Patents by Inventor Toshiyuki Sano

Toshiyuki Sano 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: 11209744
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus, having first, second, and third photosensitive drums, a first developing cartridge including a first developing roller, a second developing cartridge including a second developing roller, a third developing cartridge including a third developing roller, an exposure device, a conveyer, and a moving mechanism, is provided. The first developing roller, the second developing roller, and the third developing roller are arranged in the recited order from upstream to downstream in a moving direction for the sheet to be conveyed. When the second developing roller is at the separated position thereof, the second developing cartridge coincides with a light path of the laser beam for scanning the first photosensitive drum. When the third developing roller is at the separated position thereof, the third developing cartridge coincides with a light path of the laser beam for scanning the second photosensitive drum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 28, 2021
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masahito Saeki, Toshiyuki Sano, Shintaro Sakaguchi, Kotaro Haruta, Shoichiro Nishimura
  • Publication number: 20210374429
    Abstract: A vehicle monitoring system includes at least one camera, and a server that is communicably connected to a client terminal. The camera performs capturing a vehicle while switching a first capturing condition including an image parameter for capturing a number of the vehicle entering an angle of view of the camera and a second capturing condition including an image parameter for capturing an occupant's face of the vehicle, and transmits a first captured video under the first capturing condition and a second captured video under the second capturing condition to the server. The server arranges reproduction screens for the first captured video and the second captured video that are reproduceable in the client terminal and displays the reproduction screens on the client terminal based on the first captured video and the second captured video.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 13, 2021
    Publication date: December 2, 2021
    Applicant: Panasonic i-PRO Sensing Solutions Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Toshimasa FUNAKI, Michinori KISHIMOTO, Hiroaki JODAN, Toshiyuki SANO, Masahiro YAMASHITA, Yuma KOBAYASHI, Yuji ARIMA, Hideaki TAKAHASHI
  • Patent number: 11181857
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes: a first developing roller movable between a first contact position and a first separated position; a second developing roller movable between a second contact position and a second separated position; and a controller. When a sheet interval is shorter than a first interval and is longer than or equal to a second interval, the controller maintains the first developing roller at the first contact position even after the completion of its development for a preceding sheet, controls the first developing roller to start development for a subsequent sheet, moves the second developing roller to the second separated position after the completion of its development for the preceding sheet, moves the second developing roller again to the second contact position, and controls the second developing roller to start development for the subsequent sheet after the second developing roller is moved again to the second contact position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 23, 2021
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yusuke Ikegami, Masahito Saeki, Toshiyuki Sano, Shintaro Sakaguchi
  • Patent number: 11163258
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus, having a casing, a cover, a photosensitive drum, a developing roller, a photo-interrupter, a moving mechanism to move the developing roller between a contacting position and a separated position, and a controller, is provided. The moving mechanism has a cam including, a first cam portion, a phase-detector wall including a first slit and a second slit, and a cam follower. When the cover moves from the open position to the closed position, the controller conducts a first initializing control to cause the cam to rotate in a reverse direction, and after detecting the first slit based on a time period, in which light in the photo-interrupter passes through one of the first slit and the second slit, cause the cam to stop rotating.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 2, 2021
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Toshiyuki Sano, Shintaro Sakaguchi, Yusuke Ikegami
  • Patent number: 11144001
    Abstract: In an image forming apparatus, a first photosensitive drum is disposed upstream of a second photosensitive drum in a conveyance direction. Each of first and second developing rollers is movable between a contact position contacting a corresponding photosensitive drum and a separated position separated from the corresponding photosensitive drum. In a first case where a color print process is executed, a first moving mechanism starts moving the first developing roller toward the contact position, a manual feed roller starts picking up the sheet on a manual feed tray, and a second moving mechanism starts moving the second developing roller toward the contact position. In a second case where the monochrome print process is executed, the manual feed roller starts picking up the sheet on the manual feed tray, and the second moving mechanism starts moving the second developing roller toward the contact position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2021
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Shintaro Sakaguchi, Toshiyuki Sano, Masahito Saeki
  • Patent number: 11137718
    Abstract: An image-forming apparatus includes: a cover; and a separation mechanism. The separation mechanism includes a cam; a cam follower; and a release member. The release member is configured to move the cam follower from an operating position to a non-operating position in accordance with movement of the cover from a closed position to an open position. In a state where the cam follower is at the operating position, the cam follower is guided by the cam in accordance with rotation of the cam to allow the cam follower to slidably move between a protruding position and a standby position. In a state where the cam follower is at the non-operating position, the cam follower is not guided by the cam to allow the cam follower to be maintained at the standby position independently of the rotation of the cam.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2021
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masahito Saeki, Yusuke Ikegami, Toshiyuki Sano, Shintaro Sakaguchi
  • Publication number: 20210302857
    Abstract: In response to determining that image forming in a color mode is performed on a first sheet and then image forming in a monochrome mode is successively performed on the second sheet, perform charging bias reduction processing gradually reducing a charging bias from first to second charging bias and developing bias reduction processing of gradually reducing a developing bias from first to second developing bias during a first inter-sheet period after the first sheet passes a first photosensitive drum and before the second sheet reaches the first photosensitive drum, and perform separation processing such that an execution period of the separation processing overlaps at least one of an execution period of the charging bias reduction processing and an execution period of the developing bias reduction processing, the separation processing being processing of controlling a moving mechanism to move a first developing roller from a contact position to a separation position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 27, 2021
    Publication date: September 30, 2021
    Inventors: Junya SUMIDA, Shunsuke ISHII, Toshio FURUKAWA, Toshiyuki SANO, Shintaro SAKAGUCHI
  • Publication number: 20210294253
    Abstract: A controller is configured to: when an inter-sheet time is shorter than or equal to a first time, maintain a developing roller in contact with a photosensitive drum during an inter-sheet time; when the inter-sheet time is longer than the first time and shorter than or equal to a second time longer than the first time, perform, during the inter-sheet time, at least part of temporary separation processing of temporarily separating the developing roller from the photosensitive drum in a state where the photosensitive drum is rotating; and when the inter-sheet time is longer than the second time, perform, during the inter-sheet time, at least part of temporary stop processing of separating the developing roller from the photosensitive drum and then stopping rotation of the photosensitive drum, and subsequently restarting rotation thereof and then bringing the developing roller into contact with the photosensitive drum.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 9, 2021
    Publication date: September 23, 2021
    Inventors: Toshiyuki SANO, Yusuke IKEGAMI, Junya SUMIDA, Chieko MIMURA, Shintaro SAKAGUCHI
  • Publication number: 20210278798
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a photosensitive drum, a developing roller, a cam, a developing motor, a first transmission mechanism, and a second transmission mechanism. The cam moves the developing roller between a contacting position where the developing roller is in contact with the photosensitive drum and a separated position where the developing roller is separated from the photosensitive drum. The developing motor drives both the developing roller and the cam, and is rotatable in a normal rotating direction and a reverse rotating direction. The first transmission mechanism engages power transmission from the developing motor to the developing roller when the developing motor rotates in the normal rotating direction, and disengages the power transmission when the developing motor rotates in the reverse rotating direction. The second transmission mechanism can engage power transmission from the developing motor to the cam, irrespective of the rotating direction of the developing motor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 21, 2021
    Publication date: September 9, 2021
    Inventors: Yusuke IKEGAMI, Masahito SAEKI, Shintaro SAKAGUCHI, Toshiyuki SANO
  • Patent number: 11113540
    Abstract: A vehicle monitoring system includes at least one camera, and a server that is communicably connected to a client terminal. The camera performs capturing a vehicle while switching a first capturing condition including an image parameter for capturing a number of the vehicle entering an angle of view of the camera and a second capturing condition including an image parameter for capturing an occupant's face of the vehicle, and transmits a first captured video under the first capturing condition and a second captured video under the second capturing condition to the server. The server arranges reproduction screens for the first captured video and the second captured video that are reproduceable in the client terminal and displays the reproduction screens on the client terminal based on the first captured video and the second captured video.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 7, 2021
    Assignee: PANASONIC I-PRO SENSING SOLUTIONS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Toshimasa Funaki, Michinori Kishimoto, Hiroaki Jodan, Toshiyuki Sano, Masahiro Yamashita, Yuma Kobayashi, Yuji Arima, Hideaki Takahashi
  • Patent number: 11106155
    Abstract: An image-forming apparatus includes: a process motor; a developing motor; a sheet conveying device; first and second photosensitive drums rotatable by a driving force from the process motor; first and second developing rollers and first and second cams each rotatable by a driving force from the developing motor; a switching mechanism, and a controller. Rotation of each cam causes each developing roller to move between a contact position in contact with the corresponding photosensitive drum and a separated position away from the corresponding photosensitive drum. The controller allows the switching mechanism to transmit the driving force from the developing motor to each cam such that a timing of contact between the second developing roller and the second photosensitive drum in a low speed mode is coincident with or earlier than a timing of contact between the second developing roller and the second photosensitive drum in a normal mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 31, 2021
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Shintaro Sakaguchi, Toshiyuki Sano, Masahito Saeki
  • Patent number: 11102410
    Abstract: In installation work, a camera captures a vehicle including an occupant and a license plate of the vehicle in a view angle from an installation position of the camera and transmits, to the terminal, a captured image of the occupant and a captured image of the license plate in response to a setting request from a terminal. The terminal displays a setting screen including the captured image of the occupant and the captured image of the license plate, receives input of parameters including an operation mode of the camera and positional relationship information indicating a positional relationship between the camera and the vehicle according to manipulations of an operator, and transmits the input parameters to the camera. The camera derives and sets camera parameters corresponding to the operation mode based on the input parameters transmitted from the terminal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2021
    Assignee: PANASONIC I-PRO SENSING SOLUTIONS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Toshimasa Funaki, Hiroaki Jodan, Toshihiro Fujiki, Toshiyuki Sano, Naoaki Tomisaka, Yuji Arima
  • Patent number: 11079714
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a photosensitive drum, a developing roller, a cam, a developing motor, a first transmission mechanism, and a second transmission mechanism. The cam moves the developing roller between a contacting position where the developing roller is in contact with the photosensitive drum and a separated position where the developing roller is separated from the photosensitive drum. The developing motor drives both the developing roller and the cam, and is rotatable in a normal rotating direction and a reverse rotating direction. The first transmission mechanism engages power transmission from the developing motor to the developing roller when the developing motor rotates in the normal rotating direction, and disengages the power transmission when the developing motor rotates in the reverse rotating direction. The second transmission mechanism can engage power transmission from the developing motor to the cam, irrespective of the rotating direction of the developing motor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2021
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yusuke Ikegami, Masahito Saeki, Shintaro Sakaguchi, Toshiyuki Sano
  • Publication number: 20210223446
    Abstract: A camera device includes a first filter configured to restrict a transverse wave component of incident light having light of a plurality of different wavelength bands generated based on birefringence in a car film from a vehicle to which the car film is adhered, a lens on which a vertical wave component of the incident light transmitted through the first filter is incident, a second filter configured to restrict a vertical wave component of the incident light in a visible region among the vertical wave component of the incident light imaged by the lens, and an imaging element configured to image the vehicle as a subject based on a vertical wave component of the incident light in a near-infrared region transmitted through the second filter.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 19, 2021
    Publication date: July 22, 2021
    Applicant: PANASONIC I-PRO SENSING SOLUTIONS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hideaki YAMADA, Jyouji WADA, Toshiyuki SANO, Akito OMATA, Yuma KOBAYASHI, Naoaki TOMISAKA
  • Publication number: 20210223713
    Abstract: A controller is configured to, when forming an image on one sheet, in a case where a length of one sheet in a conveyance direction is larger than a first length, drive a moving mechanism to move a plurality of developing rollers from a separation position to a contact position, temporarily stop driving of the moving mechanism, and then, at a first timing, again drive the moving mechanism to move the plurality of developing rollers from the contact position to the separation position; and in a case where the length of the one sheet in the conveyance direction is smaller than or equal to the first length, drive the moving mechanism to move the plurality of developing rollers from the separation position to the contact position and then to move the plurality of developing rollers from the contact position to the separation position without stopping driving of the moving mechanism.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 17, 2020
    Publication date: July 22, 2021
    Inventors: Yusuke IKEGAMI, Shintaro SAKAGUCHI, Toshiyuki SANO
  • Publication number: 20210214180
    Abstract: In an image forming apparatus, a sheet is guided into a first conveyor path or a second conveyor path selectively when a first cover is in a closed position, and is ejected onto the first cover when the first cover is in an open position. Upon power-up, a controller causes a first conveyor roller to rotate but if the first cover is in the open position, when a sheet sensor detects a sheet, the controller does not cause a second conveyor roller to rotate, and causes a flapper to swing from a first position to a second position, and when a front end of the sheet reaches a position downstream of an upstream end of the flapper in a conveyance direction of the sheet conveyed by the first conveyor roller, the controller causes the flapper to swing from the second position to the first position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 8, 2021
    Publication date: July 15, 2021
    Applicant: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yusuke Ikegami, Shintaro Sakaguchi, Toshiyuki Sano
  • Publication number: 20210200140
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus, having a casing, a cover, a photosensitive drum, a developing roller, a photo-interrupter, a moving mechanism to move the developing roller between a contacting position and a separated position, and a controller, is provided. The moving mechanism has a cam including, a first cam portion, a phase-detector wall including a first slit and a second slit, and a cam follower. When the cover moves from the open position to the closed position, the controller conducts a first initializing control to cause the cam to rotate in a reverse direction, and after detecting the first slit based on a time period, in which light in the photo-interrupter passes through one of the first slit and the second slit, cause the cam to stop rotating.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 4, 2020
    Publication date: July 1, 2021
    Inventors: Toshiyuki SANO, Shintaro SAKAGUCHI, Yusuke IKEGAMI
  • Publication number: 20210200135
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a developing roller, a photo-interrupter, and a separation mechanism. The developing roller is movable between a contact position and a separated position. The photo-interrupter includes a light emitting element and a light receiving element. The separation mechanism includes a cam configured to move the developing roller between the contact position and the separated position. The cam includes a phase detection wall extending in a circumference direction. The phase detection wall has a first slit and a second slit. The first slit allows the light emitted from the light emitting element to pass therethrough when the developing roller is at the separated position. The second slit allows the light emitted from the light emitting element to pass therethrough when the developing roller is at the contact position. A size of the first slit in the circumferential direction is different from that of the second slit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 15, 2020
    Publication date: July 1, 2021
    Applicant: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yusuke IKEGAMI, Masahito SAEKI, Toshiyuki SANO, Shintaro SAKAGUCHI
  • Patent number: 11040471
    Abstract: A resin product includes an outer surface. The outer surface includes a first area and a second area. The first area includes a surface pattern including a concave and convex portion having a first difference in height. The second area includes a surface pattern including a concave and convex portion having a second difference in height, larger than the first difference in height. An arithmetic average height of a top of a convex portion of the concave and convex portion having the first difference in height is larger than an arithmetic average height of a top of a convex portion of the concave and convex portion having the second difference in height.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 22, 2021
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Toshiyuki Sano, Kei Oikawa
  • Patent number: 11009806
    Abstract: An image-forming apparatus includes a photosensitive drum, a developing roller, a cam, a switching mechanism, a cam follower, and a controller for controlling the switching mechanism to control rotation of the cam. The cam is rotatable to move the developing roller between a contact position in contact with the photosensitive drum and a separated position in separation from the photosensitive drum. To maintain the developing roller at the contact position after being moved from the separated position, the cam is rotated to move the cam follower from a first holding surface to a second holding surface of the cam through a second guide surface, and is stopped rotating to hold the cam follower in contact with a first guide surface of the cam at a position closer to the first holding surface than to the second holding surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 18, 2021
    Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Masahito Saeki, Toshiyuki Sano, Shintaro Sakaguchi