Patents by Inventor Takuya Murata

Takuya Murata 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: 9367046
    Abstract: A motor controller, operatively connected to a motor having an output shaft, includes a rotary detector to detect a rotation direction and a rotation amount of the output shaft of the motor to generate an actual rotary signal, a drive controller to generate a control signal based on the actual rotary signal and a target rotary signal indicating a target rotary direction and a target rotary amount, and a driver to supply a driving power to the motor based on the control signal. When the motor is in a hold state, the control signal is reversed periodically for a predetermined reverse time period T2 per a predetermined one reverse cycle T1. When the control signal is not reversed for a certain lock detection time period Tr that is longer than the revere cycle T1 of the control signal, supply of the driving power to the motor is blocked.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2016
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Takuya Murata, Natsuko Ishizuka
  • Publication number: 20160164443
    Abstract: A control device includes a motor driving unit that supplies electric power to a motor according to a magnetic-pole-phase signal output from the motor; and a rotational-position detecting unit that converts the magnetic-pole-phase signal into a rotational-position detection signal and outputs the rotational-position detection signal. The rotational-position detection signal indicates a rotation amount and a rotation direction of an output shaft of the motor and has a higher resolution than the magnetic-pole-phase signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 9, 2016
    Publication date: June 9, 2016
    Inventor: Takuya Murata
  • Patent number: 9323208
    Abstract: An electric motor system includes a brushless direct-current motor, a driver circuit, a position sensor, and a control circuit. The motor has an output shaft for transmitting torque. The driver circuit supplies power to the motor according to a control signal input thereto. The position sensor measures an angular, rotational position of the motor shaft. The control circuit controls operation of the motor. The control circuit includes a position sensor terminal, a reference terminal, a differential calculator, a controller, and a gain adjuster. The position sensor terminal receives a feedback signal. The reference terminal receives a reference signal. The differential calculator generates an error signal representing a difference between the measured and targeted rotational positions. The controller generates the control signal based on the error signal through a combination of control actions. The gain adjuster is connected to the controller to adjust a gain of each control action.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2016
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Shogo Sakamoto, Takuya Murata, Takeo Seki, Hiroyuki Kiguchi
  • Patent number: 9294021
    Abstract: A control device includes a motor driving unit that supplies electric power to a motor according to a magnetic-pole-phase signal output from the motor; and a rotational-position detecting unit that converts the magnetic-pole-phase signal into a rotational-position detection signal and outputs the rotational-position detection signal. The rotational-position detection signal indicates a rotation amount and a rotation direction of an output shaft of the motor and has a higher resolution than the magnetic-pole-phase signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 22, 2016
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LIMITED
    Inventor: Takuya Murata
  • Patent number: 9263978
    Abstract: A drive unit, which can be included in an image forming apparatus with peripherals disposed thereto and use a control method therefore, includes an inner rotor brushless DC motor, a driver, a rotation detector, and a controller. The driver supplies power to drive the brushless DC motor. The rotation detector detects an amount and direction of rotations of an output shaft. The controller controls the rotations of the brushless DC motor and obtains a target drive signal of the brushless DC motor externally and a detection signal from the rotation detector and outputs a signal to the driver. The controller controls a speed of rotation of the brushless DC motor by varying the signal output to the driver based on the target drive signal and the detection signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2016
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Takuya Murata, Shogo Sakamoto, Kenji Tomita
  • Publication number: 20150234362
    Abstract: A motor controller, operatively connected to a motor having an output shaft, includes a rotary detector to detect a rotation direction and a rotation amount of the output shaft of the motor to generate an actual rotary signal, a drive controller to generate a control signal based on the actual rotary signal and a target rotary signal indicating a target rotary direction and a target rotary amount, and a driver to supply a driving power to the motor based on the control signal. When the motor is in a hold state, the control signal is reversed periodically for a predetermined reverse time period T2 per a predetermined one reverse cycle T1. When the control signal is not reversed for a certain lock detection time period Tr that is longer than the revere cycle T1 of the control signal, supply of the driving power to the motor is blocked.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 7, 2015
    Publication date: August 20, 2015
    Inventors: Takuya MURATA, Natsuko Ishizuka
  • Patent number: 9106164
    Abstract: A motor control device to execute speed control and position control of motor simultaneously, includes a target position information provider, a target speed information provider, a detected position information detector, a processor to add position feedback information, position feed-forward information, speed feedback information, and speed feed-forward information for output as motor control information, based on the target position information, the setting target speed information, and the detected position speed information, a control voltage generator operatively connected to the processor to generate a control voltage to drive the motor in accordance with the motor control information, and a motor driver operatively connected to the control voltage generator and the motor to control rotation of the motor based on the control voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2015
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Takeo Seki, Hiroyuki Kiguchi, Natsuko Ishizuka, Takuya Murata
  • Patent number: 9093935
    Abstract: A motor control device supplies a drive control signal to a drive circuit that drives a motor at a constant period using a motor drive signal based on the drive control signal, and shuts off the motor drive signal when a count value counted by a counter that reset the count value if a state of the motor changes exceeds a threshold corresponding to a plurality of driving periods of the motor. The motor control device includes: a control unit that controls a setting unit to set a rotational direction of the motor to a first rotational direction and a second rotational direction reverse to the first rotational direction at the constant period alternately, when a drive mode of the motor is a position holding mode to drive the motor so as to hold a rotational position of the motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2015
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LIMITED
    Inventors: Natsuko Ishizuka, Takuya Murata, Hiroyuki Kiguchi, Takeo Seki
  • Patent number: 9088227
    Abstract: A motor controller, operatively connected to a motor having an output shaft, includes a rotary detector to detect a rotation direction and a rotation amount of the output shaft of the motor to generate an actual rotary signal, a drive controller to generate a control signal based on the actual rotary signal and a target rotary signal indicating a target rotary direction and a target rotary amount, and a driver to supply a driving power to the motor based on the control signal. When the motor is in a hold state, the control signal is reversed periodically for a predetermined reverse time period T2 per a predetermined one reverse cycle T1. When the control signal is not reversed for a certain lock detection time period Tr that is longer than the revere cycle T1 of the control signal, supply of the driving power to the motor is blocked.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2015
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Takuya Murata, Natsuko Ishizuka
  • Publication number: 20150185736
    Abstract: A motor controller receiving as input an encoder signal changing in response to a driving position of a motor, outputting a motor driving command in response to the encoder signal to control at least one of the driving position or a driving velocity of the motor, includes an interrupt processing section to execute interrupt operations every prescribed interrupt cycle, a low-frequency processing section to selectively execute a subset of the interrupt operations every prescribed number of the interrupt cycles, and a high-frequency processing section to execute another subset of the interrupt operations every prescribed interrupt cycle, wherein the high-frequency processing section executes at least an operation to detect the driving position indicated by the encoder signal, wherein the low-frequency processing section executes at least an operation to generate the motor driving command.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 13, 2015
    Publication date: July 2, 2015
    Inventors: Haruyuki SUZUKI, Takuya MURATA
  • Publication number: 20150130385
    Abstract: A motor control device includes a motor lock state determining unit configured to determine whether a motor is in a rotation lock state; a position hold state determining unit configured to determine whether the motor is in a position hold state; a lock detection invalidation determining unit configured to invalidate the determination of the lock state when the motor is in the position hold state and when a predetermined condition is satisfied; a position error correction unit configured to correct an error of a target stop position of the motor when the determination of the lock state is invalidated; and a motor control unit configured to change a rotation direction of the motor in a time shorter than a time in which the motor lock state determining unit determines the lock state when the motor is in the position hold state after the error is corrected.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 19, 2015
    Publication date: May 14, 2015
    Applicant: RICOH COMPANY, LIMITED
    Inventors: Natsuko ISHIZUKA, Hiroyuki KIGUCHI, Takeo SEKI, Takuya MURATA
  • Patent number: 9018885
    Abstract: A motor controller receiving as input an encoder signal changing in response to a driving position of a motor, outputting a motor driving command in response to the encoder signal to control at least one of the driving position or a driving velocity of the motor, includes an interrupt processing section to execute interrupt operations every prescribed interrupt cycle, a low-frequency processing section to selectively execute a subset of the interrupt operations every prescribed number of the interrupt cycles, and a high-frequency processing section to execute another subset of the interrupt operations every prescribed interrupt cycle, wherein the high-frequency processing section executes at least an operation to detect the driving position indicated by the encoder signal, wherein the low-frequency processing section executes at least an operation to generate the motor driving command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2015
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Haruyuki Suzuki, Takuya Murata
  • Patent number: 9018884
    Abstract: A motor control device includes a motor lock state determining unit configured to determine whether a motor is in a rotation lock state; a position hold state determining unit configured to determine whether the motor is in a position hold state; a lock detection invalidation determining unit configured to invalidate the determination of the lock state when the motor is in the position hold state and when a predetermined condition is satisfied; a position error correction unit configured to correct an error of a target stop position of the motor when the determination of the lock state is invalidated; and a motor control unit configured to change a rotation direction of the motor in a time shorter than a time in which the motor lock state determining unit determines the lock state when the motor is in the position hold state after the error is corrected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2015
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Limited
    Inventors: Natsuko Ishizuka, Hiroyuki Kiguchi, Takeo Seki, Takuya Murata
  • Publication number: 20150110525
    Abstract: An electric motor system includes a brushless direct-current motor, a driver circuit, a position sensor, and a control circuit. The motor has an output shaft for transmitting torque. The driver circuit supplies power to the motor according to a control signal input thereto. The position sensor measures an angular, rotational position of the motor shaft. The control circuit controls operation of the motor. The control circuit includes a position sensor terminal, a reference terminal, a differential calculator, a controller, and a gain adjuster. The position sensor terminal receives a feedback signal. The reference terminal receives a reference signal. The differential calculator generates an error signal representing a difference between the measured and targeted rotational positions. The controller generates the control signal based on the error signal through a combination of control actions. The gain adjuster is connected to the controller to adjust a gain of each control action.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 31, 2014
    Publication date: April 23, 2015
    Applicant: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Shogo SAKAMOTO, Takuya MURATA, Takeo SEKI, Hiroyuki KIGUCHI
  • Patent number: 8928270
    Abstract: An electric motor system includes a brushless direct-current motor, a driver circuit, a position sensor, and a control circuit. The motor has an output shaft for transmitting torque. The driver circuit supplies power to the motor according to a control signal input thereto. The position sensor measures an angular, rotational position of the motor shaft. The control circuit controls operation of the motor. The control circuit includes a position sensor terminal, a reference terminal, a differential calculator, a controller, and a gain adjuster. The position sensor terminal receives a feedback signal. The reference terminal receives a reference signal. The differential calculator generates an error signal representing a difference between the measured and targeted rotational positions. The controller generates the control signal based on the error signal through a combination of control actions. The gain adjuster is connected to the controller to adjust a gain of each control action.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 6, 2015
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Shogo Sakamoto, Takuya Murata, Takeo Seki, Hiroyuki Kiguchi
  • Publication number: 20140361715
    Abstract: A control device includes a motor driving unit that supplies electric power to a motor according to a magnetic-pole-phase signal output from the motor; and a rotational-position detecting unit that converts the magnetic-pole-phase signal into a rotational-position detection signal and outputs the rotational-position detection signal. The rotational-position detection signal indicates a rotation amount and a rotation direction of an output shaft of the motor and has a higher resolution than the magnetic-pole-phase signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 29, 2014
    Publication date: December 11, 2014
    Inventor: Takuya MURATA
  • Publication number: 20140312819
    Abstract: A drive unit, which can be included in an image forming apparatus with peripherals disposed thereto and use a control method therefore, includes an inner rotor brushless DC motor, a driver, a rotation detector, and a controller. The driver supplies power to drive the brushless DC motor. The rotation detector detects an amount and direction of rotations of an output shaft. The controller controls the rotations of the brushless DC motor and obtains a target drive signal of the brushless DC motor externally and a detection signal from the rotation detector and outputs a signal to the driver. The controller controls a speed of rotation of the brushless DC motor by varying the signal output to the driver based on the target drive signal and the detection signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 1, 2014
    Publication date: October 23, 2014
    Applicant: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Takuya MURATA, Shogo SAKAMOTO, Kenji TOMITA
  • Patent number: 8796962
    Abstract: A drive unit, which can be included in an image forming apparatus with peripherals disposed thereto and use a control method therefore, includes an inner rotor brushless DC motor, a driver, a rotation detector, and a controller. The driver supplies power to drive the brushless DC motor. The rotation detector detects an amount and direction of rotations of an output shaft. The controller controls the rotations of the brushless DC motor and obtains a target drive signal of the brushless DC motor externally and a detection signal from the rotation detector and outputs a signal to the driver. The controller controls a speed of rotation of the brushless DC motor by varying the signal output to the driver based on the target drive signal and the detection signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 5, 2014
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Takuya Murata, Shogo Sakamoto, Kenji Tomita
  • Publication number: 20140049199
    Abstract: A motor control device supplies a drive control signal to a drive circuit that drives a motor at a constant period using a motor drive signal based on the drive control signal, and shuts off the motor drive signal when a count value counted by a counter that reset the count value if a state of the motor changes exceeds a threshold corresponding to a plurality of driving periods of the motor. The motor control device includes: a control unit that controls a setting unit to set a rotational direction of the motor to a first rotational direction and a second rotational direction reverse to the first rotational direction at the constant period alternately, when a drive mode of the motor is a position holding mode to drive the motor so as to hold a rotational position of the motor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 13, 2013
    Publication date: February 20, 2014
    Inventors: Natsuko ISHIZUKA, Takuya Murata, Hiroyuki Kiguchi, Takeo Seki
  • Publication number: 20140044466
    Abstract: A motor controller, operatively connected to a motor having an output shaft, includes a rotary detector to detect a rotation direction and a rotation amount of the output shaft of the motor to generate an actual rotary signal, a drive controller to generate a control signal based on the actual rotary signal and a target rotary signal indicating a target rotary direction and a target rotary amount, and a driver to supply a driving power to the motor based on the control signal. When the motor is in a hold state, the control signal is reversed periodically for a predetermined reverse time period T2 per a predetermined one reverse cycle T1. When the control signal is not reversed for a certain lock detection time period Tr that is longer than the revere cycle T1 of the control signal, supply of the driving power to the motor is blocked.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 30, 2013
    Publication date: February 13, 2014
    Inventors: Takuya Murata, Natsuko Ishizuka