Patents by Inventor Tomokazu Nakamura

Tomokazu Nakamura 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: 7288059
    Abstract: A sheet processing apparatus includes a processing tray on which sheets are stacked in a bundle form, an intermediate portion stapler which staples the intermediate portion of the sheet bundle stacked on the processing tray, a sheet bundle conveying member which conveys the stapled sheet bundle, a curved sheet bundle conveying path which is downwardly curved on the downstream side of the processing tray with respect to the sheet conveying direction and adapted to guide the sheet bundle conveyed by the sheet bundle conveying member, and a folding device which is arranged in the intermediate portion of the curved sheet bundle conveying path and which folds the stapled sheet bundle, wherein the processing tray is set to be lower on the upstream side than on the downstream side with respect to the sheet conveying direction, and wherein the curved guide path has an extended portion extending to a position under the stacking portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2005
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2007
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Taro Ikeda, Hiroaki Takagishi, Kenichi Hayashi, Tomokazu Nakamura, Wataru Kawata, Hideki Kushida, Hiromasa Katayama
  • Patent number: 7285084
    Abstract: A folded back portion flattening device includes a gripper and a presser. The gripper grips a sheet bundle formed into a booklet with the folded back portion protruding from the gripper. The presser presses the folded back portion of the sheet bundle gripped by the gripper, and includes pressing rollers which have pressing rotational surfaces and which are disposed along the folded back portion. The pressing rotational surfaces press the folded back portion. The pressing rollers are disposed so that the rotational pressing surface of a second pressing roller, which presses the folded back portion after the rotational pressing surface of a first pressing roller has pressed the folded back portion, presses deeper into an edge of the sheet bundle than the rotational pressing surface of the first pressing roller. At least one of the gripper and presser is movable in a direction parallel to the folded back portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2007
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hitoshi Fujimoto, Yusuke Obuchi, Daisaku Kamiya, Kiyoshi Watanabe, Tomokazu Nakamura, Kenichi Hayashi, Toshimasa Suzuki, Hideki Kushida, Atsuteru Oikawa
  • Patent number: 7259877
    Abstract: An inspection device having a reading portion for reading an image on a sheet having an image formed thereon, a storage portion for storing therein image data read by the reading portion, and a selecting portion for selecting one of a first mode for storing the image data read by the reading portion in the storage portion, and a second mode for judging whether the image data read by the reading portion is similar to the image data stored in the storage portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2007
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masaaki Inoo, Tomokazu Nakamura, Yusuke Obuchi, Yoshiyuki Nakajima, Atsuteru Oikawa, Hitoshi Kato
  • Publication number: 20070177038
    Abstract: When the image of a face is detected from within the image of a subject, the brightness of the face image is calculated. If it is determined that the face image is dark are requires a correction, a revised gamma correction curve is calculated in such a manner that both the face image and the overall image of the subject take on the appropriate brightness. A gamma correction is applied using the revised gamma correction curve. Noise reduction processing is executed in order to suppress the amount of noise produced by the gamma correction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 31, 2007
    Publication date: August 2, 2007
    Inventor: Tomokazu Nakamura
  • Publication number: 20070161489
    Abstract: A sheet processing apparatus includes a processing tray on which sheets are stacked in a bundle form, an intermediate portion stapler which staples the intermediate portion of the sheet bundle stacked on the processing tray, a sheet bundle conveying member which conveys the stapled sheet bundle, a curved sheet bundle conveying path which is downwardly curved on the downstream side of the processing tray with respect to the sheet conveying direction and adapted to guide the sheet bundle conveyed by the sheet bundle conveying member, and a folding device which is arranged in the intermediate portion of the curved sheet bundle conveying path and which folds the stapled sheet bundle, wherein the processing tray is set to be lower on the upstream side than on the downstream side with respect to the sheet conveying direction, and wherein the curved guide path has an extended portion extending to a position under the stacking portion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 20, 2007
    Publication date: July 12, 2007
    Applicant: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: TARO IKEDA, Hiroaki Takagishi, Kenichi Hayashi, Tomokazu Nakamura, Wataru Kawata, Hideki Kushida, Hiromasa Katayama
  • Publication number: 20070102860
    Abstract: A sheet processing apparatus includes: a buffer unit which stores plural supplied sheets with upstream edges in a conveying direction thereof aligned; a processing tray on which sheets discharged from the buffer unit are stacked; and an oscillation roller pair and a return roller which convey the sheet stacked on the processing tray to bring the sheet into abutment against a stopper for receiving the upstream edge of the sheet. The buffer unit is adapted to align the upstream edges of only sheets to be stored before a sheet to be supplied last among the sheets to be stored.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 16, 2006
    Publication date: May 10, 2007
    Applicants: Canon Finetech Inc., Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: KENICHI HAYASHI, Tomokazu Nakamura, Naoto Watanabe, Yusuke Obuchi, Hitoshi Kato, Shunsuke Nishimura, Tetsuya Terada, Yasutaka Iwasa, Daisuke Matsukura, Norio Motoi, Masayoshi Kubo
  • Publication number: 20070085911
    Abstract: A white balance adjustment that conforms to the color temperature of light at the time of imaging is applied to image data. Specifically, a face-image area is detected from the image of a subject. A skin-tone area is detected from the detected face-image area, and the color temperature of light in the environment in which the image was sensed is detected from the detected skin-tone area. White balance gain conforming to the detected color temperature is calculated. Image data representing the image of the subject is subjected to a white balance adjustment using the white balance gain calculated.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 16, 2006
    Publication date: April 19, 2007
    Inventor: Tomokazu Nakamura
  • Publication number: 20070070214
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus includes a face detector and a gamma corrector. The face detector detects a subject area or areas out of image data output from an image sensor. A correction table is produced on the basis of luminance values of the subject area and a frequency distribution of luminance, i.e., distribution information derived from the entire or part of an area represented by the image data. The gamma corrector uses either one of the above correction table and a basic correction table to correct the tone of the image data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 22, 2006
    Publication date: March 29, 2007
    Inventor: Tomokazu Nakamura
  • Patent number: 7192020
    Abstract: A sheet processing apparatus includes: a buffer unit which stores plural supplied sheets with upstream edges in a conveying direction thereof aligned; a processing tray on which sheets discharged from the buffer unit are stacked; and an oscillation roller pair and a return roller which convey the sheet stacked on the processing tray to bring the sheet into abutment against a stopper for receiving the upstream edge of the sheet. The buffer unit is adapted to align the upstream edges of only sheets to be stored before a sheet to be supplied last among the sheets to be stored.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2004
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2007
    Assignees: Canon Finetech Inc., Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kenichi Hayashi, Tomokazu Nakamura, Naoto Watanabe, Yusuke Obuchi, Hitoshi Kato, Shunsuke Nishimura, Tetsuya Terada, Yasutaka Iwasa, Daisuke Matsukura, Norio Motoi, Masayoshi Kubo
  • Publication number: 20070060461
    Abstract: A folded back portion flattening device includes a gripper and a presser. The gripper grips a sheet bundle formed into a booklet with the folded back portion protruding from the gripper. The presser presses the folded back portion of the sheet bundle gripped by the gripper, and includes pressing rollers which have pressing rotational surfaces and which are disposed along the folded back portion. The pressing rotational surfaces press the folded back portion. The pressing rollers are disposed so that the rotational pressing surface of a second pressing roller, which presses the folded back portion after the rotational pressing surface of a first pressing roller has pressed the folded back portion, presses deeper into an edge of the sheet bundle than the rotational pressing surface of the first pressing roller. At least one of the gripper and presser is movable in a direction parallel to the folded back portion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 1, 2006
    Publication date: March 15, 2007
    Applicant: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Hitoshi Fujimoto, Yusuke Obuchi, Daisaku Kamiya, Kiyoshi Watanabe, Tomokazu Nakamura, Kenichi Hayashi, Toshimasa Suzuki, Hideki Kushida, Atsuteru Oikawa
  • Publication number: 20070057434
    Abstract: A sheet processing apparatus is provided with a processing tray on which sheets are to be stacked and subjected to a processing, a stack tray provided in the downstream of the processing tray with respect to the sheet conveying direction on which sheets are to be stacked, an oscillation roller pair for conveying the sheets stacked on the processing tray to the stack tray, and a trailing edge assist for conveying the sheet stacked on the processing tray toward the stack tray. The sheets stacked on the processing tray are discharged to the stack tray by the oscillation roller pair and the trailing edge assist.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 2, 2006
    Publication date: March 15, 2007
    Applicants: Canon Finetech Inc., Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Tomokazu Nakamura, Yoshinori Isobe, Toshimasa Suzuki, Masatoshi Yaginuma, Masahiro Yonenuma, Atsushi Takada, Norio Motoi
  • Patent number: 7165764
    Abstract: A sheet processing apparatus is provided with a processing tray on which sheets are to be stacked and subjected to a processing, a stack tray provided in the downstream of the processing tray with respect to the sheet conveying direction on which sheets are to be stacked, an oscillation roller pair for conveying the sheets stacked on the processing tray to the stack tray, and a trailing edge assist for conveying the sheet stacked on the processing tray toward the stack tray. The sheets stacked on the processing tray are discharged to the stack tray by the oscillation roller pair and the trailing edge assist.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2004
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2007
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Tomokazu Nakamura, Yoshinori Isobe, Toshimasa Suzuki, Masatoshi Yaginuma, Masahiro Yonenuma, Atsushi Takada, Norio Motoi
  • Publication number: 20060285869
    Abstract: A sheet-processing system can perform a plurality of jobs in parallel. While process 1 and process 2 are being processed simultaneously, a job display screen is segmented into two such that segmented job display screens for process 1 and process 2 are simultaneously displayed in a touch panel display frame of an operation display. Accordingly, the operation display in the sheet-processing system exhibits good visibility.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 30, 2006
    Publication date: December 21, 2006
    Applicant: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Hideki Kushida, Tomokazu Nakamura, Akihiro Sato, Akihiro Shimizu, Tatsuya Goto, Katsuaki Hirai
  • Patent number: 7147598
    Abstract: A folded back portion flattening device includes a gripper and a presser. The gripper grips a sheet bundle formed into a booklet with the folded back portion protruding from the gripper. The presser presses the folded back portion of the sheet bundle gripped by the gripper, and includes pressing rollers which have pressing rotational surfaces and which are disposed along the folded back portion. The pressing rotational surfaces press the folded back portion. The pressing rollers are disposed so that the rotational pressing surface of a second pressing roller, which presses the folded back portion after the rotational pressing surface of a first pressing roller has pressed the folded back portion, presses deeper into an edge of the sheet bundle than the rotational pressing surface of the first pressing roller. At least one of the gripper and presser is movable in a direction parallel to the folded back portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2005
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2006
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hitoshi Fujimoto, Yusuke Obuchi, Daisaku Kamiya, Kiyoshi Watanabe, Tomokazu Nakamura, Kenichi Hayashi, Toshimasa Suzuki, Hideki Kushida, Atsuteru Oikawa
  • Patent number: 7120373
    Abstract: A sheet-processing system can perform a plurality of jobs in parallel. While process 1 and process 2 are being processed simultaneously, a job display screen is segmented into two such that segmented job display screens for process 1 and process 2 are simultaneously displayed in a touch panel display frame of an operation display. Accordingly, the operation display in the sheet-processing system exhibits good visibility.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2004
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2006
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hideki Kushida, Tomokazu Nakamura, Akihiro Sato, Akihiro Shimizu, Tatsuya Goto, Katsuaki Hirai
  • Publication number: 20060173153
    Abstract: A compound of the following formula (I) or (II) (in the formula (I), n represents an integer of 0 to 2) (in the formula (II), m represents an integer of 0 to 2).
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 12, 2006
    Publication date: August 3, 2006
    Inventors: Tatsumi Nuno, Tomokazu Nakamura
  • Publication number: 20060092444
    Abstract: The matrix coefficient determining process of the present invention can determine linear matrix and color-difference matrix coefficients appropriate for a given type of light source at the same time. The coefficients can be used to perform color correction of RAW data to ensure good color reproduction. Furthermore, by performing the matrix coefficient determining process for a number of types of light sources, optimum color reproduction coefficients and for each of the light sources can be obtained.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 27, 2005
    Publication date: May 4, 2006
    Inventors: Tomokazu Nakamura, Makoto Oishi
  • Publication number: 20060017209
    Abstract: When a sheet bundle is being conveyed by any one pair of plural pairs of rollers independently movable toward and away from the bundle sheet, before the bound portion of the sheet bundle passes the pair of rollers, the pair of rollers on the downstream side nearest to the bound portion are separated from the sheet bundle, and the pairs of rollers more downstream than that pair convey the sheet bundle. Thereby, it happens less often that the pairs of rollers gather the air collected between adjacent ones of the sheets of the sheet bundle to the bound portion to thereby cause a slack to the sheets, and the occurrence of wrinkles or twists in the sheet bundle can be reduced. Also, the pair of rollers are separated from the sheet bundle before the bound portion passes the pair of rollers, whereby it happens less often that the pair of rollers are damaged by the bound portion, and the sheet bundle can be conveyed smoothly.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 30, 2005
    Publication date: January 26, 2006
    Applicant: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Hideki Kushida, Taro Ikeda, Hiroaki Takagishi, Kenichi Hayashi, Tomokazu Nakamura, Wataru Kawata, Hiromasa Katayama
  • Publication number: 20060019811
    Abstract: A sheet processing apparatus includes a processing tray on which sheets are stacked in a bundle form, an intermediate portion stapler which staples the intermediate portion of the sheet bundle stacked on the processing tray, a sheet bundle conveying member which conveys the stapled sheet bundle, a curved sheet bundle conveying path which is downwardly curved on the downstream side of the processing tray with respect to the sheet conveying direction and adapted to guide the sheet bundle conveyed by the sheet bundle conveying member, and a folding device which is arranged in the intermediate portion of the curved sheet bundle conveying path and which folds the stapled sheet bundle, wherein the processing tray is set to be lower on the upstream side than on the downstream side with respect to the sheet conveying direction, and wherein the curved guide path has an extended portion extending to a position under the stacking portion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 14, 2005
    Publication date: January 26, 2006
    Applicant: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Taro Ikeda, Hiroaki Takagishi, Kenichi Hayashi, Tomokazu Nakamura, Wataru Kawata, Hideki Kushida, Hiromasa Katayama
  • Publication number: 20060017218
    Abstract: The sheet processing apparatus is equipped with a process tray on which sheets conveyed are stacked, a return belt which moves the sheets stacked on the process tray, a trailing edge stopper which receives an end portion of the sheets moved by the return belt, and a conveyance assist roller which comes into contact with the sheets on the upstream side of the return belt with respect to the sheet moving direction and imparts a load to the movement of the sheets. The return belt moves the sheets to which a load has been imparted by the conveyance assist roller and causes them to be abutted on the trailing edge stopper.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 14, 2005
    Publication date: January 26, 2006
    Applicant: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Wataru Kawata, Taro Ikeda, Hiroaki Takagishi, Kenichi Hayashi, Tomokazu Nakamura, Hideki Kushida, Hiromasa Katayama