Abstract: A telephoto lens includes, in order from the object side, a first lens unit having a positive refracting power, a second lens unit having a negative refracting power, a third lens unit having a positive refracting power, and a fourth lens unit having a negative refracting power. The second lens unit has a cemented lens composed of a positive lens and a negative lens, and a negative lens. The fourth lens unit has a cemented lens composed of a negative lens and a positive lens, and a negative lens.

Abstract: In an image printing apparatus according to this invention, if a block management unit detects that reception of a data frame transferred from a host computer delays during image printing using data frames of divided image data transferred from the host computer, a printing head (205) is moved to the home position at a speed including a speed higher than the image printing speed at the end of image printing using a data frame stored in the block of a RAM (203). The printing head (205) stands by, and upon the completion of receiving the delayed data frame, is moved from the home position to the position where image printing is interrupted at a speed including a speed higher than the image printing speed. Even if reception of a data frame delays during image printing, the prolongation of the image printing time can be minimized.

Abstract: The invention concerns a compact optical system that is made up of a reduced number of lens elements with a bendable optical path and so is compatible with miniature image pickup devices used with cellular phones, etc. The image pickup lens of the invention comprises, in order from its object side, a first lens element L101 having negative refracting power, a second lens element L102 having positive refracting power, a stop S1, a third lens element L103 having negative refracting power and a fourth lens element L104 having positive refracting power, and satisfies the following conditions (1) and (2).

Abstract: A microscope objective lens having a large aperture and yielding satisfactorily corrected, flat images. The microscope objective lens includes, in order from the object side, a first lens group G1 having an overall positive refractive power and a second lens group G2. The second lens group G2 includes plural Gauss lens sets G2A, G2C. Each Gauss lens set is formed of, in order from the object side, a meniscus-shaped optical element with its concave surface on the image side, and a meniscus-shaped optical element with its concave surface on the object side. Preferably, each of these meniscus-shaped optical elements is formed of two lens elements that are cemented together. Prescribed conditions are set forth to favorably correct various aberrations.

Abstract: In a printing apparatus having mechanism for feeding a printing medium relative to the printing head having an array of a plurality of printing elements, when it is necessary to shift the positions of data to be set in the printing elements by an amount smaller than 8 bits, a basic unit used for data processing, according to the printing medium feeding amount determined by a printing resolution, a trouble of re-editing the print data is avoided. To achieve this, 8 bits of blank data are added to the print data to be transferred to the plurality of printing elements and the number of clocks for transferring the print data is reduced by an amount corresponding to the data position shifting. This allows the print data to be freely allocated to the appropriate positions of the printing elements without having to re-edit the data.

Abstract: A microscope is disclosed that includes: a light source that emits light in a wavelength range that includes both visible and infrared wavelengths, an illuminating optical system for illuminating a specimen with the light from the light source, an objective lens for gathering light from the specimen and causing it to converge, a light beam dividing unit that divides the beam of light from the objective lens into plural divided light paths such that the wavelength ranges in the divided light paths differ from one another, a magnification conversion optical system in one of the divided light paths which converts the magnification of images formed by light in that divided light path, and an imaging device located in each of at least two of the divided light paths, wherein the objective lens has a magnifying power less than or equal to 32 and a numerical aperture greater than or equal to 0.80.

Abstract: A microscope objective lens having a large aperture and yielding satisfactorily corrected, flat images. The microscope objective lens includes, in order from the object side, a first lens group G1 having an overall positive refractive power and a second lens group G2. The second lens group G2 includes plural Gauss lens sets G2A, G2C. Each Gauss lens set is formed of, in order from the object side, a meniscus-shaped optical element with its concave surface on the image side, and a meniscus-shaped optical element with its concave surface on the object side. Preferably, each of these meniscus-shaped optical elements is formed of two lens elements that are cemented together. Prescribed conditions are set forth to favorably correct various aberrations.

Abstract: A microscope is disclosed that includes: a light source that emits light in a wavelength range that includes both visible and infrared wavelengths, an illuminating optical system for illuminating a specimen with the light from the light source, an objective lens for gathering light from the specimen and causing it to converge, a light beam dividing unit that divides the beam of light from the objective lens into plural divided light paths such that the wavelength ranges in the divided light paths differ from one another, a magnification conversion optical system in one of the divided light paths which converts the magnification of images formed by light in that divided light path, and an imaging device located in each of at least two of the divided light paths, wherein the objective lens has a magnifying power less than or equal to 32 and a numerical aperture greater than or equal to 0.80.

Abstract: There is disclosed a gear module comprising an output gear pivotally fitted to a base, a transmission gear rotated by a driving force from a driving motor to transmit the driving force to the output gear, a power actuating lever having a base end pivotally fitted to the base to be rotated around the base end; an actuated lever having a top end pivotally fitted to the transmission lever and a base end pivotally fitted to the base; and a connection bar connecting the top end of the power actuating lever and the top end of the actuated lever, the connection bar allowing the actuated lever to rotate in accordance with a rotation of the power actuating lever and allowing the transmission gear and the output gear to be engaged with each other, wherein the link axises of the power actuating lever and the connection bar form approximately straight line when the transmission lever is engaged with the output gear.

Abstract: The present invention provides a culture vessel and microscope that allows a wide area of favorable observation of the sample in the plural wells even when a negative refractive power is generated in the culture medium, wherein a ring-shaped opening, a condenser lens, a lens array, a well plate, an objective lens and a phase contrast plate are disposed in this order viewed from the light source side with a construction to place a phase contrast film of the phase contrast plate in a conjugated relation to the projection pupil position or projection pupil of the objective lens, and the culture vessel is constructed of the lens array and well plate with a relative disposition in which the optical axis of each lens is coaxial with the center line of the confronting each well; the aperture of the ring-shaped opening being smaller than the aperture of the ring-shaped opening that is used when the culture vessel is not disposed in the optical path.

Abstract: There is disclosed a gear module comprising an output gear pivotally fitted to a base, a transmission gear rotated by a driving force from a driving motor to transmit the driving force to the output gear, a power actuating lever having a base end pivotally fitted to the base to be rotated around the base end; an actuated lever having a top end pivotally fitted to the transmission lever and a base end pivotally fitted to the base; and a connection bar connecting the top end of the power actuating lever and the top end of the actuated lever, the connection bar allowing the actuated lever to rotate in accordance with a rotation of the power actuating lever and allowing the transmission gear and the output gear to be engaged with each other, wherein the link axises of the power actuating lever and the connection bar form approximately a straight line when the transmission lever is engaged with the output gear.

Abstract: An image is recorded on a recording medium by recording dots of a black ink and a color ink discharged onto the recording medium from a recording head. A boundary proximity-degree detecting circuit detects the degree of positional proximity, i.e., closeness, between the recording dots of the black ink and the recording dots of the color ink at the boundary between these dots. A dot substituting circuit performs, in accordance with the detected degree of positional proximity, substitution of the black pixels with recording dots of a color ink at the boundary. Thus, pixels of the image to be recorded are replaced with recording dots of a color ink by an extent which is determined based on the degree of positional proximity between the pixels of the different colors. A sharp black image can be obtained with minimized color mixing at the boundary between the black image region and the color region, regardless of the degree of positional proximity between these regions.

Abstract: A multilayer film structure includes a light absorption layer and a transparent layer so that a phase in the light absorption layer and a phase in the transparent layer have substantially constant values, irrespective of wavelengths of light transmitted through both the layers.