Patents by Inventor Yoshihiro Mitsui

Yoshihiro Mitsui 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).

  • Publication number: 20230273570
    Abstract: A process cartridge includes a photosensitive drum; a developing roller; a developer supplying roller, provided in contact with the developing roller; a driving force receiving portion provided at a shaft end of the supplying roller; a first driving force transmitting portion; a second driving force transmitting portion; flexible sheets provided adjacent to an engaging portion between the first portion and the second portion to intermittently contact the second portion with rotation of the second portion, wherein a rotational direction of the roller is opposite to that of the roller, and a peripheral speed of the roller is larger than that of the roller.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 8, 2023
    Publication date: August 31, 2023
    Inventors: Hideki Maeshima, Kuniaki Hirukawa, Shuichi Gofuku, Yoshihiro Mitsui
  • Patent number: 11687029
    Abstract: [TASK] An object of the present invention is to provide an image developing apparatus and a process cartridge with which an image quality can be improved while reducing a number of parts and reducing an amount of remaining developer. [SOLUTION] A process cartridge detachably mountable to an electrophotographic image forming operators includes a developing chamber including a developing roller and a developer supplying roller; a developer accommodating container accommodating the developer provided below the developing chamber with respect to gravity direction, wherein the developer is fed into the developing chamber while being stirred by a feeding member. The developer supplying roller rotates such that a surface thereof moves in the same direction as a surface of the developing roller at a position where the developer supplying roller contacts the developing roller. A surface speed of the developer supplying roller is higher than a surface speed of the developing roller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2023
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hideki Maeshima, Kuniaki Hirukawa, Shuichi Gofuku, Yoshihiro Mitsui
  • Patent number: 11320782
    Abstract: A process cartridge includes a photosensitive drum; a developing roller; a developer supplying roller, provided in contact with the developing roller; a driving force receiving portion provided at a shaft end of the supplying roller; a first driving force transmitting portion; a second driving force transmitting portion; flexible sheets provided adjacent to an engaging portion between the first portion and the second portion to intermittently contact the second portion with rotation of the second portion, wherein a rotational direction of the roller is opposite to that of the roller, and a peripheral speed of the roller is larger than that of the roller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hideki Maeshima, Kuniaki Hirukawa, Shuichi Gofuku, Yoshihiro Mitsui
  • Patent number: 11314201
    Abstract: A process cartridge includes a photosensitive drum; a developing roller; a developer supplying roller, provided in contact with the developing roller; a driving force receiving portion provided at a shaft end of the supplying roller; a first driving force transmitting portion; a second driving force transmitting portion; flexible sheets provided adjacent to an engaging portion between the first portion and the second portion to intermittently contact the second portion with rotation of the second portion, wherein a rotational direction of the roller is opposite to that of the roller, and a peripheral speed of the roller is larger than that of the roller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2022
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hideki Maeshima, Kuniaki Hirukawa, Shuichi Gofuku, Yoshihiro Mitsui
  • Publication number: 20220066386
    Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide an image developing apparatus and a process cartridge with which an image quality can be improved while reducing a number of parts and reducing an amount of remaining developer. [SOLUTION] A process cartridge detachably mountable to an electrophotographic image forming operators includes a developing chamber including a developing roller and a developer supplying roller; a developer accommodating container accommodating the developer provided below the developing chamber with respect to gravity direction, wherein the developer is fed into the developing chamber while being stirred by a feeding member. The developer supplying roller rotates such that a surface thereof moves in the same direction as a surface of the developing roller at a position where the developer supplying roller contacts the developing roller. A surface speed of the developer supplying roller is higher than a surface speed of the developing roller.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 11, 2021
    Publication date: March 3, 2022
    Inventors: Hideki Maeshima, Kuniaki Hirukawa, Shuichi Gofuku, Yoshihiro Mitsui
  • Patent number: 11226585
    Abstract: A process cartridge includes a photosensitive drum; a developing roller; a developer supplying roller, provided in contact with the developing roller; a driving force receiving portion provided at a shaft end of the supplying roller; a first driving force transmitting portion; a second driving force transmitting portion; flexible sheets provided adjacent to an engaging portion between the first portion and the second portion to intermittently contact the second portion with rotation of the second portion, wherein a rotational direction of the roller is opposite to that of the roller, and a peripheral speed of the roller is larger than that of the roller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 18, 2022
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hideki Maeshima, Kuniaki Hirukawa, Shuichi Gofuku, Yoshihiro Mitsui
  • 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: 11073781
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus that executes an image forming operation for forming a toner image on a recording material and an application operation of applying a metal soap to a surface of an image bearing member by supplying a toner stored in a toner storing unit to the surface of the image bearing member from the developing member. A surficial moving speed of the image bearing member during the application operation is lower than the surficial moving speed of the image bearing member during the image forming operation, and a speed difference between the surficial moving speed of the developing member and the surficial moving speed of the image bearing member during the application operation is larger than that during the image forming operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 27, 2021
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kosuke Ikada, Go Shindo, Keitaro Nakata, Hisashi Yamauchi, Shinichi Agata, Yoshihiro Mitsui, Masahito Kato, Yuichiro Hirata
  • 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
  • Publication number: 20210200132
    Abstract: In an image forming apparatus, when a cartridge is unused, a control portion performs a preparatory operation of initiating rotational drive of a rotating member in a first rotational speed by second drive unit, and then initiating rotational drive of an image bearing member by first drive unit with the surface of the rotating member in contact with the surface of an image bearing member and then, driving the rotating member in a second rotational speed smaller than the first rotational speed prior to the image forming operation, and a ratio of the surface movement speed of the first rotational speed of the rotating member to the surface movement speed of the image bearing member in the preparatory operation is greater than the ratio of the surface movement speed of the rotating member to the surface movement speed of the image bearing member in the image forming operation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 23, 2020
    Publication date: July 1, 2021
    Inventors: Masahito Kato, Yoshihiro Mitsui, Yuichiro Hirata
  • 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: 11003106
    Abstract: A charging member 2 that charges an image bearing member 1 has an electrically conductive support and an elastic layer in contact with the image bearing member 1. The elastic layer includes a semi-conductive rubber composition having a matrix-domain structure including a matrix and domains having electric conductivity. The matrix has a higher volume resistivity than the domain. The developer includes a toner having toner particles. The toner particles each have a surface layer including an organosilicon polymer. The organosilicon polymer has a structure represented by R—SiO3/2 (R is a hydrocarbon group having at least 1 and not more than 6 carbon atoms). The adhesion ratio of the organosilicon polymer on the surface of the toner particle is 90% or more.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2021
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Shinichi Agata, Shinichi Hagiwara, Yoshihiro Mitsui, Kosuke Ikada, Kentaro Yamawaki
  • Patent number: 10990053
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a storage unit configured to store correction data; an identifying unit configured to identify a correction amount for a correction target pixel based on the correction data stored in the storage unit; a correction unit configured to correct an exposure amount of the correction target pixel among a plurality of pixels indicated by image data, from an exposure amount indicated by the image data, based on the correction amount for the correction target pixel; and an image forming unit configured to form an image based on an exposure amount after correction by the correction unit. The correction data includes only a correction amount corresponding to each of representative parameter values of a plurality of parameter values of a parameter for varying the correction amount.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 27, 2021
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Go Araki, Yoshihiro Mitsui
  • 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
  • Publication number: 20210011428
    Abstract: A process cartridge includes a photosensitive drum; a developing roller; a developer supplying roller, provided in contact with the developing roller; a driving force receiving portion provided at a shaft end of the supplying roller; a first driving force transmitting portion; a second driving force transmitting portion; flexible sheets provided adjacent to an engaging portion between the first portion and the second portion to intermittently contact the second portion with rotation of the second portion, wherein a rotational direction of the roller is opposite to that of the roller, and a peripheral speed of the roller is larger than that of the roller.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 28, 2020
    Publication date: January 14, 2021
    Inventors: Hideki Maeshima, Kuniaki Hirukawa, Shuichi Gofuki, Yoshihiro Mitsui
  • Publication number: 20210011429
    Abstract: A process cartridge includes a photosensitive drum; a developing roller; a developer supplying roller, provided in contact with the developing roller; a driving force receiving portion provided at a shaft end of the supplying roller; a first driving force transmitting portion; a second driving force transmitting portion; flexible sheets provided adjacent to an engaging portion between the first portion and the second portion to intermittently contact the second portion with rotation of the second portion, wherein a rotational direction of the roller is opposite to that of the roller, and a peripheral speed of the roller is larger than that of the roller.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 28, 2020
    Publication date: January 14, 2021
    Inventors: Hideki Maeshima, Kuniaki Hirukawa, Shuichi Gofuku, Yoshihiro Mitsui
  • Publication number: 20200409297
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus that executes an image forming operation for forming a toner image on a recording material and an application operation of applying a metal soap to a surface of an image bearing member by supplying a toner stored in a toner storing unit to the surface of the image bearing member from the developing member. A surficial moving speed of the image bearing member during the application operation is lower than the surficial moving speed of the image bearing member during the image forming operation, and a speed difference between the surficial moving speed of the developing member and the surficial moving speed of the image bearing member during the application operation is larger than that during the image forming operation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 18, 2020
    Publication date: December 31, 2020
    Inventors: Kosuke Ikada, Go Shindo, Keitaro Nakata, Hisashi Yamauchi, Shinichi Agata, Yoshihiro Mitsui, Masahito Kato, Yuichiro Hirata
  • Patent number: 10877395
    Abstract: A developer borne on a developer bearing member includes a toner, the toner has a Martens hardness of at least 200 MPa and not more than 1100 MPa when measured under a condition of a maximum load of 2.0×10?4 N, and where a contact pressure of a regulating member that regulates the developer borne on the developer bearing member against the surface of the developer bearing member is denoted by N (gf/mm) and a contact pressure of a supplying member that supplies the developer to the developer bearing member against the surface of the developer bearing member is denoted by D (gf/mm), the following expressions are satisfied: D+2×N?6?0, 1.5?N?4.5, and 2.0?D?4.5.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2020
    Assignee: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Takuya Oka, Yoshihiro Mitsui, Shuhei Kawasaki