Patents by Inventor Shota SAKURAI
Shota SAKURAI 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: 10139755Abstract: A developing device includes: a plurality of development sections arranged in an axis direction of a developer bearing member; a communication section disposed at a boundary of adjacent two development sections of the development sections, and configured to communicate between the two development sections; and a control section configured to perform an operation of moving the developer between the two development sections through the communication section to equalize degradation states of the developer in the two development sections.Type: GrantFiled: July 13, 2017Date of Patent: November 27, 2018Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.Inventors: Shota Sakurai, Shunichi Takaya, Kei Okamura, Hideaki Tanaka, Kazuteru Ishizuka, Kei Yuasa
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Publication number: 20180335727Abstract: A developing device includes a developing agent carrier body that carries a developing agent; a supplier that has a plurality of movement areas for moving the developing agent and that supplies the developing agent to the developing agent carrier body; a confluence path that combines the developing agent moving in each of the plurality of movement areas and thereafter returns the developing agent to the plurality of movement areas; and a mixing member that mixes the developing agent entered in the confluence path.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 11, 2018Publication date: November 22, 2018Applicant: Konica Minolta, Inc.Inventors: Kazuteru Ishizuka, Hideaki Tanaka, Shunichi Takaya, Shota Sakurai, Kei Okamura, Kei Yuasa
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Publication number: 20180284644Abstract: A developing apparatus includes: a developer carrying member carrying a developer; a plurality of developer feeders accommodating the developer carried by the developer carrying member and being arranged in an axial direction of the developer carrying member; and a collecting part that collects the developer from the developer carrying member and feeds the developer to a second developer feeder different from a first developer feeder located at a position where the developer is collected from the developer carrying member in the axial direction, among the plurality of developer feeders.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 26, 2018Publication date: October 4, 2018Applicant: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.Inventors: Kei YUASA, Shunichi TAKAYA, Hideaki TANAKA, Kazuteru ISHIZUKA, Shota SAKURAI, Kei OKAMURA
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Patent number: 9964897Abstract: A developing device includes a first developing roller, a second developing roller, a first end portion configured to restrict the amount of developer on the second developing roller, a restriction member, and a collecting roller configured to collect developer on the first developing roller. The second end portion is located at a position where magnetic force interference with a magnetic force generated by the second developing roller and the collecting roller is not caused.Type: GrantFiled: June 9, 2017Date of Patent: May 8, 2018Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.Inventors: Kazuteru Ishizuka, Hiroshi Morimoto, Wataru Watanabe, Tatsuya Furuta, Shota Sakurai
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Publication number: 20180107137Abstract: A developing device includes a hardware processor that performs control in which a developer circulation state is switched between a first state and a second state depending on states of the developer in the first and the second regions. The first state is a state in which a developer circulation path is formed in each of the first and the second regions, and the second state is a state in which a single developer circulation path is formed all through the first and the second regions.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 10, 2017Publication date: April 19, 2018Applicant: Konica Minolta, Inc.Inventors: Kei OKAMURA, Shunichi TAKAYA, Hideaki TANAKA, Kazuteru ISHIZUKA, Shota SAKURAI, Kei YUASA
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Publication number: 20180067418Abstract: A developing apparatus includes: a developer carrier that carries a developer; a developer casing that contains the developer to be supplied to the developer carrier; an opening/closing part capable of controlling a moving amount of the developer between a first region on one side in an axial direction of the developer carrier and a second region on the other side in the axial direction of the developer carrier by opening or closing the first region and the second region; and a hardware processor that controls an open/closed state of the opening/closing part in accordance with the state of the developer in the first region and the second region.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 5, 2017Publication date: March 8, 2018Inventors: Shunichi TAKAYA, Hideaki TANAKA, Kazuteru ISHIZUKA, Shota SAKURAI, Kei OKAMURA, Kei YUASA
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Publication number: 20180059578Abstract: A developing device includes: a plurality of development sections arranged in an axis direction of a developer bearing member; a communication section disposed at a boundary of adjacent two development sections of the development sections, and configured to communicate between the two development sections; and a control section configured to perform an operation of moving the developer between the two development sections through the communication section to equalize degradation states of the developer in the two development sections.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 13, 2017Publication date: March 1, 2018Inventors: Shota SAKURAI, Shunichi TAKAYA, Kei OKAMURA, Hideaki TANAKA, Kazuteru ISHIZUKA, Kei YUASA
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Publication number: 20170357188Abstract: A developing device includes a first developing roller, a second developing roller, a first end portion configured to restrict the amount of developer on the second developing roller, a restriction member, and a collecting roller configured to collect developer on the first developing roller. The second end portion is located at a position where magnetic force interference with a magnetic force generated by the second developing roller and the collecting roller is not caused.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 9, 2017Publication date: December 14, 2017Inventors: Kazuteru ISHIZUKA, Hiroshi MORIMOTO, Wataru WATANABE, Tatsuya FURUTA, Shota SAKURAI
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Publication number: 20170337017Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes: a determination section configured to determine whether there is a possibility of generation of an image defect during a printing job for image formation on a plurality of pages based on image data included in the printing job; and a changing section configured to change an order of the pages to be subjected to image formation such that an image defect is not generated when the determination section determines that there is a possibility of generation of the image defect.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 1, 2017Publication date: November 23, 2017Inventors: Wataru WATANABE, Shota SAKURAI, Tatsuya FURUTA, Kazuteru ISHIZUKA, Hiroshi MORIMOTO
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Patent number: 9796555Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes: an image forming section configured to form a toner image on a sheet having a paste component; and an end pressing section provided on an upstream side of the image forming section in a sheet conveyance direction, and configured to exert a pressure on an end portion of the sheet while moving from a center toward an end of the sheet in a sheet width direction orthogonal to the sheet conveyance direction.Type: GrantFiled: March 1, 2016Date of Patent: October 24, 2017Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.Inventors: Tatsuya Furuta, Tomohiro Kawasaki, Shota Sakurai, Tetsuya Ishikawa, Natsuko Kawai
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Patent number: 9696680Abstract: A transfer-section contamination prevention device includes: a powder housing section that is disposed on an upstream side relative to a transfer section in a sheet conveyance direction, and is capable of holding powder at a position near an end portion of a sheet in a sheet width direction orthogonal to the sheet conveyance direction or capable of guiding the powder to the position near the end portion of the sheet, the sheet including a base material layer, a release layer and an adhesive layer containing adhesive agent disposed between the base material layer and the release layer, the transfer section being configured to transfer a toner image to the sheet; and a powder adhesion facilitation section configured to facilitate adhesion of the powder to the lateral end portion of the sheet from the powder housing section.Type: GrantFiled: February 29, 2016Date of Patent: July 4, 2017Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.Inventors: Tomohiro Kawasaki, Tetsuya Ishikawa, Natsuko Kawai, Tatsuya Furuta, Shota Sakurai
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Patent number: 9696664Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a second cleaning section, an image formation control section configured to control an image forming section to form a high-coverage patch on a transfer belt, and a cleaning control section configured to control the second cleaning section to perform cleaning of the patch on the transfer belt.Type: GrantFiled: May 9, 2016Date of Patent: July 4, 2017Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.Inventors: Shota Sakurai, Tatsuya Furuta, Natsuko Kawai, Tetsuya Ishikawa, Tomohiro Kawasaki
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Publication number: 20170160679Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes: a conveyance section configured to convey a sheet in a direction opposite to a first conveyance direction during image formation, the direction being a second conveyance direction; and a distortion correction section disposed on an upstream side of a transfer nip in the first conveyance direction and configured to correct, when the sheet is conveyed by the conveyance section in the second conveyance direction, distortion of the sheet generated when the sheet passes through a fixing nip.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 7, 2016Publication date: June 8, 2017Inventors: Shota SAKURAI, Hiroshi MORIMOTO, Wataru WATANABE, Kazuteru ISHIZUKA, Tatsuya FURUTA
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Publication number: 20160342113Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a second cleaning section, an image formation control section configured to control an image forming section to form a high-coverage patch on a transfer belt, and a cleaning control section configured to control the second cleaning section to perform cleaning of the patch on the transfer belt.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 9, 2016Publication date: November 24, 2016Inventors: Shota SAKURAI, Tatsuya FURUTA, Natsuko KAWAI, Tetsuya ISHIKAWA, Tomohiro KAWASAKI
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Patent number: 9488946Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes: a rotatable image carrier; an image forming unit configured to form a plurality of divided patch images, which is obtained by dividing a patch image for detecting a concentration of an image in a rotation direction of the image carrier, on the image carrier at regular intervals and form an image to be formed on a paper sheet on the image carrier; a concentration detecting unit configured to detect the concentration of the plurality of divided patch images formed by the image forming unit; and a controller configured to combine the concentration of divided patch images detected by the concentration detecting unit in chronological order and detect concentration unevenness of the image in the vertical scanning direction which is a paper sheet conveying direction of the paper sheet.Type: GrantFiled: October 12, 2015Date of Patent: November 8, 2016Assignee: Konica Minolta, Inc.Inventors: Shota Sakurai, Tatsuya Furuta, Kazuhiro Saito, Kazuteru Ishizuka, Tomohiro Kawasaki
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Publication number: 20160259292Abstract: A transfer-section contamination prevention device includes: a powder housing section that is disposed on an upstream side relative to a transfer section in a sheet conveyance direction, and is capable of holding powder at a position near an end portion of a sheet in a sheet width direction orthogonal to the sheet conveyance direction or capable of guiding the powder to the position near the end portion of the sheet, the sheet including a base material layer, a release layer and an adhesive layer containing adhesive agent disposed between the base material layer and the release layer, the transfer section being configured to transfer a toner image to the sheet; and a powder adhesion facilitation section configured to facilitate adhesion of the powder to the lateral end portion of the sheet from the powder housing section.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 29, 2016Publication date: September 8, 2016Applicant: Konica Minolta, Inc.Inventors: Tomohiro KAWASAKI, Tetsuya ISHIKAWA, Natsuko KAWAI, Tatsuya FURUTA, Shota SAKURAI
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Publication number: 20160257521Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes: an image forming section configured to form a toner image on a sheet having a paste component; and an end pressing section provided on an upstream side of the image forming section in a sheet conveyance direction, and configured to exert a pressure on an end portion of the sheet while moving from a center toward an end of the sheet in a sheet width direction orthogonal to the sheet conveyance direction.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 1, 2016Publication date: September 8, 2016Inventors: Tatsuya FURUTA, Tomohiro KAWASAKI, Shota SAKURAI, Tetsuya ISHIKAWA, Natsuko KAWAI
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Patent number: 9432547Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes: an image forming section including a rotational member and configured to form an image on the long sheet; a density unevenness cycle acquiring section configured to acquire a cycle of a density profile that represents density variation in a sub scanning direction; a cycle control section configured to operate such that, in a case where a same image is continuously formed on the long sheet, a length of the image in the sub scanning direction is an integer multiple of a cycle length that corresponds to one cycle of the density profile; and a density correction section configured to form a patch image for correction that has a size greater than the cycle length of the density profile on the image bearing member, and perform density correction using correction data created based on a detection result regarding the patch image for correction.Type: GrantFiled: November 24, 2015Date of Patent: August 30, 2016Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.Inventors: Tatsuya Furuta, Shota Sakurai, Kazuhiro Saito, Tomohiro Kawasaki, Kazuteru Ishizuka
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Publication number: 20160150117Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes: an image forming section including a rotational member and configured to form an image on the long sheet; a density unevenness cycle acquiring section configured to acquire a cycle of a density profile that represents density variation in a sub scanning direction; a cycle control section configured to operate such that, in a case where a same image is continuously formed on the long sheet, a length of the image in the sub scanning direction is an integer multiple of a cycle length that corresponds to one cycle of the density profile; and a density correction section configured to form a patch image for correction that has a size greater than the cycle length of the density profile on the image bearing member, and perform density correction using correction data created based on a detection result regarding the patch image for correction.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 24, 2015Publication date: May 26, 2016Inventors: Tatsuya FURUTA, Shota Sakurai, Kazuhiro Saito, Tomohiro Kawasaki, Kazuteru Ishizuka
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Publication number: 20160124343Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes: a rotatable image carrier; an image forming unit configured to form a plurality of divided patch images, which is obtained by dividing a patch image for detecting a concentration of an image in a rotation direction of the image carrier, on the image carrier at regular intervals and form an image to be formed on a paper sheet on the image carrier; a concentration detecting unit configured to detect the concentration of the plurality of divided patch images formed by the image forming unit; and a controller configured to combine the concentration of divided patch images detected by the concentration detecting unit in chronological order and detect concentration unevenness of the image in the vertical scanning direction which is a paper sheet conveying direction of the paper sheet.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 12, 2015Publication date: May 5, 2016Applicant: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.Inventors: Shota SAKURAI, Tatsuya FURUTA, Kazuhiro SAITO, Kazuteru ISHIZUKA, Tomohiro KAWASAKI