Patents by Inventor Shinichi Agata
Shinichi Agata 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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Publication number: 20230341806Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a rotatable image bearing member, a charging member, a developing member, a cleaning member, an accommodating portion, and a controller capable of executing an image forming operation and a supplying operation for supplying a metal soap, accommodated in the accommodating portion, onto a surface of the image bearing member by the developing member. The controller carries out control so that when the supplying operation is executed, a surface moving speed of the image bearing member is higher than a surface moving speed of the image bearing member when the image forming operation is executed.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 18, 2023Publication date: October 26, 2023Inventors: SHINICHI AGATA, HISASHI TANIGUCHI, KEITARO NAKATA, TAKUTO KOBAYASHI
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Publication number: 20230091090Abstract: An image forming apparatus comprising: an image bearing member, a developing member that forms a toner image with a toner including a metal soap having a polarity opposite to that of the toner, a supply member that supplies the toner to the developing member, and a control unit that executes a metal soap supply operation of supplying the metal soap from the developing member to the image bearing member when an operation other than the image forming operation is executed, wherein the metal soap supply operation includes a first mode and a second mode, and a potential difference between the supply member and the developing member, which causes an electrostatic force in the direction from the supply member to the developing member to act on the metal soap, is smaller in the metal soap supply operation in the second mode than in the first mode.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 8, 2022Publication date: March 23, 2023Inventors: Hisashi Taniguchi, Bunro Noguchi, Shinichi Agata, Kodai Hayashi, Keitaro Nakata
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Publication number: 20230010866Abstract: An image forming apparatus comprising an image bearing member, a developer bearing member, a drive unit for driving the image bearing member and the developer bearing member in varied peripheral speeds, a control unit, a developing voltage application unit, a supply member for supplying a developer to the developer bearing member, and, a supply member voltage application unit, wherein the control unit executes a first image forming mode in which a rotational peripheral speed ratio between surface movement speeds of the developer bearing member and the image bearing member is not more than 1 and a second image forming mode in which the rotational peripheral speed ratio is larger than 1, and, the control unit controls the drive unit so that a difference between developing voltage and supply voltage becomes larger in the second image forming mode than in the first image forming mode.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 1, 2022Publication date: January 12, 2023Inventors: Kodai Hayashi, Issei Imamura, Shinichi Agata, Takuya Oka
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Patent number: 11099503Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a detection member configured to detect a conveyance state of a recording medium, a control unit configured to sequentially execute a first operation for continuously executing a rotation operation of an image bearing member and an intermediate transfer member without stopping them when the detection member detects a failure, and a second operation for stopping the rotation operation of the image bearing member when the surface of the image bearing member is moved by a predetermined distance through the rotation operation of the image bearing member after the failure is detected.Type: GrantFiled: September 11, 2020Date of Patent: August 24, 2021Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Yoshihiro Mitsui, Takuya Oka, Yasukazu Ikami, Shinichi Agata
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Patent number: 11073781Abstract: An image forming apparatus that executes an image forming operation for forming a toner image on a recording material and an application operation of applying a metal soap to a surface of an image bearing member by supplying a toner stored in a toner storing unit to the surface of the image bearing member from the developing member. A surficial moving speed of the image bearing member during the application operation is lower than the surficial moving speed of the image bearing member during the image forming operation, and a speed difference between the surficial moving speed of the developing member and the surficial moving speed of the image bearing member during the application operation is larger than that during the image forming operation.Type: GrantFiled: June 18, 2020Date of Patent: July 27, 2021Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Kosuke Ikada, Go Shindo, Keitaro Nakata, Hisashi Yamauchi, Shinichi Agata, Yoshihiro Mitsui, Masahito Kato, Yuichiro Hirata
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Patent number: 11003106Abstract: A charging member 2 that charges an image bearing member 1 has an electrically conductive support and an elastic layer in contact with the image bearing member 1. The elastic layer includes a semi-conductive rubber composition having a matrix-domain structure including a matrix and domains having electric conductivity. The matrix has a higher volume resistivity than the domain. The developer includes a toner having toner particles. The toner particles each have a surface layer including an organosilicon polymer. The organosilicon polymer has a structure represented by R—SiO3/2 (R is a hydrocarbon group having at least 1 and not more than 6 carbon atoms). The adhesion ratio of the organosilicon polymer on the surface of the toner particle is 90% or more.Type: GrantFiled: November 11, 2019Date of Patent: May 11, 2021Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Shinichi Agata, Shinichi Hagiwara, Yoshihiro Mitsui, Kosuke Ikada, Kentaro Yamawaki
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Publication number: 20210080873Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a detection member configured to detect a conveyance state of a recording medium, a control unit configured to sequentially execute a first operation for continuously executing a rotation operation of an image bearing member and an intermediate transfer member without stopping them when the detection member detects a failure, and a second operation for stopping the rotation operation of the image bearing member when the surface of the image bearing member is moved by a predetermined distance through the rotation operation of the image bearing member after the failure is detected.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 11, 2020Publication date: March 18, 2021Inventors: Yoshihiro Mitsui, Takuya Oka, Yasukazu Ikami, Shinichi Agata
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Publication number: 20200409297Abstract: An image forming apparatus that executes an image forming operation for forming a toner image on a recording material and an application operation of applying a metal soap to a surface of an image bearing member by supplying a toner stored in a toner storing unit to the surface of the image bearing member from the developing member. A surficial moving speed of the image bearing member during the application operation is lower than the surficial moving speed of the image bearing member during the image forming operation, and a speed difference between the surficial moving speed of the developing member and the surficial moving speed of the image bearing member during the application operation is larger than that during the image forming operation.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 18, 2020Publication date: December 31, 2020Inventors: Kosuke Ikada, Go Shindo, Keitaro Nakata, Hisashi Yamauchi, Shinichi Agata, Yoshihiro Mitsui, Masahito Kato, Yuichiro Hirata
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Patent number: 10852662Abstract: A developing device includes a developer carrying member, a developing frame, and a regulating member. The regulating member includes a curved surface portion contactable to a surface of the developer carrying member, and satisfies the following relationships: 200 MPa?HM?1100 MPa, and 0.08 mm?Rb?0.3 mm, where HM is a Martens hardness of toner contained in the developer under a maximum load of 2.0×10?4 N, and Rb is a radius of curvature of the curved surface portion.Type: GrantFiled: November 13, 2019Date of Patent: December 1, 2020Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Takuya Oka, Yoshihiro Mitsui, Akinobu Saito, Shinichi Agata, Kentaro Yamawaki
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Patent number: 10656547Abstract: Provided is an image forming apparatus, including an apparatus main body, an image bearing member unit having at least an image bearing member and a charging member, and a developing unit having at least a developer bearing member. The apparatus main body has a controller, the image bearing member unit further has a first storage unit that stores first correction information corresponding to life information of the developing unit, the developing unit further has a second storage unit that stores second correction information corresponding to life information of the developing unit, and the controller acquires the first correction information and the second correction information, uses the acquired first correction information and the acquired second correction information to correct a charging bias to be applied to the charging member, and applies the corrected charging bias to the charging member.Type: GrantFiled: January 22, 2019Date of Patent: May 19, 2020Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Shuhei Kawasaki, Kodai Hayashi, Shinichi Agata, Keisuke Endoh
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Publication number: 20200150558Abstract: A developing device includes a developer carrying member, a developing frame, and a regulating member. The regulating member includes a curved surface portion contactable to a surface of the developer carrying member, and satisfies the following relationships: 200 MPa?HM?1100 MPa, and 0.08 mm?Rb?0.3 mm, where HM is a Martens hardness of toner contained in the developer under a maximum load of 2.0×10?4 N, and Rb is a radius of curvature of the curved surface portion.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 13, 2019Publication date: May 14, 2020Inventors: Takuya Oka, Yoshihiro Mitsui, Akinobu Saito, Shinichi Agata, Kentaro Yamawaki
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Publication number: 20200150553Abstract: A charging member 2 that charges an image bearing member 1 has an electrically conductive support and an elastic layer in contact with the image bearing member 1. The elastic layer includes a semi-conductive rubber composition having a matrix-domain structure including a matrix and domains having electric conductivity. The matrix has a higher volume resistivity than the domain. The developer includes a toner having toner particles. The toner particles each have a surface layer including an organosilicon polymer. The organosilicon polymer has a structure represented by R—SiO3/2 (R is a hydrocarbon group having at least 1 and not more than 6 carbon atoms). The adhesion ratio of the organosilicon polymer on the surface of the toner particle is 90% or more.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 11, 2019Publication date: May 14, 2020Inventors: Shinichi Agata, Shinichi Hagiwara, Yoshihiro Mitsui, Kosuke Ikada, Kentaro Yamawaki
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Patent number: 10642203Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a control unit that controls an electric potential difference between a development roller and a supply roller in such a manner that force in a direction from the supply roller toward the development roller acts on toner in a section of an image forming region extending from a leading edge of a first image forming region toward a trailing edge thereof. The control unit controls the electric potential difference in such a manner that force acting on the toner becomes smaller in a section extending from a switching point, which is located at a position obtained by returning from a leading edge of a second image forming region to the first image forming region by a distance equal to or greater than a circumferential length of the development roller, to the trailing edge of the first image forming region.Type: GrantFiled: March 30, 2018Date of Patent: May 5, 2020Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Takayoshi Kihara, Shinichi Agata
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Patent number: 10534288Abstract: A developing device includes developer, a developer bearing member, and a supply member that is in contact with the developer bearing member and supplies the developer. The developing device further includes a developing chamber in which the developer bearing member and the supply member are disposed, a developer containing chamber that contains the developer, a partition wall that partitions the developing chamber and the developer containing chamber from each other and is provided with an opening that communicates the developing chamber and the developer containing chamber with each other, and a conveyance member that conveys the developer from the developer containing chamber to the developing chamber. The conveyance member is provided with a hole through which the developer can pass or has a protrusion that generates a gap between the conveyance member and the partition wall.Type: GrantFiled: August 30, 2018Date of Patent: January 14, 2020Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Kodai Hayashi, Shinichi Agata
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Publication number: 20190227454Abstract: Provided is an image forming apparatus, including an apparatus main body, an image bearing member unit having at least an image bearing member and a charging member, and a developing unit having at least a developer bearing member. The apparatus main body has a controller, the image bearing member unit further has a first storage unit that stores first correction information corresponding to life information of the developing unit, the developing unit further has a second storage unit that stores second correction information corresponding to life information of the developing unit, and the controller acquires the first correction information and the second correction information, uses the acquired first correction information and the acquired second correction information to correct a charging bias to be applied to the charging member, and applies the corrected charging bias to the charging member.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 22, 2019Publication date: July 25, 2019Inventors: Shuhei Kawasaki, Kodai Hayashi, Shinichi Agata, Keisuke Endoh
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Publication number: 20190094754Abstract: A developing device includes developer, a developer bearing member, and a supply member that is in contact with the developer bearing member and supplies the developer. The developing device further includes a developing chamber in which the developer bearing member and the supply member are disposed, a developer containing chamber that contains the developer, a partition wall that partitions the developing chamber and the developer containing chamber from each other and is provided with an opening that communicates the developing chamber and the developer containing chamber with each other, and a conveyance member that conveys the developer from the developer containing chamber to the developing chamber. The conveyance member is provided with a hole through which the developer can pass or has a protrusion that generates a gap between the conveyance member and the partition wall.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 30, 2018Publication date: March 28, 2019Inventors: Kodai Hayashi, Shinichi Agata
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Publication number: 20180292773Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a control unit that controls an electric potential difference between a development roller and a supply roller in such a manner that force in a direction from the supply roller toward the development roller acts on toner in a section of an image forming region extending from a leading edge of a first image forming region toward a trailing edge thereof. The control unit controls the electric potential difference in such a manner that force acting on the toner becomes smaller in a section extending from a switching point, which is located at a position obtained by returning from a leading edge of a second image forming region to the first image forming region by a distance equal to or greater than a circumferential length of the development roller, to the trailing edge of the first image forming region.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 30, 2018Publication date: October 11, 2018Inventors: Takayoshi Kihara, Shinichi Agata
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Developing device having developer regulating member, process cartridge, and image forming apparatus
Patent number: 10031439Abstract: A developing blade has a protrusion that protrudes toward a developing roller in an opposing portion facing the developing roller. The potential difference between a supply bias and a developing bias is denoted by ?(V), a contact pressure of the developing blade with respect to the developing roller is denoted by X (gf/cm), a height of the protrusion from the opposing surface that faces the developing roller at a position further toward a tip side than the protrusion is denoted by H (mm), and a length of the opposing surface in the rotation direction of the developing roller is denoted by L (mm). When viewing a cross-section perpendicular to the rotation axis of the developing roller, 0.05?H?0.1, 0.15?L?1.0, and 15?X?60 are established, and at least ???5*X?125 is satisfied.Type: GrantFiled: March 24, 2017Date of Patent: July 24, 2018Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Shinichi Agata, Takayoshi Kihara -
Patent number: 9798266Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes: a first exposing unit exposing a surface of a charged photosensitive member to form a latent image; a second exposing unit exposing the surface of the photosensitive member after the surface of the photosensitive member passes a transfer position at which a toner image obtained by causing toner to adhere to the latent image is transferred to a transferred body and before the surface of the photosensitive member reaches a charging position; and a control unit varying a length of a period from a timing at which a portion of the photosensitive member exposed by the second exposing unit is initially charged by the charging member to a timing at which the first exposing unit starts formation of the latent image when performing image formation based on a print signal, based on information related to a photosensitive layer thickness of the photosensitive member.Type: GrantFiled: July 28, 2016Date of Patent: October 24, 2017Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Shinichi Agata, Kosuke Ikada
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Publication number: 20170285515Abstract: A developing blade has a protrusion that protrudes toward a developing roller in an opposing portion facing the developing roller. When the potential difference between a supply bias and a developing bias is denoted by ?(V), a contact pressure of the developing blade with respect to the developing roller is denoted by X (gf/cm), and a height of the protrusion from the opposing surface that faces the developing roller at a position further toward a tip side than the protrusion is denoted by H (mm) and a length of the opposing surface in the rotation direction of the developing roller is denoted by L (mm), when viewing a cross section perpendicular to the rotation axis of the developing roller, 0.05?H?0.1, 0.15?L?1.0, and 15?X?60 are established, and at least ???5*X?125 is satisfied.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 24, 2017Publication date: October 5, 2017Inventors: Shinichi Agata, Takayoshi Kihara