Patents by Inventor Yasuaki HIRAI

Yasuaki HIRAI 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: 11938740
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting device includes a liquid ejecting head configured to eject a liquid to a medium to perform printing, and a control unit configured to control the liquid ejecting head and include a storage unit. The storage unit is configured to be able to store a plurality of ranges of the liquid consumption amount, and the number of printed sheets on which, in a predetermined period, printing is performed in each of the plurality of ranges of the liquid consumption amount. When the plurality of ranges of the liquid consumption amount are changed within the predetermined period, the control unit performs invalidation processing on the number of printed sheets stored in the storage unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2024
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yasuaki Hirai, Masayuki Ishida
  • Patent number: 11813868
    Abstract: A liquid discharge device includes a discharge unit configured to discharge liquid, a maintenance unit configured to cause the discharge unit to eject liquid to perform maintenance of the discharge unit, and a control unit configured to cause the maintenance unit to perform the maintenance periodically, wherein when performing the maintenance, the control unit performs first maintenance in a case in which a consumption amount of the liquid consumed after the maintenance previously performed is greater than or equal to a first threshold value, and performs second maintenance stronger than the first maintenance in a case in which the consumption amount is less than the first threshold value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2023
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Masato Haga, Tadahiro Mizutani, Yasuaki Hirai
  • Publication number: 20230219344
    Abstract: A liquid ejection device includes a liquid ejection unit configured to perform printing by ejecting a liquid from a nozzle onto a medium, a maintenance unit configured to perform maintenance of the liquid ejection unit, a determination unit configured to determine whether printing data for the printing is ruled-line data including a vertical ruled line or non-ruled-line data not including the vertical ruled line, a storage unit configured to store a determination result obtained by the determination unit, and a control unit. The control unit changes intensity of the maintenance in accordance with a frequency of the ruled-line data included in the determination result stored in the storage unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 9, 2023
    Publication date: July 13, 2023
    Inventor: Yasuaki HIRAI
  • Patent number: 11673402
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting apparatus includes a liquid ejection head that ejects a liquid, a supply flow path that supplies the liquid from a liquid containing portion, which is replaceable and contains the liquid, to the liquid ejection head, a liquid feeding portion that is provided in the supply flow path and is configured to suck the liquid from the liquid containing portion and to feed the liquid to the liquid ejection head, and a control unit that controls driving of the liquid feeding portion. The control unit changes driving control of the liquid feeding portion in accordance with a remaining amount of the liquid in the liquid containing portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2023
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Yasuaki Hirai, Shigenori Fukasawa, Mitsuhiro Koseki, Masato Haga
  • Publication number: 20230079381
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting device includes a liquid ejecting portion configured to eject liquid from a nozzle, a closed space forming portion having a porous member inside thereof, and configured to form a closed space in which the nozzle opens, an discharging portion configured to discharge the liquid in the closed space forming portion, and a control portion configured to, when an amount of the liquid ejected from the liquid ejecting portion into the closed space forming portion reaches a prescribed value, cause the discharging portion to discharge the liquid in the closed space forming portion, wherein the control unit decreases the prescribed value as the number of stops increases, the number of stops being the number of times the liquid ejecting portion is stopped for a prescribed time or longer at a position other than a closed position where the closed space is formed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 7, 2022
    Publication date: March 16, 2023
    Inventors: Yasuaki HIRAI, Kazumitsu BUNAZAWA
  • Publication number: 20220402276
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting device includes a liquid ejecting head configured to eject a liquid to a medium to perform printing, and a control unit configured to control the liquid ejecting head and include a storage unit. The storage unit is configured to be able to store a plurality of ranges of the liquid consumption amount, and the number of printed sheets on which, in a predetermined period, printing is performed in each of the plurality of ranges of the liquid consumption amount. When the plurality of ranges of the liquid consumption amount are changed within the predetermined period, the control unit performs invalidation processing on the number of printed sheets stored in the storage unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 21, 2022
    Publication date: December 22, 2022
    Inventors: Yasuaki HIRAI, Masayuki ISHIDA
  • Patent number: 11528383
    Abstract: A billing method for a liquid jet device includes, counting a consumed amount of liquid by printing, counting the number of printed sheets, counting a consumed amount of liquid for maintenance of a jet head, calculating a maintenance consumption amount per unit number of sheets, from a maintenance consumption amount consumed in current maintenance, and the number of printed sheets for which printing is performed from previous maintenance to the current maintenance, setting, as a liquid consumption amount, a value obtained by adding the maintenance consumption amount per unit number of sheets, to a print consumption amount consumed in printing for the unit number of sheets, and billing for printing for the same number of sheets as the number of printed sheets performed after the current maintenance, in accordance with the liquid consumption amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2022
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yasuaki Hirai, Takashi Akase, Kenji Tsukada, Masato Haga
  • Patent number: 11518163
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting apparatus includes a printing portion and a control portion. The printing portion executes a printing operation including ejecting a liquid from a nozzle onto a medium. The control portion executes an initial operation upon supply of power and executes the printing operation in accordance with a print instruction. The initial operation and the printing operation include a common printing operation that is common to the initial operation and the printing operation. When the control portion does not receive the print instruction during execution of the initial operation, the control portion executes the initial operation including the common printing operation. When the control portion receives the print instruction during execution of the initial operation, the control portion omits the common printing operation from the initial operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2022
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Yasuaki Hirai, Yasuo Sunaga
  • Patent number: 11400726
    Abstract: Printing is performed with a printing material accommodated in a printing material accommodation body. Accommodation body information on the printing material accommodation body is acquired. When the accommodation body information on the printing material accommodation body is first information, an operation of a first mode is performed. Meanwhile, when the accommodation body information on the printing material accommodation body is second information, in a case in which a permission condition is satisfied according to communication with a server apparatus, an operation of a second mode is performed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Ryo Oguchi, Yasuaki Hirai, Shunichi Hizawa
  • Patent number: 11376854
    Abstract: A printing apparatus includes a setting section setting a reference value that satisfies an execution condition of a periodic maintenance; and a counting section counting a count value from a previous maintenance. A maintenance section performs the periodic maintenance when the count value of the counting section reaches the reference value. In a case where a user maintenance is performed by the maintenance section according to an instruction of a user, when the count value counted up to the user maintenance is a lower limit value or more, the setting section sets the reference value that is a value corresponding to the count value and is the lower limit value or more, while when the count value counted up to the user maintenance is less than the lower limit value, the setting section sets the lower limit value as the reference value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Yasuaki Hirai, Ryo Oguchi, Tokio Kato
  • Publication number: 20220194083
    Abstract: A liquid discharge device includes a discharge unit configured to discharge liquid, a maintenance unit configured to cause the discharge unit to eject liquid to perform maintenance of the discharge unit, and a control unit configured to cause the maintenance unit to perform the maintenance periodically, wherein when performing the maintenance, the control unit performs first maintenance in a case in which a consumption amount of the liquid consumed after the maintenance previously performed is greater than or equal to a first threshold value, and performs second maintenance stronger than the first maintenance in a case in which the consumption amount is less than the first threshold value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 21, 2021
    Publication date: June 23, 2022
    Inventors: Masato HAGA, Tadahiro MIZUTANI, Yasuaki HIRAI
  • Patent number: 11312149
    Abstract: A printer includes: a printing section configured to perform printing using a plurality of printing materials contained in corresponding printing material containers, a display section configured to display respective remaining amounts of the individual printing materials contained in the corresponding printing material containers; and a controller configured to control display on the display section, wherein the controller performs display control so as to match the display on the remaining amount of a second container other than the first container with the display on the remaining amount of a first container having a smallest remaining amount among the plurality of the printing material containers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2022
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Shunichi Hizawa, Yasuaki Hirai, Ryo Oguchi
  • Publication number: 20220072865
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting apparatus includes a liquid ejection head that ejects a liquid, a supply flow path that supplies the liquid from a liquid containing portion, which is replaceable and contains the liquid, to the liquid ejection head, a liquid feeding portion that is provided in the supply flow path and is configured to suck the liquid from the liquid containing portion and to feed the liquid to the liquid ejection head, and a control unit that controls driving of the liquid feeding portion. The control unit changes driving control of the liquid feeding portion in accordance with a remaining amount of the liquid in the liquid containing portion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 7, 2021
    Publication date: March 10, 2022
    Inventors: Yasuaki HIRAI, Shigenori FUKASAWA, Mitsuhiro KOSEKI, Masato HAGA
  • Patent number: 11235584
    Abstract: A printing apparatus includes a liquid accommodation body into which liquid contained in a liquid container is configured to be poured, a printing section that performs printing by discharge of liquid supplied from the liquid accommodation body, a counting section that performs counting relating to an amount of consumption of liquid with which a liquid container was contained and counting relating to an amount of consumption of liquid per predetermined period of time, and a delivery request section that, based on a counting result yielded by the counting section, sends the server apparatus a delivery request for a liquid container by a time that is earlier by a delivery period of a liquid container than an estimated timing of completion of consumption of liquid with which a liquid container was contained.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 1, 2022
    Assignee: SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yasuaki Hirai, Ryo Oguchi, Shunichi Hizawa, Shuichi Koganehira
  • Publication number: 20210385351
    Abstract: A billing method for a liquid jet device includes, counting a consumed amount of liquid by printing, counting the number of printed sheets, counting a consumed amount of liquid for maintenance of a jet head, calculating a maintenance consumption amount per unit number of sheets, from a maintenance consumption amount consumed in current maintenance, and the number of printed sheets for which printing is performed from previous maintenance to the current maintenance, setting, as a liquid consumption amount, a value obtained by adding the maintenance consumption amount per unit number of sheets, to a print consumption amount consumed in printing for the unit number of sheets, and billing for printing for the same number of sheets as the number of printed sheets performed after the current maintenance, in accordance with the liquid consumption amount.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 27, 2021
    Publication date: December 9, 2021
    Inventors: Yasuaki HIRAI, Takashi AKASE, Kenji TSUKADA, Masato HAGA
  • Publication number: 20210162749
    Abstract: A liquid ejecting apparatus includes a printing portion and a control portion. The printing portion executes a printing operation including ejecting a liquid from a nozzle onto a medium. The control portion executes an initial operation upon supply of power and executes the printing operation in accordance with a print instruction. The initial operation and the printing operation include a common printing operation that is common to the initial operation and the printing operation. When the control portion does not receive the print instruction during execution of the initial operation, the control portion executes the initial operation including the common printing operation. When the control portion receives the print instruction during execution of the initial operation, the control portion omits the common printing operation from the initial operation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 25, 2020
    Publication date: June 3, 2021
    Inventors: Yasuaki HIRAI, Yasuo SUNAGA
  • Publication number: 20210086518
    Abstract: A printer includes: a printing section configured to perform printing using a plurality of printing materials contained in corresponding printing material containers, a display section configured to display respective remaining amounts of the individual printing materials contained in the corresponding printing material containers; and a controller configured to control display on the display section, wherein the controller performs display control so as to match the display on the remaining amount of a second container other than the first container with the display on the remaining amount of a first container having a smallest remaining amount among the plurality of the printing material containers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 21, 2020
    Publication date: March 25, 2021
    Inventors: Shunichi HIZAWA, Yasuaki HIRAI, Ryo OGUCHI
  • Publication number: 20210060964
    Abstract: Printing is performed with a printing material accommodated in a printing material accommodation body. Accommodation body information on the printing material accommodation body is acquired. When the accommodation body information on the printing material accommodation body is first information, an operation of a first mode is performed. Meanwhile, when the accommodation body information on the printing material accommodation body is second information, in a case in which a permission condition is satisfied according to communication with a server apparatus, an operation of a second mode is performed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 25, 2020
    Publication date: March 4, 2021
    Inventors: Ryo OGUCHI, Yasuaki HIRAI, Shunichi HIZAWA
  • Publication number: 20210060953
    Abstract: A printing apparatus includes a setting section setting a reference value that satisfies an execution condition of a periodic maintenance; and a counting section counting a count value from a previous maintenance. A maintenance section performs the periodic maintenance when the count value of the counting section reaches the reference value. In a case where a user maintenance is performed by the maintenance section according to an instruction of a user, when the count value counted up to the user maintenance is a lower limit value or more, the setting section sets the reference value that is a value corresponding to the count value and is the lower limit value or more, while when the count value counted up to the user maintenance is less than the lower limit value, the setting section sets the lower limit value as the reference value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 26, 2020
    Publication date: March 4, 2021
    Inventors: Yasuaki HIRAI, Ryo OGUCHI, Tokio KATO
  • Publication number: 20210046762
    Abstract: A printing apparatus includes a liquid accommodation body into which liquid contained in a liquid container is configured to be poured, a printing section that performs printing by discharge of liquid supplied from the liquid accommodation body, a counting section that performs counting relating to an amount of consumption of liquid with which a liquid container was contained and counting relating to an amount of consumption of liquid per predetermined period of time, and a delivery request section that, based on a counting result yielded by the counting section, sends the server apparatus a delivery request for a liquid container by a time that is earlier by a delivery period of a liquid container than an estimated timing of completion of consumption of liquid with which a liquid container was contained.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 13, 2020
    Publication date: February 18, 2021
    Inventors: Yasuaki HIRAI, Ryo OGUCHI, Shunichi HIZAWA, Shuichi KOGANEHIRA