Patents by Inventor Noboru Ueda

Noboru Ueda 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: 20180157186
    Abstract: An image forming method includes using yellow toner, magenta toner, cyan toner, and black toner in which each of the yellow toner, the magenta toner, the cyan toner, and the black toner includes a crystalline polyester resin having a constitutional unit derived from a linear chain aliphatic diol, an amorphous resin, a colorant, and a releasing agent. A carbon number of a linear chain aliphatic diol component forming the crystalline polyester resin contained in the black toner is 6 or more, and a carbon number of a linear chain aliphatic diol component forming the crystalline polyester resin contained in each of the yellow toner, the magenta toner, and the cyan toner is 3 or more and 5 or less.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 22, 2017
    Publication date: June 7, 2018
    Inventors: Kenshi MIYAJIMA, Noboru Ueda, Kouji Sugama, Natsuki Ito, Yohei Ohino, Hidehito Haruki, Keisuke Asano
  • Patent number: 9983491
    Abstract: A process for producing a toner of the present invention includes: a first step of heating a dispersion containing an aqueous medium and a binder resin containing a crystalline resin to a temperature higher than or equal to a melting point of the crystalline resin; and a second step of maintaining the dispersion at temperature T (° C.) for 30 minutes or longer in a state where a pH of the dispersion is maintained at 5.5 or higher and 9.0 or lower, in which the temperature T satisfies the following expression, Rc?25?T?Rc?5, where the Rc represents a recrystallization temperature (° C.) of the crystalline resin.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2018
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventors: Junya Onishi, Shiro Hirano, Noboru Ueda, Kouji Sugama, Aya Shirai
  • Publication number: 20180120719
    Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide an electrostatic image developing toner containing toner mother particles, wherein the toner mother particle is formed by being provided with a plurality of convex portions on a toner mother particle precursor; the toner mother particle precursor contains a vinyl resin, a crystalline resin, and a mold release agent; the convex portion is formed with a hybrid amorphous polyester resin which is formed with a vinyl type polymerization segment and a polyester type polymerization segment both bonded together; and the hybrid amorphous polyester resin contains constituting units of a bisphenol A-propylene oxide adduct and a bisphenol A-ethylene oxide adduct.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 18, 2017
    Publication date: May 3, 2018
    Inventors: Hidehito HARUKI, Kouji Sugama, Noboru Ueda
  • Patent number: 9933717
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a toner for electrostatic charge image development, including: a toner base particle having at least a binder resin, a releasing agent, and a colorant, wherein the following formula (1) is satisfied wherein a maximum value and a minimum value of a dielectric loss tangent tan ?, which are obtained by measuring at a frequency in the range of 1 kHz to 100 kHz under the condition at a temperature of 20° C. and a relative humidity of 50% RH, are defined as tan ?max and tan ?min, respectively. According to the present invention, a toner for electrostatic charge image development, with which the rising of the toner charge amount is improved while ensuring the low temperature fixability, and a high quality image having less density unevenness can be obtained even during the image forming at a high speed and a high printing rate, is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2018
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventors: Tatsuya Fujisaki, Noboru Ueda
  • Patent number: 9933716
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a toner for electrostatic charge image development, including toner base particles containing a binder resin containing as a main component a vinyl resin having a constitutional unit derived from a monomer having an acid group, and aluminum, wherein a concentration of the aluminum in the toner base particles, as measured by radio inductively coupled plasma emission spectral analysis, is from 900 to 2,200 ppm. According to the present invention, there is provided a means for improving the environmental stability of electrification, and the glossiness and the image density of the image to be formed in a good balance while maintaining sufficient low temperature fixability in a toner for electrostatic charge image development.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2018
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventors: Shiro Hirano, Noboru Ueda, Kouji Sugama, Junya Onishi, Aya Shirai, Tatsuya Fujisaki
  • Publication number: 20180088477
    Abstract: An electrostatic latent image developing toner includes toner particles which comprises a binder resin and a releasing agent. A main component of the binder resin is a polyester resin. The binder resin comprises a crystalline polyester resin, an amorphous polyester resin and a hybrid vinyl resin. The hybrid vinyl resin is composed of a vinyl polymer segment and at least one segment selected from a polyester polymer segment, an urethane polymer segment and an urea polymer segment which is chemically bound to the vinyl polymer segment. A main component of the hybrid vinyl resin is the vinyl polymer segment which comprises a structural unit derived from a monomer having a specific structure. A tetrahydrofuran-soluble fraction of the toner has a main peak of a molecular weight distribution measured by gel permeation chromatography within the range of 11000 to 30000.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 20, 2017
    Publication date: March 29, 2018
    Inventors: Kaori MATSUSHIMA, Noboru UEDA, Shiro HIRANO, Kouji SUGAMA
  • Publication number: 20180081288
    Abstract: A toner for electrostatic charge image development contains a binder resin and a releasing agent. The binder resin contains an amorphous polyester resin as a main component and a vinyl resin, the vinyl resin contains a constitutional unit derived from a specific monomer. The releasing agent has a melting point of from 65 to 90° C. and contains an ester wax.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 31, 2017
    Publication date: March 22, 2018
    Inventors: Kouji SUGAMA, Shiro HIRANO, Noboru UEDA, Kaori MATSUSHIMA
  • Publication number: 20170371256
    Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide an electrostatic latent image developing toner containing: a binder resin; and a releasing agent, wherein the binder resin contains a crystalline polyester resin; an endothermic peak top temperature of the electrostatic latent image developing toner is 70° C. or more measured with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) in a heating-up period of the toner; and a heat value ?Hc(L) is 15% or less with respect to a heat value ?Hc, wherein the heat value ?Hc(L) is a heat value in the range of (an exothermic peak top temperature rc?7° C.) or less; and the heat value ?Hc is a heat value of the total exothermic peak measured with DSC in a heating-down period of the toner.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 15, 2017
    Publication date: December 28, 2017
    Inventors: Aya SHIRAI, Kouji SUGAMA, Shiro HIRANO, Noboru UEDA
  • Patent number: 9846379
    Abstract: The production process of the present invention includes: a first step of heating a dispersion containing an aqueous medium and a binder resin containing a crystalline resin to a temperature higher than or equal to the melting point of the crystalline resin in a step of aggregating and fusing a fine particle of the binder resin containing the crystalline resin to produce a toner base particle; a second step of cooling the dispersion having been heated in the first step and having a temperature higher than the recrystallization temperature Rc of the crystalline resin to a temperature lower than Rc at a temperature-lowering rate of 1° C./min or higher; and a third step of maintaining the dispersion having been cooled in the second step at a temperature higher than or equal to Rc?25° C. and lower than or equal to Rc?5° C. for 30 minutes or longer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2017
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventors: Junya Onishi, Shiro Hirano, Noboru Ueda, Kouji Sugama, Aya Shirai
  • Publication number: 20170285502
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a toner for electrostatic charge image development, including: a toner base particle having at least a binder resin, a releasing agent, and a colorant, wherein the following formula (1) is satisfied wherein a maximum value and a minimum value of a dielectric loss tangent tan ?, which are obtained by measuring at a frequency in the range of 1 kHz to 100 kHz under the condition at a temperature of 20° C. and a relative humidity of 50% RH, are defined as tan ?max and tan ?min, respectively. According to the present invention, a toner for electrostatic charge image development, with which the rising of the toner charge amount is improved while ensuring the low temperature fixability, and a high quality image having less density unevenness can be obtained even during the image forming at a high speed and a high printing rate, is provided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 28, 2017
    Publication date: October 5, 2017
    Inventors: Tatsuya FUJISAKI, Noboru UEDA
  • Publication number: 20170255114
    Abstract: A process for producing a toner of the present invention includes: a first step of heating a dispersion containing an aqueous medium and a binder resin containing a crystalline resin to a temperature higher than or equal to a melting point of the crystalline resin; and a second step of maintaining the dispersion at temperature T (° C.) for 30 minutes or longer in a state where a pH of the dispersion is maintained at 5.5 or higher and 9.0 or lower, in which the temperature T satisfies the following expression, Rc?25?T?Rc?5, where the Rc represents a recrystallization temperature (° C.) of the crystalline resin.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 22, 2017
    Publication date: September 7, 2017
    Inventors: Junya ONISHI, Shiro HIRANO, Noboru UEDA, Kouji SUGAMA, Aya SHIRAI
  • Publication number: 20170242357
    Abstract: An image forming method of the present invention uses a specific toner set. The toner set includes a yellow toner, a magenta toner, a cyan toner and a black toner, and each of these toners contains an amorphous resin, a crystalline resin and a colorant. The colorant of the black toner contains a conductive black colorant. There is a specific relationship between an exothermic peak temperature of the black toner and exothermic peak temperatures of the chromatic color toners.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 21, 2016
    Publication date: August 24, 2017
    Inventors: Aya Shirai, Junya Onishi, Shiro Hirano, Kouji Sugama, Noboru Ueda
  • Publication number: 20170212436
    Abstract: The process for producing a toner according to the present invention includes: a first step of heating a dispersion containing an aqueous medium and a binder resin containing a crystalline resin to a temperature higher than or equal to the melting point of the crystalline resin; a second step of maintaining the temperature of the dispersion at temperature T1 for 30 minutes or longer; and a third step of maintaining the temperature of the dispersion at temperature T2 for 30 minutes or longer. In the following formula, Rc denotes the recrystallization temperature of the crystalline resin. Rc?10° C.?T1?Rc?5° C., Rc?25° C.?T2<Rc?10° C.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 25, 2017
    Publication date: July 27, 2017
    Inventors: Junya ONISHI, Shiro Hirano, Noboru Ueda, Kouji Sugama, Aya Shirai
  • Patent number: 9715186
    Abstract: Provided is an electrostatic image developing toner having toner mother particles containing a binder resin and a releasing agent, wherein the binder resin contains an amorphous vinyl resin and a crystalline polyester resin; the releasing agent contains a first releasing agent component containing an ester wax and a second releasing agent component containing a microcrystalline wax; a content of the first releasing agent component in the releasing agent is in the range of 40 to 98 mass %; a content of the second releasing agent component in the releasing agent is in the range of 2 to 60 mass %; and a content of the crystalline polyester resin in the binder resin is in the range of 5 to 20 mass %.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 6, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 25, 2017
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventors: Kouji Sugama, Yohei Ohno, Keisuke Asano, Noboru Ueda
  • Publication number: 20170205722
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a toner for electrostatic charge image development, including toner base particles containing a binder resin containing as a main component a vinyl resin having a constitutional unit derived from a monomer having an acid group, and aluminum, wherein a concentration of the aluminum in the toner base particles, as measured by radio inductively coupled plasma emission spectral analysis, is from 900 to 2,200 ppm. According to the present invention, there is provided a means for improving the environmental stability of electrification, and the glossiness and the image density of the image to be formed in a good balance while maintaining sufficient low temperature fixability in a toner for electrostatic charge image development.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 28, 2016
    Publication date: July 20, 2017
    Inventors: Shiro HIRANO, Noboru UEDA, Kouji SUGAMA, Junya ONISHI, Aya SHIRAI, Tatsuya FUJISAKI
  • Patent number: 9703220
    Abstract: The present invention relates to an image forming method using a yellow toner, a magenta toner, and a cyan toner, in which the yellow toner, the magenta toner, and the cyan toner respectively contain toner base particles containing a binder resin containing an amorphous polyester resin as a main component and a crystalline resin, aluminum, and a colorant, and the concentration of aluminum in the toner base particles of the yellow toner measured by high-frequency inductively coupled plasma emission spectral analysis satisfies a specific relation. According to the present invention, an image forming method and a toner set which can improve the thin paper separation property while maintaining favorable low temperature fixability are provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2017
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventors: Shiro Hirano, Noboru Ueda, Kouji Sugama, Junya Onishi, Aya Shirai, Tatsuya Fujisaki
  • Patent number: 9703218
    Abstract: A toner for developing electrostatic images contains a first resin and a second resin. The first resin is a crystalline polyester resin composed of a dicarboxylic acid unit and a dialcohol unit. The first resin has a weight average molecular weight of 5000 to 100000. The second resin has a weight average molecular weight of 5000 to 60000. The second resin is a polyester resin composed of a crystalline segment and an amorphous segment. The crystalline segment has a weight average molecular weight of 200 to 3000 and is composed of a dicarboxylic acid unit and a dialcohol unit. In the toner, a specific carbon number relationship is present between each unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2017
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventors: Tomomi Oshiba, Ken Ohmura, Kaori Matsushima, Noboru Ueda, Ito Koga, Noriyuki Kimpara
  • Publication number: 20170168407
    Abstract: The production process of the present invention includes: a first step of heating a dispersion containing an aqueous medium and a binder resin containing a crystalline resin to a temperature higher than or equal to the melting point of the crystalline resin in a step of aggregating and fusing a fine particle of the binder resin containing the crystalline resin to produce a toner base particle; a second step of cooling the dispersion having been heated in the first step and having a temperature higher than the recrystallization temperature Rc of the crystalline resin to a temperature lower than Rc at a temperature-lowering rate of 1° C./min or higher; and a third step of maintaining the dispersion having been cooled in the second step at a temperature higher than or equal to Rc?25° C. and lower than or equal to Rc?5° C. for 30 minutes or longer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 6, 2016
    Publication date: June 15, 2017
    Inventors: Junya ONISHI, Shiro HIRANO, Noboru UEDA, Kouji SUGAMA, Aya SHIRAI
  • Patent number: 9568848
    Abstract: An electrostatic image developing toner includes toner particles that contain a binder resin and a coloring agent. The binder resin includes an amorphous resin and a crystalline polyester resin. The toner satisfies Relations (1) and (2). ?H1 is the amount of heat absorption based on a melting peak of the crystalline polyester resin in a first heating step from room temperature to 150° C. ?H2 is the amount of heat absorption based on a melting peak of the crystalline polyester resin in a second heating step from 0° C. to 150° C. ?H(theo.) is a value of fusion enthalpy calculated from a mass ratio of a structural unit derived from a linear aliphatic monomer contained in the binder resin based on a group contribution method. 0.2??H1/?H(theo.)?0.5??Relation (1): 0.1??H2/?H(theo.)?0.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2017
    Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Nagasawa, Noboru Ueda, Kouji Sugama, Anju Hori, Keisuke Asano
  • Publication number: 20160370721
    Abstract: Provided is an electrostatic image developing toner comprising a toner base particle containing a binder resin and a releasing agent, wherein the binder resin comprises an amorphous vinyl resin and a crystalline polyester resin; a weight-average molecular weight of the electrostatic image developing toner is in the range of 50000 to 90000, when calculated from a chromatogram which represents a molecular weight distribution and is measured by gel permeation chromatography; a ratio of content of a resin component having a molecular weight of 100000 or more is in the range of 10 to 20% by area, in the chromatogram which represents the molecular weight distribution; the crystalline polyester resin has a melting point in the range of 65 to 85° C.; and, a ratio of content of the crystalline polyester resin in the binder resin is in the range of 5 to 20% by mass.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 1, 2016
    Publication date: December 22, 2016
    Inventors: KOUJI SUGAMA, Hiroshi NAGASAWA, Anju HORI, Noboru UEDA