Patents by Inventor Yasukazu Ikami

Yasukazu Ikami 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: 11782356
    Abstract: A developer used in a developing apparatus equipped with a metal blade includes a toner base particle and external additives, the external additives including a silica particle with a particle diameter of 5 nm or more and 25 nm or less and an inorganic spacer particle with a particle diameter of 50 nm or more and 150 nm or less, and an area occupancy of the silica particle on a surface of the toner base particle is 40% or more.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2023
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kazunari Hagiwara, Taichi Sato, Takahiro Kawamoto, Yasukazu Ikami, Shoko Funaki
  • Patent number: 11675288
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member, a developing member that supplies a developer of a regular polarity, a developer supply member that supplies developer to the developing member, and a control unit that applies a first voltage to the developing member and a second voltage to the developer supply member. The control unit executes an image forming operation, and a rotational operation in which the developer supply member rotates in a state in which the first voltage of a regular polarity is applied thereto. The rotational operation includes a first rotational operation in which a potential difference is a first potential difference and a second rotational operation in which the developing member and the developer supply member rotate in a state in which the second voltage having the same polarity as the regular polarity and having a greater absolute value is applied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2022
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2023
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Taichi Sato, Takashi Mukai, Yasukazu Ikami, Shuhei Tokiwa, Fuka Enokido
  • Patent number: 11650515
    Abstract: Provided is an image forming apparatus, including: an image bearing member; an exposure unit; a developing member which is rotatable at a rotation speed different from the image bearing member; a developer supply member; a developing voltage-applying unit; a supply voltage-applying unit; and a control unit. The control unit controls execution of: an image forming operation in which a developer image is formed by supplying developer on the image bearing member; and a cleaning operation which removes a substance adhered to the image bearing member using the developing member. In the cleaning operation, the control unit controls the developing voltage-applying unit or the supply voltage-applying unit so that the cleaning force using the developing member becomes stronger than that in the image forming operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2023
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yasukazu Ikami, Takashi Mukai, Shuhei Tokiwa, Taichi Sato, Fuka Enokido
  • Publication number: 20220334509
    Abstract: Provided is an image forming apparatus, including: an image bearing member; an exposure unit; a developing member which is rotatable at a rotation speed different from the image bearing member; a developer supply member; a developing voltage-applying unit; a supply voltage-applying unit; and a control unit. The control unit controls execution of: an image forming operation in which a developer image is formed by supplying developer on the image bearing member; and a cleaning operation which removes a substance adhered to the image bearing member using the developing member. In the cleaning operation, the control unit controls the developing voltage-applying unit or the supply voltage-applying unit so that the cleaning force using the developing member becomes stronger than that in the image forming operation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 12, 2022
    Publication date: October 20, 2022
    Inventors: Yasukazu Ikami, Takashi Mukai, Shuhei Tokiwa, Taichi Sato, Fuka Enokido
  • Publication number: 20220326634
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member, a developing member that supplies a developer of a regular polarity, a developer supply member that supplies developer to the developing member, and a control unit that applies a first voltage to the developing member and a second voltage to the developer supply member. The control unit executes an image forming operation, and a rotational operation in which the developer supply member rotates in a state in which the first voltage of a regular polarity is applied thereto. The rotational operation includes a first rotational operation in which a potential difference is a first potential difference and a second rotational operation in which the developing member and the developer supply member rotate in a state in which the second voltage having the same polarity as the regular polarity and having a greater absolute value is applied.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 16, 2022
    Publication date: October 13, 2022
    Inventors: Taichi Sato, Takashi Mukai, Yasukazu Ikami, Shuhei Tokiwa, Fuka Enokido
  • Publication number: 20220317591
    Abstract: A developer used in a developing apparatus equipped with a metal blade includes a toner base particle and external additives, the external additives including a silica particle with a particle diameter of 5 nm or more and 25 nm or less and an inorganic spacer particle with a particle diameter of 50 nm or more and 150 nm or less, and an area occupancy of the silica particle on a surface of the toner base particle is 40% or more.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 15, 2022
    Publication date: October 6, 2022
    Inventors: Kazunari Hagiwara, Taichi Sato, Takahiro Kawamoto, Yasukazu Ikami, Shoko Funaki
  • Patent number: 11442376
    Abstract: A developer used in a developing apparatus equipped with a metal blade includes a toner base particle and external additives, the external additives including a silica particle with a particle diameter of 5 nm or more and 25 nm or less and an inorganic spacer particle with a particle diameter of 50 nm or more and 150 nm or less, and an area occupancy of the silica particle on a surface of the toner base particle is 40% or more.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2022
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kazunari Hagiwara, Taichi Sato, Takahiro Kawamoto, Yasukazu Ikami, Shoko Funaki
  • Publication number: 20220082957
    Abstract: A developer used in a developing apparatus equipped with a metal blade includes a toner base particle and external additives, the external additives including a silica particle with a particle diameter of 5 nm or more and 25 nm or less and an inorganic spacer particle with a particle diameter of 50 nm or more and 150 nm or less, and an area occupancy of the silica particle on a surface of the toner base particle is 40% or more.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 8, 2021
    Publication date: March 17, 2022
    Inventors: Kazunari Hagiwara, Taichi Sato, Takahiro Kawamoto, Yasukazu Ikami, Shoko Funaki
  • Patent number: 11144007
    Abstract: A process cartridge using an image forming apparatus, including a rotatable image bearing member having a circumferential surface; a developing unit configured to supply a developing agent to the image bearing member; and a cleaning member that cleans the circumferential surface, wherein the developing agent contains a toner including toner particles and a metal soap, the image bearing member includes a plurality of grooves formed on the circumferential surface to extend in a circumferential direction of the circumferential surface and to be arranged side by side in a rotation axis direction, and the plurality of grooves and portions between the grooves form concave-convex portions on the circumferential surface. The circumferential surface of the image bearing member had surface roughness Rz of 0<Rz?0.70 ?m and average interval Sm between concave-convex portions on the circumferential surface of 0<Sm?70.0 ?m.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2021
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Shinichi Hagiwara, Yasukazu Ikami, Kosuke Ikada, Keitaro Nakata, Hideharu Shimozawa
  • Patent number: 11099503
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a detection member configured to detect a conveyance state of a recording medium, a control unit configured to sequentially execute a first operation for continuously executing a rotation operation of an image bearing member and an intermediate transfer member without stopping them when the detection member detects a failure, and a second operation for stopping the rotation operation of the image bearing member when the surface of the image bearing member is moved by a predetermined distance through the rotation operation of the image bearing member after the failure is detected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2021
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Yoshihiro Mitsui, Takuya Oka, Yasukazu Ikami, Shinichi Agata
  • Patent number: 11073788
    Abstract: Provided are an image bearing member, a developer bearing member, and a cleaning member. A fixation layer, including at least one of an organosilicon polymer and inorganic particles, is provided on a surface of the developer borne on the developer bearing member, and a fixation percentage of the fixation layer is 85% or greater. The image bearing member and the developer bearing member are rotationally driven such that, a surface of the image bearing member and a surface of the developer bearing member move in opposite directions from each other at a contact portion where the image bearing member and the developer bearing member are in contact with each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 27, 2021
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Takuya Oka, Yoshihiro Mitsui, Yasukazu Ikami
  • Patent number: 11036161
    Abstract: A developer bearing member including: a rotational shaft; and an elastic layer on an outer circumference surface of the rotational shaft, developer being borne on a surface of the elastic layer, wherein the elastic layer is configured such that a load per unit area of a contact portion between one surface of a flat glass plate and the surface of the elastic layer is to be 5.8 N/mm2 or more, in a state that the one surface of the flat glass plate being parallel with an axis direction of the rotational shaft and the one surface of the flat glass plate coming into contact with the surface of the elastic layer with a predetermined penetration level, and wherein a ten-point average roughness Rzjis on the surface of the elastic layer is greater than a volume-average particle diameter of a particle of the developer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 15, 2021
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Takashi Mukai, Takayuki Namiki, Taichi Sato, Yuki Yamamoto, Kazunari Hagiwara, Minoru Nakamura, Takahiro Kawamoto, Yasukazu Ikami
  • Patent number: 11022933
    Abstract: A process cartridge includes a seal member contacting an image bearing member upstream in the rotation direction of the image bearing member from a cleaning member and allowing the developer to move from upstream in the rotation direction from the contact part between the seal member and the image bearing to downstream from the contact part while regulating movement from downstream to upstream from the contact part. The developer has surface protrusions containing an organic silicon polymer, wherein either (i) the work function of the seal member is greater than the work function of the developer when the developer has a negative charging polarity and is smaller than the work function of the developer when the developer has a positive charging polarity, or (ii) the absolute value of the difference between the work function of the seal member and the work function of the developer is within a predetermined range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2021
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHI KIKAISHA
    Inventors: Kazunori Hashimoto, Katsuhiro Kojima, Toshiaki Takeuchi, Yasukazu Ikami, Kosuke Ikada, Yoshihiro Mitsui, Yuichiro Hirata, Go Shindo, Akinobu Saito, Yuhei Terui, Noriyoshi Umeda, Tomonori Matsunaga, Shohei Kototani, Masamichi Sato
  • Patent number: 10976685
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus in which when toner remaining on a development roller in an area from a developer nip to a regulating blade disposed upstream of a rotation direction of the development roller during a stoppage of the image forming apparatus passes through the developer nip, a bias is applied so that the toner is drawn to the development roller, and a relative speed difference between the photosensitive drum and the development roller is created so as to be larger than the that during an image forming operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 13, 2021
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Yoshihiro Mitsui, Takuya Oka, Yasukazu Ikami
  • Patent number: 10955792
    Abstract: A process cartridge includes a developing device that supplies developer to a photosensitive member and an elastic portion that cleans a peripheral surface of the photosensitive member. Multiple grooves are formed side by side in a generatrix direction on the peripheral surface. The developer contains a toner including a toner particle and an organosilicon polymer having a structure represented by R—SiO3/2 covering the toner particle surface, where R represents a hydrocarbon group having at least 1 and not more than 6 carbon atoms. When a penetration amount of the elastic portion with respect to the photosensitive member is set as ? (mm), and a fixing rate of the organosilicon polymer on the surface of the toner particle is set as ? (%), ??0.02×??0.4 is satisfied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 23, 2021
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Shunsuke Matsushita, Yoshihiro Mitsui, Yasukazu Ikami, Shinichi Hagiwara, Kosuke Ikada, Katsuyuki Nonaka
  • Publication number: 20210080873
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a detection member configured to detect a conveyance state of a recording medium, a control unit configured to sequentially execute a first operation for continuously executing a rotation operation of an image bearing member and an intermediate transfer member without stopping them when the detection member detects a failure, and a second operation for stopping the rotation operation of the image bearing member when the surface of the image bearing member is moved by a predetermined distance through the rotation operation of the image bearing member after the failure is detected.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 11, 2020
    Publication date: March 18, 2021
    Inventors: Yoshihiro Mitsui, Takuya Oka, Yasukazu Ikami, Shinichi Agata
  • Patent number: 10852660
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a regulating member that regulates a developing agent that a developing agent carrying member carries in order to develop an electrostatic image, and a regulatory bias application portion that applies a regulatory bias to the regulating member, wherein the developing agent includes a toner containing a toner particle, inorganic silicon fine particles present on the surface of the toner particle, and a metal soap, wherein the amount of water-washing migration of the inorganic silicon fine particles is 0.20 mass % or less, wherein a peripheral speed ratio, which is a ratio of a peripheral speed of the developing agent carrying member to a peripheral speed of an image bearing member, has a range of 120% to 300%, and a dark portion potential Vd on the surface of the image bearing member and a regulatory bias Vb satisfy the relationship of Vd<Vb.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kosuke Ikada, Katsuichi Abe, Kodai Hayashi, Yasukazu Ikami, Shinichi Hagiwara, Shuhei Kawasaki
  • Publication number: 20200363768
    Abstract: A process cartridge includes a seal member contacting an image bearing member upstream in the rotation direction of the image bearing member from a cleaning member and allowing the developer to move from upstream in the rotation direction from the contact part between the seal member and the image bearing to downstream from the contact part while regulating movement from downstream to upstream from the contact part. The developer has surface protrusions containing an organic silicon polymer, wherein either (i) the work function of the seal member is greater than the work function of the developer when the developer has a negative charging polarity and is smaller than the work function of the developer when the developer has a positive charging polarity, or (ii) the absolute value of the difference between the work function of the seal member and the work function of the developer is within a predetermined range.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 15, 2020
    Publication date: November 19, 2020
    Inventors: Kazunori Hashimoto, Katsuhiro Kojima, Toshiaki Takeuchi, Yasukazu Ikami, Kosuke Ikada, Yoshihiro Mitsui, Yuichiro Hirata, Go Shindo, Akinobu Saito, Yuhei Terui, Noriyoshi Umeda, Tomonori Matsunaga, Shohei Kototani, Masamichi Sato
  • Publication number: 20200333726
    Abstract: A developer bearing member including: a rotational shaft; and an elastic layer on an outer circumference surface of the rotational shaft, developer being borne on a surface of the elastic layer, wherein the elastic layer is configured such that a load per unit area of a contact portion between one surface of a flat glass plate and the surface of the elastic layer is to be 5.8 N/mm2 or more, in a state that the one surface of the flat glass plate being parallel with an axis direction of the rotational shaft and the one surface of the flat glass plate coming into contact with the surface of the elastic layer with a predetermined penetration level, and wherein a ten-point average roughness Rzjis on the surface of the elastic layer is greater than a volume-average particle diameter of a particle of the developer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 15, 2020
    Publication date: October 22, 2020
    Inventors: Takashi Mukai, Takayuki Namiki, Taichi Sato, Yuki Yamamoto, Kazunari Hagiwara, Minoru Nakamura, Takahiro Kawamoto, Yasukazu Ikami
  • Patent number: 10761453
    Abstract: A developer on a developer bearing member includes a toner having a toner particle including a binder resin and an inorganic particle present on the surface of the toner particle. A fixing ratio of the inorganic particle to the surface of the toner particle is 80% or more. The aspect ratio of the toner is 0.90 or more. Where a contact pressure of a regulating member, which regulates the developer on the developer bearing member, against the developer bearing member is denoted by N (gf/mm) and a contact pressure of the supplying member, which is in contact with the developer bearing member and supplies the developer to developer bearing member, against the developer bearing member is denoted by D (gf/mm), the following expressions are satisfied: D+2×N?6?0, 1.5?N?4.0, and 2.0?D?3.5.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2020
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Takayoshi Kihara, Shuhei Kawasaki, Yoshihiro Mitsui, Yasukazu Ikami, Shunsuke Matsushita, Takuya Oka