Patents by Inventor Takahiro NETSU

Takahiro NETSU 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).

  • Patent number: 11801686
    Abstract: A printer includes an ink tank; a print head performing printing by using ink in the ink tank; a light source irradiating an inside of the ink tank with light; a sensor detecting light of a plurality of colors incident from the ink tank during a period in which the light source emits light; and a processing section estimating an ink type of the ink in the ink tank based on an output of the sensor at a position corresponding to a meniscus portion of the ink.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Takahiro Netsu, Takuma Usuda
  • Patent number: 11504975
    Abstract: A printer includes an ink tank, a print head performing printing by using ink in the ink tank; a light source irradiating an inside of the ink tank with light; a sensor detecting light incident from the ink tank during a period in which the light source emits light; and a background plate facing the light source and the sensor in the ink tank.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2022
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Takahiro Netsu, Takuma Usuda
  • Patent number: 11472193
    Abstract: A printer includes an ink tank, a print head performing printing by using ink in the ink tank; a light source irradiating an inside of the ink tank with light; a sensor detecting light incident from the ink tank during a period in which the light source emits light; and a processing section detecting an amount of ink in the ink tank based on an output of the sensor. The light source is turned on by an amount of light based on a result of the sensor detecting light reflected from an area where the ink does not exist.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2022
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Takahiro Netsu, Takuma Usuda
  • Patent number: 11345161
    Abstract: A printer includes an ink tank, a print head that performs printing using ink IK in the ink tank, a light source that emits light into the ink tank, a sensor that detects first light of a first wavelength band and second light of a second wavelength band incident from an ink tank side, in a period during which the light source emits light, and a processing section. The processing section determines the ink type of the ink in the ink tank based on a first light amount of the first light and a second light amount of the second light at a position where the ink exists.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2022
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Takuma Usuda, Takahiro Netsu
  • Patent number: 11325393
    Abstract: A printer includes an ink tank, a print head that performs printing by using ink in the ink tank, a light source that emits light into the ink tank, a sensor that detects light incident from an ink tank side in a period during which the light source emits light and outputs pixel data, and a processing section that determines an ink amount based on an output of the sensor. A pitch of a plurality of lenses is k times a pixel pitch of the sensor, k being an integer of 2 or more, and the processing section detects the ink amount based on a sum of outputs of k continuous pixels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Takahiro Netsu, Takuma Usuda
  • Patent number: 11325392
    Abstract: A printer includes an ink tank, a print head that performs printing by using ink in the ink tank, a light source that emits light into the ink tank, a sensor that outputs pixel data by detecting light incident from an ink tank side in a period during which the light source emits light, and a processing section that determines an ink amount by an output of the sensor. The processing section designates a reading area for the sensor, and determines an ink amount based on pixel data of the reading area output from the sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Takahiro Netsu, Takuma Usuda, Kei Nagaoka
  • Patent number: 11273649
    Abstract: A printer includes an ink tank, a print head that performs printing by using ink in the ink tank, a light source that emits light into the ink tank, a sensor that outputs pixel data by detecting light incident from an ink tank side in a period during which the light source emits light, and a processing section that determines an ink amount by an output of the sensor. The processing section determines an ink amount based on low resolution pixel data output from the sensor in a first reading area and high resolution pixel data output from the sensor in a second reading area other than the first reading area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2022
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Takahiro Netsu, Takuma Usuda, Kei Nagaoka
  • Patent number: 11130347
    Abstract: Provided is a printer including an ink tank, a print head performing printing by using ink in the ink tank, a light source provided at the substrate and irradiating the ink tank with light from a side of the ink tank, a photoelectric conversion device provided at the substrate and detecting light incident from the ink tank in a period during which the light source emits light, and a processing unit detecting an amount of ink based on an output of the photoelectric conversion device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2021
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Takahiro Netsu
  • Publication number: 20210291543
    Abstract: A printer includes an ink tank, a print head performing printing by using ink in the ink tank; a light source irradiating an inside of the ink tank with light; a sensor detecting light incident from the ink tank during a period in which the light source emits light; and a background plate facing the light source and the sensor in the ink tank.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 15, 2021
    Publication date: September 23, 2021
    Inventors: Takahiro NETSU, Takuma USUDA
  • Publication number: 20210291544
    Abstract: A printer includes an ink tank, a print head performing printing by using ink in the ink tank; a light source irradiating an inside of the ink tank with light; a sensor detecting light incident from the ink tank during a period in which the light source emits light; and a processing section detecting an amount of ink in the ink tank based on an output of the sensor. The light source is turned on by an amount of light based on a result of the sensor detecting light reflected from an area where the ink does not exist.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 15, 2021
    Publication date: September 23, 2021
    Inventors: Takahiro NETSU, Takuma USUDA
  • Publication number: 20210291549
    Abstract: A printer includes an ink tank; a print head performing printing by using ink in the ink tank; a light source irradiating an inside of the ink tank with light; a sensor detecting light of a plurality of colors incident from the ink tank during a period in which the light source emits light; and a processing section estimating an ink type of the ink in the ink tank based on an output of the sensor at a position corresponding to a meniscus portion of the ink.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 15, 2021
    Publication date: September 23, 2021
    Inventors: Takahiro NETSU, Takuma USUDA
  • Patent number: 11104149
    Abstract: Provided is an electronic apparatus including an image reading unit that reads a document by using a first sensor module having m linear image sensor chips, an ink tank, a print head, and a second sensor module having n (n<m) linear image sensor chips and detecting light incident from the ink tank, and a processing unit that detects an amount of ink in the ink tank based on an output of the second sensor module.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Takahiro Netsu
  • Patent number: 11104148
    Abstract: Provided is a printer including an ink tank, a print head, a light source irradiating the ink tank with infrared light, a photoelectric conversion device detecting light incident from the ink tank in a period during which the light source emits light, a processing unit detecting an amount of ink based on an output of the photoelectric conversion device, and a window portion for visually recognizing ink.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Takahiro Netsu, Toshifumi Sakai
  • Patent number: 11084296
    Abstract: Provided is a production method of a printer that detects an amount of ink in an ink tank by using a light source and a photoelectric conversion device, the method including a first step of irradiating the ink tank with light by the light source in a state where the ink tank is not filled with ink to detect light from the ink tank by using the photoelectric conversion device, and a second step of storing a first correction parameter of an output of the photoelectric conversion device in a non-volatile storage unit of the printer based on the output of the photoelectric conversion device in the first step.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 10, 2021
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Takahiro Netsu
  • Patent number: 11046086
    Abstract: Provided is a printer including an ink tank, a print head, a light source that irradiates the ink tank with light, a photoelectric conversion device that detects light incident from the ink tank, and a processing unit. The processing unit detects an amount of ink in the ink tank based on a lowest position among the positions where a light amount detected by the photoelectric conversion device satisfies a given condition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 29, 2021
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Takahiro Netsu
  • Patent number: 11046081
    Abstract: Provided is a printer including an ink tank, a print head performing printing by using ink in the ink tank, a light source irradiating the ink tank with light, a photoelectric conversion device detecting light incident from the ink tank in a period during which the light source emits light, and a processing unit determining ink characteristics based on characteristics of a light amount detected by the photoelectric conversion device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 29, 2021
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Takahiro Netsu
  • Patent number: 11046085
    Abstract: Provided is a printer including an ink tank provided with, at a side surface, an optical separator for separating light in a vertical direction, a print head performing printing by using ink in the ink tank, a photoelectric conversion device detecting light incident from the ink tank after passing through the optical separator, and a processing unit detecting an amount of ink in the ink tank based on an output of the photoelectric conversion device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 29, 2021
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Takahiro Netsu
  • Publication number: 20210053358
    Abstract: A printer includes an ink tank, a print head that performs printing by using ink in the ink tank, a light source that emits light into the ink tank, a sensor that detects light incident from an ink tank side in a period during which the light source emits light and outputs pixel data, and a processing section that determines an ink amount based on an output of the sensor. A pitch of a plurality of lenses is k times a pixel pitch of the sensor, k being an integer of 2 or more, and the processing section detects the ink amount based on a sum of outputs of k continuous pixels.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 18, 2020
    Publication date: February 25, 2021
    Inventors: Takahiro NETSU, Takuma USUDA
  • Publication number: 20210053356
    Abstract: A printer includes an ink tank, a print head that performs printing by using ink in the ink tank, a light source that emits light into the ink tank, a sensor that outputs pixel data by detecting light incident from an ink tank side in a period during which the light source emits light, and a processing section that determines an ink amount by an output of the sensor. The processing section designates a reading area for the sensor, and determines an ink amount based on pixel data of the reading area output from the sensor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 18, 2020
    Publication date: February 25, 2021
    Inventors: Takahiro NETSU, Takuma USUDA, Kei NAGAOKA
  • Publication number: 20210053355
    Abstract: A printer includes an ink tank, a print head that performs printing using ink IK in the ink tank, a light source that emits light into the ink tank, a sensor that detects first light of a first wavelength band and second light of a second wavelength band incident from an ink tank side, in a period during which the light source emits light, and a processing section. The processing section determines the ink type of the ink in the ink tank based on a first light amount of the first light and a second light amount of the second light at a position where the ink exists.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 18, 2020
    Publication date: February 25, 2021
    Inventors: Takuma Usuda, Takahiro Netsu