Patents by Inventor Shohei Ichikawa
Shohei Ichikawa 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: 20240126393Abstract: A proximity detection device according to the present invention includes: a plurality of light emitting elements; a plurality of light receiving elements; a drive circuit configured to sequentially drive the plurality of light emitting elements; a measurement circuit configured to measure a light reception signal of a corresponding light receiving element when the plurality of light emitting elements are sequentially driven; and a control unit configured to i) control a drive current of a light emitting element such that a light emission amount of the light emitting element is suppressed, and ii) amplify a detection signal of a light receiving element to compensate for the suppressed light emission amount during measurement with a relatively short distance between the light emitting element and the light receiving element.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 13, 2023Publication date: April 18, 2024Applicant: Alps Alpine Co., Ltd.Inventors: Teiichi Ichikawa, Shohei Yoshida
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Publication number: 20240051301Abstract: There is provided a liquid discharging apparatus including: a main body casing; a head; a maintenance unit including a cap, a suction pump and a waste liquid tube in which a liquid sucked by the suction pump is to flow; and a waste liquid reservoir which has a joint to which the waste liquid tube is connected or to be connected, and which is configured to store the liquid. The maintenance unit is configured to be inserted into and drawn from the main body casing. The waste liquid tube has a length to connect the waste liquid reservoir and the maintenance unit in a state that the maintenance unit has been moved from an installed-position at which the maintenance unit is installed in an inside of the main body casing to a drawn-out-position at which the maintenance unit is drawn out to an outside of the main body casing.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 8, 2023Publication date: February 15, 2024Inventors: Shohei ICHIKAWA, Asami HASHIMOTO, Fumiya NAKAMURA, Kazushige SAIGUSA
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Patent number: 11878515Abstract: There is provided a liquid discharge apparatus including: a head, a conveyer having a roller arranged at the downstream of the head according to a conveyance direction, and a controller. The controller is configured to carry out: a recording process, a first determining process to determine whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed since the recording process, a conveying process to convey a medium in if the first determining process determines that the predetermined time has elapsed, and a setting process to set a predetermined time based on a discharge amount of a liquid from a plurality of nozzles onto a recording area and a conveyance time for the conveyer to convey the medium from the recording area to the roller, before the first determining process.Type: GrantFiled: September 3, 2021Date of Patent: January 23, 2024Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Satoru Arakane, Shohei Ichikawa, Taichiro Kimoto, Yusuke Arai
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Patent number: 11878539Abstract: A control system is configured such that a carriage that a processing head is mounted is driven by a motor and reciprocates. The motor is controlled by a controller. The controller reciprocates the carriage by selecting a control mode as a target mode based on temperature information related to temperature of the motor and controlling the motor in the target mode. The controller selects the target mode to be applied to the control of the motor for each of particular work units. The target mode is selected from a group of particular control modes. Each control mode in the group of particular control modes is a control mode in which a maximum temperature, which is estimated based on the temperature information, when the control of the motor using the selected control mode would be executed until the processing is completed, is less than a reference value.Type: GrantFiled: March 9, 2022Date of Patent: January 23, 2024Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Masahiro Hoga, Shohei Ichikawa, Satoru Arakane, Eisuke Takahashi
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Publication number: 20230311515Abstract: A liquid discharging apparatus, having a sheet conveyer path, a liquid discharging head including nozzles for discharging liquid, a cap configured to cover the liquid discharging head, a liquid receiver located at a position different from the cap and configured to receive the liquid discharged from the liquid discharging head, and a waste liquid tank demountably mountable in a housing of the liquid discharging apparatus and configured to store the liquid received by the liquid receiver, is provided.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 30, 2023Publication date: October 5, 2023Applicant: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Kazushige SAIGUSA, Shohei ICHIKAWA, Fumiya NAKAMURA, Kazuma KOBAYASHI, Masako KAWAGOE, Haruhisa SHIRAI, Asami HASHIMOTO
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Publication number: 20230311519Abstract: A liquid discharging apparatus, having a housing, a liquid discharging device configured to discharge liquid, a first waste liquid collecting device and a second waste liquid collecting device for collecting the liquid discharged from the liquid discharging device, an intermediate tank having a first waste liquid reservoir and a drainer, and a waste liquid tank having a second waste liquid reservoir, is provided. The first waste liquid reservoir stores the liquid received from the first liquid collecting device and the second waste liquid collecting device. The drainer drains the liquid stored in the first waste liquid reservoir outward from the intermediate tank. The second waste liquid reservoir stores the liquid drained from the drainer. The waste liquid tank is demountably mounted in the housing.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 28, 2023Publication date: October 5, 2023Applicant: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Kazuma KOBAYASHI, Masako KAWAGOE, Haruhisa SHIRAI, Shohei ICHIKAWA, Fumiya NAKAMURA, Kazushige SAIGUSA, Asami HASHIMOTO
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Publication number: 20230311520Abstract: A liquid discharging apparatus, having a housing, a liquid discharging head, and a waste liquid tank for storing waste liquid, is provided. The waste liquid tank is demountably mounted in the housing through an opening formed on a sideward face on one side in a widthwise direction, which is parallel to a nozzle surface of the liquid discharging head and intersects orthogonally with a conveying direction to convey a sheet. The opening is formed between a first position and a second position apart from the first position in the conveying direction. The waste liquid tank is mounted in the housing in an arrangement such that a length in the widthwise direction is shorter than a length in the conveying direction. The waste liquid tank is mountable in and demountable from the housing along the widthwise direction of the waste liquid tank.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 29, 2023Publication date: October 5, 2023Applicant: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Haruhisa SHIRAI, Kazuma KOBAYASHI, Kazushige SAIGUSA, Fumiya NAKAMURA, Shohei ICHIKAWA, Asami HASHIMOTO, Masako KAWAGOE
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Publication number: 20230311514Abstract: A liquid discharging apparatus, having a sheet conveyer path, a liquid discharging head including nozzles for discharging liquid, a maintenance unit configured to remove the liquid from discharging head, a waste liquid tank demountably mounted in a housing of the liquid discharging apparatus and configured to store the liquid received from the maintenance unit, and a waste liquid flow path for transporting the liquid from the maintenance unit to the waste liquid tank, is provided. The waste liquid tank is located opposite to the maintenance unit across the sheet conveyer path in a horizontal direction, which is parallel to a nozzle surface of the liquid discharging head.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 30, 2023Publication date: October 5, 2023Applicant: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Fumiya NAKAMURA, Shohei ICHIKAWA, Kazushige SAIGUSA, Kazuma KOBAYASHI, Asami HASHIMOTO, Masako KAWAGOE, Haruhisa SHIRAI
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Patent number: 11655115Abstract: An image recording apparatus including: a recording unit; an accommodation part configured to accommodate therein a plurality of recording media including first and second recording medium and having a support surface on which the plurality of the recording media is supported; a conveying path; a feeder roller contacting the recording medium in the accommodation part from above; a reversing path; a recording medium detection unit located above the support surface and between the feeder roller and a downstream end of the support surface in the conveying direction; and a controller configured to control the feeder roller so as to feed the second recording medium in a manner that a front end portion of the second recording medium overlaps a rear end portion of the first recording medium, when the recording medium detection unit detects the rear end portion of the first recording medium fed by the feeder roller.Type: GrantFiled: March 19, 2021Date of Patent: May 23, 2023Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Shohei Ichikawa, Tsuyoshi Ito, Masatake Sato, Keisuke Wakakusa, Yoshimitsu Taniguchi
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Publication number: 20220314666Abstract: In a control system, a controller is configured to determine presence or absence of an obstructed area within the intermediate section, and control movement of the moving body in accordance with a selected one of controlling methods including a first and a second control methods. The first control method causes the moving body to move at a first constant speed in the processing section defined within the intermediate section and at a second constant speed faster than the first constant speed in at least a part of a non-processing section within the intermediate section and other than the processing section, the first control method being selected when the obstructed area is absent. The second control method causes the moving body to move at the first constant speed in the processing section and the non-processing section, the second control method being selected when the obstructed area is present.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 28, 2022Publication date: October 6, 2022Inventors: Satoru ARAKANE, Masahiro HOGA, Shohei ICHIKAWA, Eisuke TAKAHASHI
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Publication number: 20220314671Abstract: A control system is configured such that a carriage that a processing head is mounted is driven by a motor and reciprocates. The motor is controlled by a controller. The controller reciprocates the carriage by selecting a control mode as a target mode based on temperature information related to temperature of the motor and controlling the motor in the target mode. The controller selects the target mode to be applied to the control of the motor for each of particular work units. The target mode is selected from a group of particular control modes. Each control mode in the group of particular control modes is a control mode in which a maximum temperature, which is estimated based on the temperature information, when the control of the motor using the selected control mode would be executed until the processing is completed, is less than a reference value.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 9, 2022Publication date: October 6, 2022Inventors: Masahiro HOGA, Shohei ICHIKAWA, Satoru ARAKANE, Eisuke TAKAHASHI
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Patent number: 11458745Abstract: An image recording apparatus is configured to perform a conveying process of a recording medium using a conveying roller and a discharging roller, a recoding process of recording an image on the printing sheet when the conveying process is not performed, and an adjusting process. In the adjusting process, among a plurality of conveying processes performed within a period from the start of the conveying process for an n-th printing sheet until the timing which is after the start of the conveying process for an (n+1)-th printing sheet, the conveying amount of the printing sheet subject to at least one conveying process is adjusted such that a timing when the trailing end of the n-th printing sheet passes through the discharging roller is within one of the acceleration period and the deceleration period of the conveying process for the printing sheet.Type: GrantFiled: September 25, 2019Date of Patent: October 4, 2022Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Keisuke Wakakusa, Tsuyoshi Ito, Shohei Ichikawa, Masatake Sato, Yoshimitsu Taniguchi
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Patent number: 11407242Abstract: When an image recording apparatus records an specific image over a boundary between a first dot formation range where dots are to be formed in a preceding recording operation of two consecutive recording operations and a second dot formation range where dots are to be formed in a subsequent recording operation of the two consecutive recording operations, the apparatus sets, as a correction portion, an end portion in a scanning direction of a specific region including at least one of a first boundary region adjacent to the second dot formation range and a second boundary region adjacent to the first dot formation range in the specific image, and forms the dot placed at the correction portion by discharging liquid of a discharge amount smaller than the discharge amount set for a dot element corresponding to the dot from nozzles.Type: GrantFiled: December 21, 2020Date of Patent: August 9, 2022Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Masao Mimoto, Kengo Noda, Shohei Ichikawa, Yoshimitsu Taniguchi, Tsuyoshi Ito
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Patent number: 11383537Abstract: A controller determines whether, in a case where feeding of a subsequent sheet is performed in a first feed condition, a subsequent sheet contacts conveyance rollers during recording on a preceding sheet, the first feed condition being that feeding of the subsequent sheet is started at a first timing before recording on the preceding sheet ends and that the subsequent sheet is fed at a first velocity, and in response to determining that the subsequent sheet contacts the conveyance rollers during recording on the preceding sheet, controls the feed roller to perform feeding of the subsequent sheet in a second feed condition or a third feed condition, the second feed condition being that the feeding of the subsequent sheet is started at a second timing later than the first timing, the third feed condition being that the subsequent sheet is fed at a second velocity lower than the first velocity.Type: GrantFiled: February 21, 2020Date of Patent: July 12, 2022Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Shohei Ichikawa, Tsuyoshi Ito, Keisuke Wakakusa, Yoshimitsu Taniguchi, Masatake Sato
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Publication number: 20220146976Abstract: A printer includes an image forming unit configured to form an image on a sheet by an electrophotographic method, and a recording unit configured to record an image on a sheet by an inkjet method. An image recording position of the recording unit is located above an image forming position of the image forming unit.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 26, 2022Publication date: May 12, 2022Applicant: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Hiroyuki SHINGAI, Shohei ICHIKAWA, Kazutoshi NAKAMURA, Shota SHINOYA
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Patent number: 11305551Abstract: A control device for a printing execution unit including a printing head, a head drive unit, and a movement unit, wherein, in a case where a non-character object region is located at an upstream end of a partial region which is configured to be printed by a first partial printing: dots are formed in a first overlap region by both the first partial printing and a second partial printing, the first overlap region including the upstream end of the partial region, wherein, in a case where a character region is located at the upstream end of the partial region, dots are formed in a second overlap region by both the first partial printing and the second partial printing, the second overlap region including the upstream end of the partial region, and wherein a length of the second overlap region is shorter than a length of the first overlap region.Type: GrantFiled: December 30, 2020Date of Patent: April 19, 2022Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Hirotoshi Maehira, Tsuyoshi Ito, Masao Mimoto, Yoshimitsu Taniguchi, Shohei Ichikawa, Kengo Noda
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Patent number: 11279153Abstract: An image recording apparatus includes a roller pair for transporting a sheet, a recording head, and a controller. The controller determines a linefeed amount by which the sheet is transported by the roller pair between corresponding two adjacent passes of the recording head. The controller executes image recording on the sheet by alternately repeating a linefeed operation for rotating the roller pair by the determined linefeed amount to transport the sheet in a transport direction, and a pass recording operation in which the controller causes the roller pair to stop and the recording head to perform a pass and to record part of an image on the sheet. Upon determining that a linefeed operation would cause the sheet to travel past the roller pair while the roller pair is decelerating, replace for the linefeed operation a determined linefeed amount by an adjusted linefeed amount.Type: GrantFiled: February 18, 2020Date of Patent: March 22, 2022Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Keisuke Wakakusa, Shohei Ichikawa, Masatake Sato, Yoshimitsu Taniguchi, Tsuyoshi Ito, Hiroaki Takahashi
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Publication number: 20220063307Abstract: There is provided a liquid discharge apparatus including: a head, a conveyer having a roller arranged at the downstream of the head according to a conveyance direction, and a controller. The controller is configured to carry out: a recording process, a first determining process to determine whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed since the recording process, a conveying process to convey a medium in if the first determining process determines that the predetermined time has elapsed, and a setting process to set a predetermined time based on a discharge amount of a liquid from a plurality of nozzles onto a recording area and a conveyance time for the conveyer to convey the medium from the recording area to the roller, before the first determining process.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 3, 2021Publication date: March 3, 2022Inventors: Satoru Arakane, Shohei Ichikawa, Taichiro Kimoto, Yusuke Arai
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Publication number: 20210114380Abstract: A control device for a printing execution unit including a printing head, a head drive unit, and a movement unit, wherein, in a case where a non-character object region is located at an upstream end of a partial region which is configured to be printed by a first partial printing: dots are formed in a first overlap region by both the first partial printing and a second partial printing, the first overlap region including the upstream end of the partial region, wherein, in a case where a character region is located at the upstream end of the partial region, dots are formed in a second overlap region by both the first partial printing and the second partial printing, the second overlap region including the upstream end of the partial region, and wherein a length of the second overlap region is shorter than a length of the first overlap region.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 30, 2020Publication date: April 22, 2021Applicant: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Hirotoshi MAEHIRA, Tsuyoshi ITO, Masao MIMOTO, Yoshimitsu TANIGUCHI, Shohei ICHIKAWA, Kengo NODA
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Publication number: 20210107304Abstract: When an image recording apparatus records an specific image over a boundary between a first dot formation range where dots are to be formed in a preceding recording operation of two consecutive recording operations and a second dot formation range where dots are to be formed in a subsequent recording operation of the two consecutive recording operations, the apparatus sets, as a correction portion, an end portion in a scanning direction of a specific region including at least one of a first boundary region adjacent to the second dot formation range and a second boundary region adjacent to the first dot formation range in the specific image, and forms the dot placed at the correction portion by discharging liquid of a discharge amount smaller than the discharge amount set for a dot element corresponding to the dot from nozzles.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 21, 2020Publication date: April 15, 2021Applicant: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Masao MIMOTO, Kengo NODA, Shohei ICHIKAWA, Yoshimitsu TANIGUCHI, Tsuyoshi ITO