number: 7628481
    Abstract: The image forming method includes: a treatment liquid deposition step of depositing, on a recording medium, a treatment liquid which reacts with a water-based emulsion-type ink having a water-based ink solvent, a pigment-based coloring material and at least one constituent material of a radiation-curable monomer, a radiation-curable oligomer, and a mixture material of the radiation-curable monomer and the radiation-curable oligomer; an ink ejection step of ejecting the water-based emulsion-type ink by means of an inkjet head toward the recording medium on which the treatment liquid has been deposited in the treatment liquid deposition step; a radiation irradiation step, in a state where the water-based emulsion-type ink has reacted with the treatment liquid on the recording medium after the ink ejection step and an aggregate of the pigment-based coloring material and the at least one constituent material is separated in phase from a liquid component including the water-based ink solvent, of irradiating radiat
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2006
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2009
    Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation
    Inventors: Tetsuzo Kadomatsu, Masaaki Konno
  • Publication number: 20090289973
    Abstract: The present invention provides an inkjet-recording ink set including multiple kinds of liquid including at least first and second liquids, wherein the first liquid contains a metal compound dissolved therein, and at least one of the multiple kinds of liquid contains a polymerizable compound. The invention also provides an inkjet-recording ink including at least a high-boiling-point organic solvent and a metal compound.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 31, 2006
    Publication date: November 26, 2009
    Applicant: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventors: Toshiyuki Makuta, Shigetomo Tsujihata, Masaaki Konno, Tetsuzo Kadomatsu
  • Patent number: 7621629
    Abstract: An ink jet recording method for recording an image on a recording medium using a first liquid A for forming the image containing a polymerizable or crosslinkable material, and a second liquid B having a different composition from the composition of the first liquid A, the method including: applying the second liquid B, having a solubility parameter value of 35 or less and a difference of the solubility parameter value of 10 or less from the solubility parameter value of the first liquid A, onto the same area at which the image is to be formed by the first liquid A or a wider area than the area at which the image is to be formed by the first liquid A, of the recording medium which is impermeable or slowly-permeable; and jetting the first liquid A onto the recording medium where the second liquid B has been applied so that at least a droplet a1 and a droplet a2 of the first liquid A have an overlap portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2006
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2009
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventors: Toshiyuki Makuta, Masaaki Konno, Tetsuzo Kadomatsu
  • Patent number: RE43556
    Abstract: The image forming apparatus includes a first ink-jet recording head which forms a first layer having first undulations in accordance with an image to be recorded, a second ink-jet recording head which performs image recording of the image to be recorded and a third ink-jet recording head which forms a second layer having second undulations that are also in accordance with the image to be recorded but larger than such that the first undulations of the first layer that is to be formed by the first ink-jet recording head are large and the second undulations are fine or smaller in comparison therewith.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2012
    Assignee: Fujifilm Corporation
    Inventor: Masaaki Konno