Patents by Inventor Tomoki SHIMOHIRA

Tomoki SHIMOHIRA 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: 10513408
    Abstract: A sheet conveying device, which is included in an image forming apparatus, includes a pair of rollers configured to convey a sheet in a sheet conveyance passage, a detector configured to optically detect an attitude of the sheet, one of a rotation device to rotate the pair of rollers in a direction parallel to a plane of the sheet and a moving device to move the pair of rollers in a width direction, and a controller configured to correct the attitude of the pair of rollers at a time interval, based on a detection result obtained by the detector. The controller performs the correcting operation by setting, according to reflectance of the sheet, at least one of a light emission time of the detector, the time interval of the correcting operation, light emission intensity of the detector and a conveying speed of the sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 24, 2019
    Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: Shogo Nakamura, Takehiro Fujita, Tomoki Shimohira
  • Publication number: 20180346271
    Abstract: A sheet conveying device, which is included in an image forming apparatus, includes a pair of rollers configured to convey a sheet in a sheet conveyance passage, a detector configured to optically detect an attitude of the sheet, one of a rotation device to rotate the pair of rollers in a direction parallel to a plane of the sheet and a moving device to move the pair of rollers in a width direction, and a controller configured to correct the attitude of the pair of rollers at a time interval, based on a detection result obtained by the detector. The controller performs the correcting operation by setting, according to reflectance of the sheet, at least one of a light emission time of the detector, the time interval of the correcting operation, light emission intensity of the detector and a conveying speed of the sheet.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 6, 2018
    Publication date: December 6, 2018
    Applicant: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Shogo NAKAMURA, Takehiro FUJITA, Tomoki SHIMOHIRA
  • Patent number: 10031016
    Abstract: A fluid detection apparatus to detect quantity of a fluid having flowability and stored in a casing includes an oscillator disposed outside the casing to output a frequency of an oscillation signal corresponding to a magnetic flux passing through a space near the oscillator, a vibrator made of material effecting the magnetic flux and disposed inside the casing, a vibration trigger disposed inside the casing to vibrate the vibrator, and circuitry to acquire frequency-related information related to the frequency of the oscillation signal output from the oscillator, detect the vibration of the vibrator based on a change of the frequency-related information, determine whether the vibration of the vibrator converges during a convergence-checking time period defined after the vibrator is vibrated by the vibration trigger, and detect the quantity of the fluid in the casing based on a convergence determination result of the vibration of the vibrator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2018
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kazuho Satoh, Tomoki Shimohira, Tetsuhiko Mizuyama, Tetsuro Hirota
  • Publication number: 20170074713
    Abstract: A fluid detection apparatus to detect quantity of a fluid having flowability and stored in a casing includes an oscillator disposed outside the casing to output a frequency of an oscillation signal corresponding to a magnetic flux passing through a space near the oscillator, a vibrator made of material effecting the magnetic flux and disposed inside the casing, a vibration trigger disposed inside the casing to vibrate the vibrator, and circuitry to acquire frequency-related information related to the frequency of the oscillation signal output from the oscillator, detect the vibration of the vibrator based on a change of the frequency-related information, determine whether the vibration of the vibrator converges during a convergence-checking time period defined after the vibrator is vibrated by the vibration trigger, and detect the quantity of the fluid in the casing based on a convergence determination result of the vibration of the vibrator.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 1, 2016
    Publication date: March 16, 2017
    Inventors: KAZUHO SATOH, TOMOKI SHIMOHIRA, TETSUHIKO MIZUYAMA, TETSURO HIROTA
  • Publication number: 20160212295
    Abstract: A drive control apparatus includes a controller which controls a drive unit based on a voltage instruction signal obtained from a target signal and an abnormality detection unit which obtains the voltage instruction signal M times in a detection time period. The abnormality detection unit detects occurrence of an abnormality in response to detecting that the voltage instruction signal is outside predetermined range N times in the detection time period, where M is equal to or more than 2 and N is equal to or more than 1 and N is less than M.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 19, 2016
    Publication date: July 21, 2016
    Applicant: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Takuya MURATA, Tomoki SHIMOHIRA, Haipeng ZHANG