Patents by Inventor Nobuaki Azami
Nobuaki Azami 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).
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Patent number: 10011133Abstract: A liquid discharge device includes a liquid discharge head that includes a nozzle from which liquid is discharged and a liquid channel communicating with the nozzle, and that discharges liquid from the nozzle. The nozzle has an inner wall surface having an uneven pattern including a recess where the inner diameter of the nozzle is increased and a projection where the inner diameter of the nozzle is smaller than that in the recess. In a case where ink is continuously discharged from an identical nozzle, at a time when a meniscus in the nozzle after previous discharge is located closer to an initial position before discharge than a center position between the initial position and a position at which the meniscus is most greatly drawn toward the liquid channel, subsequent discharge is performed.Type: GrantFiled: February 16, 2017Date of Patent: July 3, 2018Assignee: Seiko Epson CorporationInventors: Atsushi Muto, Ryosuke Tsuchihashi, Hiroshige Owaki, Nobuaki Azami
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Publication number: 20170246893Abstract: A liquid discharge device includes a liquid discharge head that includes a nozzle from which liquid is discharged and a liquid channel communicating with the nozzle, and that discharges liquid from the nozzle. The nozzle has an inner wall surface having an uneven pattern including a recess where the inner diameter of the nozzle is increased and a projection where the inner diameter of the nozzle is smaller than that in the recess. In a case where ink is continuously discharged from an identical nozzle, at a time when a meniscus in the nozzle after previous discharge is located closer to an initial position before discharge than a center position between the initial position and a position at which the meniscus is most greatly drawn toward the liquid channel, subsequent discharge is performed.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 16, 2017Publication date: August 31, 2017Inventors: Atsushi MUTO, Ryosuke TSUCHIHASHI, Hiroshige OWAKI, Nobuaki AZAMI
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Patent number: 9048792Abstract: A power amplifier includes: a modulator pulse-modulating a drive waveform signal serving as a reference of a drive signal applied to an actuator and outputting a plurality of modulated signals; a digital power amplifier having a plurality of digital power amplifier stages each including a pair of push-pull switching elements, amplifying the power of the plurality of modulated signals, and outputting multi-value amplified digital signals; and a low pass filter smoothing the amplified digital signals and outputting the drive signal, wherein the modulator includes a control section switching one of a state where the same modulated signal is connected to two or more of the digital power amplifier stages and a state where different modulated signals are connected to different digital power amplifier stages to the other.Type: GrantFiled: February 19, 2013Date of Patent: June 2, 2015Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATIONInventors: Hiroyuki Yoshino, Atsushi Oshima, Noritaka Ide, Kunio Tabata, Nobuaki Azami, Shinichi Miyazaki
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Patent number: 8693225Abstract: An electric load driving circuit for driving an electric load having a capacity component includes a plurality of power sources generating different voltages, capacitors provided parallel to the plurality of power sources, a switch control unit that switches connections between the capacitors and the electric load and thereby switching a voltage applied to the electric load, discharge paths that enable discharging electric charge stored in the capacitor, and a discharge control unit that controls a quantity of electric charge discharged from the discharge paths.Type: GrantFiled: October 26, 2009Date of Patent: April 8, 2014Assignee: Seiko Epson CorporationInventors: Hiroyuki Yoshino, Nobuaki Azami, Shinichi Miyazaki, Kunio Tabata, Atsushi Oshima, Noritaka Ide
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Patent number: 8419147Abstract: A fluid ejection device that ejects fluid from an ejection port includes: a drive element that ejects fluid in accordance with a difference between voltages applied to a first terminal and a second terminal; a drive voltage waveform storing unit that stores a drive voltage waveform applied to the drive element; a plurality of power supplies each having a different voltage; and a drive voltage waveform applying unit that applies the drive voltage waveform to the drive element by switching among the plurality of power supplies connected to the first and second terminals of the drive element.Type: GrantFiled: October 26, 2009Date of Patent: April 16, 2013Assignee: Seiko Epson CorporationInventors: Noritaka Ide, Kunio Tabata, Shinichi Miyazaki, Atsushi Oshima, Hiroyuki Yoshino, Nobuaki Azami
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Patent number: 8398194Abstract: A power amplifier includes: a modulator pulse-modulating a drive waveform signal serving as a reference of a drive signal applied to an actuator and outputting a plurality of modulated signals; a digital power amplifier having a plurality of digital power amplifier stages each including a pair of push-pull switching elements, amplifying the power of the plurality of modulated signals, and outputting multi-value amplified digital signals; and a low pass filter smoothing the amplified digital signals and outputting the drive signal, wherein the modulator includes a control section switching one of a state where the same modulated signal is connected to two or more of the digital power amplifier stages and a state where different modulated signals are connected to different digital power amplifier stages to the other.Type: GrantFiled: November 23, 2009Date of Patent: March 19, 2013Assignee: Seiko Epson CorporationInventors: Hiroyuki Yoshino, Atsushi Oshima, Noritaka Ide, Kunio Tabata, Nobuaki Azami, Shinichi Miyazaki
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Patent number: 8313170Abstract: A fluid ejection device configured to eject fluid from an ejection port includes a driving element that pressurizes the fluid and causes it to be ejected from the ejection port by being driven according to a voltage applied thereto. A driving voltage waveform selecting unit selects a driving voltage waveform to be applied to the driving element from among a plurality of types of the stored driving voltage waveforms. Power sources set the voltage to be outputted. A power source voltage determining unit determines voltages to be set to the power sources on the basis of the selected driving voltage waveform. A driving voltage waveform applying unit applies the selected driving voltage waveform to the driving element by setting the determined voltages to the power sources and connecting the power sources to the driving element while switching the same.Type: GrantFiled: October 26, 2009Date of Patent: November 20, 2012Assignee: Seiko Epson CorporationInventors: Kunio Tabata, Nobuaki Azami, Hiroyuki Yoshino, Shinichi Miyazaki, Atsushi Oshima, Noritaka Ide
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Patent number: 8172373Abstract: A fluid ejection device including, a drive element capable of storing a charge depending on a voltage applied to the drive element, a first capacitor, a second capacitor, and a power recovery module that recovers power from the drive element by connecting the first capacitor and the second capacitor to the drive element in series, wherein the power recovery module switches the first capacitor out of the in-series connection to further recover power from the drive element.Type: GrantFiled: March 16, 2010Date of Patent: May 8, 2012Assignee: Seiko Epson CorporationInventors: Atsushi Oshima, Shinichi Miyazaki, Kunio Tabata, Nobuaki Azami, Hiroyuki Yoshino, Noritaka Ide
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Patent number: 8029082Abstract: A liquid discharging apparatus includes a head that is driven in response to a driving signal to discharge liquid, a controller that drives the head by generating the driving signal, an adjustment unit that adjusts the temperature of the liquid, and a supply path that supplies the head with the liquid having the temperature adjusted by the adjustment unit. The controller alters the driving signal in accordance with a flow amount of the liquid, which flows in the supply path.Type: GrantFiled: June 26, 2008Date of Patent: October 4, 2011Assignee: Seiko Epson CorporationInventors: Nobuaki Azami, Hirokazu Nunokawa
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Patent number: 8022743Abstract: A pulse width modulation circuit includes: a reference signal generator which generates a plurality of mutually differing reference signals; a comparator which compares the reference signals and an input signal with respect to magnitude, and outputs results of the comparison as a plurality of comparison signals with mutually differing phases; and a synthesizer which, using a logical operation, outputs the plurality of comparison signals output from the comparator as a pulse width modulated signal configured of one or more binary signals.Type: GrantFiled: October 21, 2009Date of Patent: September 20, 2011Assignee: Seiko Epson CorporationInventors: Shinichi Miyazaki, Hiroyuki Yoshino, Nobuaki Azami, Atsushi Oshima, Noritaka Ide, Kunio Tabata
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Patent number: 7992978Abstract: A liquid ejecting apparatus includes a head group having a plurality of heads provided with supply ports for supplying liquid to the heads, the heads being arranged in a nozzle-array direction and ejecting the liquid therefrom to form an image; and a heating portion that heats the liquid to be supplied to the head group, the heating portion being disposed between the supply ports of the heads located at opposite ends in the nozzle-array direction.Type: GrantFiled: April 2, 2008Date of Patent: August 9, 2011Assignee: Seiko Epson CorporationInventors: Nobuaki Azami, Hirokazu Nunokawa
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Patent number: 7880539Abstract: A power amplifier includes: a modulator pulse-modulating a drive waveform signal serving as a reference of a drive signal applied to actuators and outputting a modulated signal; a digital power amplifier amplifying the power of the modulated signal and outputting an amplified digital signal; a low pass filter smoothing the amplified digital signal and outputting the drive signal; and an inverse filter circuit being disposed at a front stage of the modulator and capable of obtaining a desired waveform precision of the drive signal even when a frequency characteristic of a filter including the low pass filter and an electrostatic capacitor of the actuators varies depending on the number of driven actuators, wherein the inverse filter circuits include a plurality of inverse filters connected in series.Type: GrantFiled: November 10, 2009Date of Patent: February 1, 2011Assignee: Seiko Epson CorporationInventors: Kunio Tabata, Atsushi Oshima, Noritaka Ide, Shinichi Miyazaki, Hiroyuki Yoshino, Nobuaki Azami
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Patent number: 7866777Abstract: A liquid ejecting apparatus includes a liquid ejecting head having a pressure chamber communicating with a nozzle opening and a pressure generator capable of causing pressure fluctuation to liquid in the pressure chamber, the liquid ejecting head causing pressure fluctuation to the liquid in the pressure chamber by driving the pressure generator, and discharging the liquid from the nozzle opening due to the pressure fluctuation, and a driver that supplies a discharge pulse to the pressure generator to drive the pressure generator.Type: GrantFiled: November 5, 2007Date of Patent: January 11, 2011Assignee: Seiko Epson CorporationInventor: Nobuaki Azami
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Publication number: 20100238210Abstract: A fluid ejection device including, a drive element capable of storing a charge depending on a voltage applied to the drive element, a first capacitor, a second capacitor, and a power recovery module that recovers power from the drive element by connecting the first capacitor and the second capacitor to the drive element in series, wherein the power recovery module switches the first capacitor out of the in-series connection to further recover power from the drive element.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 16, 2010Publication date: September 23, 2010Applicant: Seiko Epson CorporationInventors: Atsushi OSHIMA, Shinichi MIYAZAKI, Kunio TABATA, Nobuaki AZAMI, Hiroyuki YOSHINO, Noritaka IDE
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Publication number: 20100127777Abstract: A power amplifier includes: a modulator pulse-modulating a drive waveform signal serving as a reference of a drive signal applied to an actuator and outputting a plurality of modulated signals; a digital power amplifier having a plurality of digital power amplifier stages each including a pair of push-pull switching elements, amplifying the power of the plurality of modulated signals, and outputting multi-value amplified digital signals; and a low pass filter smoothing the amplified digital signals and outputting the drive signal, wherein the modulator includes a control section switching one of a state where the same modulated signal is connected to two or more of the digital power amplifier stages and a state where different modulated signals are connected to different digital power amplifier stages to the other.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 23, 2009Publication date: May 27, 2010Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATIONInventors: Hiroyuki YOSHINO, Atsushi OSHIMA, Noritaka IDE, Kunio TABATA, Nobuaki AZAMI, Shinichi MIYAZAKI
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Publication number: 20100117732Abstract: A power amplifier includes: a modulator pulse-modulating a drive waveform signal serving as a reference of a drive signal applied to actuators and outputting a modulated signal; a digital power amplifier amplifying the power of the modulated signal and outputting an amplified digital signal; a low pass filter smoothing the amplified digital signal and outputting the drive signal; and an inverse filter circuit being disposed at a front stage of the modulator and capable of obtaining a desired waveform precision of the drive signal even when a frequency characteristic of a filter including the low pass filter and an electrostatic capacitor of the actuators varies depending on the number of driven actuators, wherein the inverse filter circuits include a plurality of inverse filters connected in series.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 10, 2009Publication date: May 13, 2010Applicant: Seiko Epson CorporationInventors: Kunio TABATA, Atsushi OSHIMA, Noritaka IDE, Shinichi MIYAZAKI, Hiroyuki YOSHINO, Nobuaki AZAMI
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Publication number: 20100102882Abstract: An electric load driving circuit for driving an electric load having a capacity component includes a plurality of power sources generating different voltages, capacitors provided parallel to the plurality of power sources, a switch control unit that switches connections between the capacitors and the electric load and thereby switching a voltage applied to the electric load, discharge paths that enable discharging electric charge stored in the capacitor, and a discharge control unit that controls a quantity of electric charge discharged from the discharge paths.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 26, 2009Publication date: April 29, 2010Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATIONInventors: Hiroyuki YOSHINO, Nobuaki AZAMI, Shinichi MIYAZAKI, Kunio TABATA, Atsushi OSHIMA, Noritaka IDE
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Publication number: 20100103212Abstract: A fluid ejection device configured to eject fluid from an ejection port includes a driving element that pressurizes the fluid and causes it to be ejected from the ejection port by being driven according to a voltage applied thereto. A driving voltage waveform selecting unit selects a driving voltage waveform to be applied to the driving element from among a plurality of types of the stored driving voltage waveforms. Power sources set the voltage to be outputted. A power source voltage determining unit determines voltages to be set to the power sources on the basis of the selected driving voltage waveform. A driving voltage waveform applying unit applies the selected driving voltage waveform to the driving element by setting the determined voltages to the power sources and connecting the power sources to the driving element while switching the same.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 26, 2009Publication date: April 29, 2010Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATIONInventors: Kunio TABATA, Nobuaki AZAMI, Hiroyuki YOSHINO, Shinichi MIYAZAKI, Atsushi OSHIMA, Noritaka IDE
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Publication number: 20100103213Abstract: A fluid ejection device that ejects fluid from an ejection port includes: a drive element that ejects fluid in accordance with a difference between voltages applied to a first terminal and a second terminal; a drive voltage waveform storing unit that stores a drive voltage waveform applied to the drive element; a plurality of power supplies each having a different voltage; and a drive voltage waveform applying unit that applies the drive voltage waveform to the drive element by switching among the plurality of power supplies connected to the first and second terminals of the drive element.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 26, 2009Publication date: April 29, 2010Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATIONInventors: Noritaka IDE, Kunio TABATA, Shinichi MIYAZAKI, Atsushi OSHIMA, Hiroyuki YOSHINO, Nobuaki AZAMI
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Publication number: 20100097114Abstract: A pulse width modulation circuit includes: a reference signal generator which generates a plurality of mutually differing reference signals; a comparator which compares the reference signals and an input signal with respect to magnitude, and outputs results of the comparison as a plurality of comparison signals with mutually differing phases; and a synthesizer which, using a logical operation, outputs the plurality of comparison signals output from the comparator as a pulse width modulated signal configured of one or more binary signals.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 21, 2009Publication date: April 22, 2010Applicant: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATIONInventors: Shinichi MIYAZAKI, Hiroyuki YOSHINO, Nobuaki AZAMI, Atsushi OSHIMA, Noritaka IDE, Kunio TABATA