Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090226221 | Developer carrier, developing device, image forming apparatus, process cartridge, and image forming method - A developer carrier which holds a developer on a surface and is rotatable includes: a plurality of grooves which is formed on the surface, wherein each of the grooves is wavy-lined, an inclination direction of the grooves to an axis of the developer carrier is cyclically changed in an opposite direction, and the grooves are respectively arranged at intervals. | 09-10-2009 |
20110020017 | DEVELOPER SUPPLYING DEVICE, DEVELOPING DEVICE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - The developer supplying device supplies a supplementary developer including a toner and a carrier in a predetermined weight ratio. The developer supplying device includes a supplementary developer container containing the supplementary developer, and a supplementary developer feeding passage configured to feed the supplementary developer from the supplementary developer container to a developing device. The supplementary developer container is replaced when the supplementary developer is substantially exhausted. The developer supplying device further includes a carrier concentration determining device provided on the supplementary developer feeding passage to determine the concentration of the carrier in the supplementary developer fed through the supplementary developer feeding passage, and a residual supplementary developer amount estimating device configured to estimate the amount of the supplementary developer remaining in the supplementary developer container. | 01-27-2011 |
20110058858 | DEVELOPING DEVICE, PROCESS CARTRIDGE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - There is provided a separation member for separating a first conveying path formed by a first conveying member from a second conveying path formed by a second conveying member. There is also provided an opposed member facing a magnetic pole H4 at an upstream side of two magnetic poles H4 and H6 that forms a developer-releasing magnetic pole H5. | 03-10-2011 |
20120141169 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND TONER CARTRIDGE USED THEREIN - An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit, a toner container mount, first and second toner containers removably insertable into the toner container mount horizontally, container guides formed in toner container mount to guide lateral side portions of the first and second toner containers, respectively, and an insertion opening forming member positioned defining first and second insertion openings through which the first and second toner containers are inserted, each including a laterally projecting portion. The second toner container is greater than the first toner container in cross section perpendicular to a direction of insertion, and the second insertion opening is greater than the first insertion opening. The first and second toner containers include guided portions projecting laterally, and the guided portion of the first toner container has a vertical length longer than that of the guided portion of the second toner container. | 06-07-2012 |
20120148312 | TONER SUPPLY DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A toner supply device includes a toner storage section including plural toner containing sections and a dividing part, the plural toner containing sections being arranged from an upstream side to a downstream side in a toner feeding direction and including respective rotating members configured to rotate to feed the toner, the dividing part being formed between the toner containing sections adjacent to each other and including an upper end part. Further, a position of the upper end part of the dividing part is higher than a position of a rotational center of the rotating member included in the toner containing section on the upstream side in the toner feeding direction of the toner containing sections adjacent to each other. | 06-14-2012 |
20120200871 | INFORMATION STORAGE DEVICE, REMOVABLE DEVICE, DEVELOPER CONTAINER, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An information storage device installed in a removable device configured to be removably installed in an image forming apparatus body, includes: an information storage unit that stores information communicated between the image forming apparatus body and the removable device; a terminal that comes in contact with a body side terminal; and a substrate that holds the information storage unit and the terminal and includes a hole configured to be engaged with a protruding section installed in the image forming apparatus body. The terminal includes a plurality of terminals each including one of a plurality of metallic plates arranged in a transverse direction thereof. An earth terminal, which comes in contact with a body side earth terminal formed in the protruding section, is formed in the hole. The hole is disposed at a position sandwiched between two metallic plates among the plurality of metallic plates. | 08-09-2012 |
20120230735 | IMAGE-FORMING APPARATUS, TONER CONTAINER AND TONER CONTAINER INSTALLATION STRUCTURE - An image-forming apparatus and toner container installation structure used in the image-forming apparatus, includes: a toner container with a toner container body, being attached to a fitting section in a body of the image-forming apparatus in a detachable manner; a latent image-bearing member, being formed with a latent image thereon; a developing unit, for developing the latent image with a toner supplied from the toner container body; an ID chip provided in the toner container, having a plurality of through-hole electrodes; and a substrate provided in the fitting section, having a plurality of pin electrodes. The pin electrodes are fitted into the through-hole electrodes when the toner container is attached to the fitting section. | 09-13-2012 |
20120308242 | TONER CONTAINER, TONER CONTAINER FRAME, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS INCORPORATING SAME - A toner container is removably installable in an image forming apparatus having a communication portion and a positioning hole. The toner container includes an electronic data storage device disposed on a surface of the toner container, to communicate with the communication portion in the image forming apparatus, the electronic data storage device having an engaged hole; and a positioning projection, formed in the surface of the toner container, to engage the engaged hole of the electronic data storage device and the positioning hole in the image forming apparatus. The positioning projection inserts into the positioning hole in the image forming apparatus with the positioning projection engaging the engaged hole in the electronic data storage device to determine an installation position of the toner container relative to the image forming apparatus and set the electronic data storage device relative to the communication portion in the image forming apparatus. | 12-06-2012 |
20130114982 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes multiple image bearing members, toner image forming devices, and a transfer unit. The transfer unit includes an intermediate transfer belt entrained about a plurality of rollers and onto which toner images are transferred from the image bearing members, a reference member to position the transfer unit in place, a frame to hold the plurality of rollers a certain distance from the reference member, and a moving device including a holding member to hold movably one of the rollers relative to the frame to change the position of the roller between a multiple color mode for forming a multiple color image and a single color mode for forming a single color image so that the intermediate transfer belt contacts and separates from the image bearing member. As the holding member contacts the reference member, the intermediate transfer belt contacts the image bearing members. | 05-09-2013 |
20130188985 | INFORMATION STORAGE DEVICE, REMOVABLE DEVICE, DEVELOPER CONTAINER, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An information storage device installed in a removable device configured to be removably installed in an image forming apparatus body, includes: an information storage unit that stores information communicated between the image forming apparatus body and the removable device; a terminal that comes in contact with a body side terminal; and a substrate that holds the information storage unit and the terminal and includes a hole configured to be engaged with a protruding section installed in the image forming apparatus body. The terminal includes a plurality of terminals each including one of a plurality of metallic plates arranged in a transverse direction thereof. An earth terminal, which comes in contact with a body side earth terminal formed in the protruding section, is formed in the hole. The hole is disposed at a position sandwiched between two metallic plates among the plurality of metallic plates. | 07-25-2013 |
20130223877 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PREVENTING AN INFORMATION STORAGE DEVICE FROM FALLING FROM A REMOVABLE DEVICE - An information storage device installed in a removable device configured to be removably installed in an image forming apparatus body, includes: an information storage unit that stores information communicated between the image forming apparatus body and the removable device; a terminal that comes in contact with a body side terminal; and a substrate that holds the information storage unit and the terminal and includes a hole configured to be engaged with a protruding section installed in the image forming apparatus body. The terminal includes a plurality of terminals each including one of a plurality of metallic plates arranged in a transverse direction thereof. An earth terminal, which comes in contact with a body side earth terminal formed in the protruding section, is formed in the hole. The hole is disposed at a position sandwiched between two metallic plates among the plurality of metallic plates. | 08-29-2013 |
20130243482 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes: a transfer unit that is detachably attachable to a housing of the image forming apparatus and includes: a transfer member configured to contact the image carrier; a movable frame that supports the transfer member and configured to rotate around a fulcrum shaft; a driving input member coaxially arranged with the fulcrum shaft and configured to connect to a first driving transmitting member, and a second driving transmitting member supported by the movable frame and configured to transmit a driving force inputted by the driving input member to the transfer member. The image forming apparatus further includes a contact/separation unit configured to press the transfer member against the image carrier and to separate the transfer member from the image carrier by moving the movable frame around the fulcrum shaft while the transfer unit is attached to the image forming apparatus. | 09-19-2013 |
20140037325 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PREVENTING AN INFORMATION STORAGE DEVICE FROM FALLING FROM A REMOVABLE DEVICE - An information storage device installed in a removable device configured to be removably installed in an image forming apparatus body, includes: an information storage unit that stores information communicated between the image forming apparatus body and the removable device; a terminal that comes in contact with a body side terminal; and a substrate that holds the information storage unit and the terminal and includes a hole configured to be engaged with a protruding section installed in the image forming apparatus body. The terminal includes a plurality of terminals each including one of a plurality of metallic plates arranged in a transverse direction thereof. An earth terminal, which comes in contact with a body side earth terminal formed in the protruding section, is formed in the hole. The hole is disposed at a position sandwiched between two metallic plates among the plurality of metallic plates. | 02-06-2014 |
20140072340 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit; an intermediate transfer member; a secondary transfer member to form a secondary transfer nip with the intermediate transfer member and the secondary transfer member; a biasing mechanism to bias the secondary transfer member toward the intermediate transfer member; a cam member rotatable between a first position, at which a predetermined space is formed in the secondary transfer nip, and a second position, at which the secondary transfer member and the intermediate transfer member contact each other; and a contact-separation controller configured to put the cam member in the first position before entry of the recording medium into the secondary transfer nip, rotate the cam member toward the second position when the recording medium enters the secondary transfer nip, and change a start timing of rotation of the cam member in accordance with a thickness of the recording medium. | 03-13-2014 |
20140286670 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PREVENTING AN INFORMATION STORAGE DEVICE FROM FALLING FROM A REMOVABLE DEVICE - An information storage device installed in a removable device configured to be removably installed in an image forming apparatus body, includes: an information storage unit that stores information communicated between the image forming apparatus body and the removable device; a terminal that comes in contact with a body side terminal; and a substrate that holds the information storage unit and the terminal and includes a hole configured to be engaged with a protruding section installed in the image forming apparatus body. The terminal includes a plurality of terminals each including one of a plurality of metallic plates arranged in a transverse direction thereof. An earth terminal, which comes in contact with a body side earth terminal formed in the protruding section, is formed in the hole. The hole is disposed at a position sandwiched between two metallic plates among the plurality of metallic plates. | 09-25-2014 |
20140314443 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PREVENTING AN INFORMATION STORAGE DEVICE FROM FALLING FROM A REMOVABLE DEVICE - An information storage device installed in a removable device configured to be removably installed in an image forming apparatus body, includes: an information storage unit that stores information communicated between the image forming apparatus body and the removable device; a terminal that comes in contact with a body side terminal; and a substrate that holds the information storage unit and the terminal and includes a hole configured to be engaged with a protruding section installed in the image forming apparatus body. The terminal includes a plurality of terminals each including one of a plurality of metallic plates arranged in a transverse direction thereof. An earth terminal, which comes in contact with a body side earth terminal formed in the protruding section, is formed in the hole. The hole is disposed at a position sandwiched between two metallic plates among the plurality of metallic plates. | 10-23-2014 |
20140341602 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PREVENTING AN INFORMATION STORAGE DEVICE FROM FALLING FROM A REMOVABLE DEVICE - An information storage device installed in a removable device configured to be removably installed in an image forming apparatus body, includes: an information storage unit that stores information communicated between the image forming apparatus body and the removable device; a terminal that comes in contact with a body side terminal; and a substrate that holds the information storage unit and the terminal and includes a hole configured to be engaged with a protruding section installed in the image forming apparatus body. The terminal includes a plurality of terminals each including one of a plurality of metallic plates arranged in a transverse direction thereof. An earth terminal, which comes in contact with a body side earth terminal formed in the protruding section, is formed in the hole. The hole is disposed at a position sandwiched between two metallic plates among the plurality of metallic plates. | 11-20-2014 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100069713 | ELECTRONIC ENDOSCOPE SYSTEM - An electronic endoscope system includes an electronic endoscope having a CMOS image sensor on the tip of an insertion section, a light source device for illuminating the interior of a patient's body, and a processing device for reading out image signals from the CMOS image sensor. The electronic endoscope system can operate with a standard imaging mode and a special imaging mode. When the time taken to read out the image signals from all the pixels in the standard mode is defined as T, the light source device in the special imaging mode emits illumination light in every first half period T/2 while switching a wavelength of the illumination light between two different wavebands. In every second half period T/2, the processing device reads out the image signals from the half of the pixels. | 03-18-2010 |
20120259226 | ULTRASOUND DIAGNOSTIC APPARATUS - An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus comprises: an ultrasound probe, the ultrasound probe having a transducer array which transmits ultrasonic waves, receives an ultrasonic echo reflected by a subject, and outputs a reception signal according to the received ultrasonic waves, a signal processor which includes a reception amplifier having an amplifier amplifying the reception signal output from the transducer array and processes the reception signal, a selection unit for switching a current value of a bias current supplied to the amplifier, and a selection switch which performs a switching operation to switch the current value by the selection unit; and a diagnostic apparatus body which produces an ultrasound image according to the reception signal processed by the signal processor of the ultrasound probe. | 10-11-2012 |
20130121471 | RADIATION IMAGE DETECTION APPARATUS AND RADIATION IMAGE PHOTOGRAPHING SYSTEM - A radiation image detection apparatus, includes: a control unit configured to drive an imaging unit so that a radiation image data is acquired, an image receiving unit is reset after acquiring the radiation image data, and a dark image data is acquired; in which: the control unit changes at least one of a reset time of the image receiving unit and a reduction ratio of an reduced image data on the basis of the communication speed by such that the transmission of the reduced image data is completed at least prior to reading-out an electrical charge signal from the image receiving unit when acquiring the dark image. | 05-16-2013 |
20130129053 | RADIATION IMAGE DETECTION APPARATUS AND RADIATION IMAGE PHOTOGRAPHING SYSTEM - A radiation image detection apparatus includes a control unit, during a irradiation detection mode, stops supplying of an operating power to a data processing unit until irradiation of radiation is detected by an irradiation detection unit, and when the irradiation of radiation is detected by the irradiation detection unit, the control unit proceeds to a photographing mode and begins supplying the operating power to the data processing unit. | 05-23-2013 |
20140314435 | TRANSFER DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS INCORPORATING SAME - A transfer device includes a transfer member and a bias applicator. The transfer member contacts a surface, on which a toner image is borne, of an image bearing body, to form a transfer nip. The bias applicator applies a DC voltage and an AC voltage as transfer bias to transfer the toner image on the image bearing body to a recording sheet in the transfer nip. The bias applicator applies a DC voltage having a same polarity as the DC voltage of the transfer bias and an AC voltage having an amplitude smaller than the AC voltage of the transfer bias or applies the DC voltage having the same polarity as the DC voltage of the transfer bias without applying an AC voltage, when an inter-sheet area that exists on the image bearing body passes through the transfer nip during a continuous image formation period. | 10-23-2014 |
20140328603 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier, a transfer member, a power supply, and a control device that controls the power supply to output a DC-AC superimposed bias or a DC bias to transfer a toner image on the image carrier onto a recording medium. The control device controls the power supply to alternately output a first bias being a DC component the same in polarity as the DC bias and a second bias being a DC component opposite in polarity to the DC bias to clean the transfer member when image formation is not taking place. The first bias is output with two target output values including a first value and a second value lower than the first value. The second bias is output with one target output value. An output time of the second bias is longer than an output time of the first bias. | 11-06-2014 |
20140328604 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier that carries a toner image; a transfer member that forms a transfer nip between the transfer member and the image carrier; and a power supply capable of outputting a superimposed transfer bias in which an alternating current component is superimposed onto a direct current component. The toner image on the image carrier is transferred onto a recording medium in the transfer nip by the superimposed transfer bias or a direct current bias consisting of the direct current component output by the power supply. The apparatus also includes a controller that controls the power supply so that an output target value of the direct current component when the direct current component rises up is larger than an output target value of the direct current component when the toner image is transferred onto the recording medium. | 11-06-2014 |
20140334847 | TRANSFER DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS INCORPORATING SAME - A transfer device includes an image carrier, a transfer roller, and a moving unit. The moving unit moves the transfer roller between a nip formation state in which the transfer roller forms a transfer nipping portion in contact with the image carrier and a separated state in which the transfer roller is separated from the image carrier. In a contact operation of bringing the transfer roller into contact with the image carrier via the recording medium, the moving unit moves the transfer roller toward the image carrier at a moving velocity slower than that in a pressing operation of generating a predetermined nipping pressure by further moving the transfer roller toward the image carrier after the contact operation. The moving unit causes the recording medium to enter the transfer nipping portion in the contact operation. | 11-13-2014 |
20150090564 | BELT CONVEYOR UNIT AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS INCLUDING SAME - A belt conveyor unit includes a plurality of rollers around which a belt is entrained, including a first roller, a second roller disposed opposite the first roller via the belt, and a third roller other than the first roller and the second roller, and a belt alignment device including a shaft moving device to tilt a rotary shaft of the third roller upon receiving a moving force of the belt moving in a width direction of the belt in an axial direction of the rotary shaft to adjust displacement of the belt. The shaft moving device includes an axial-direction displacement member including a slanted surface that moves to a first side in the width direction of the belt along the rotary shaft upon receiving the moving force of the belt, and a fixation member to contact the slanted surface from the first side in the width direction of the belt. | 04-02-2015 |
20150117914 | CONVEYOR SYSTEM AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS INCLUDING SAME - A conveyor system includes a first conveyor belt entrained about a separation roller and a support roller disposed upstream from the separation roller, a second conveyor belt entrained about a first roller disposed at an uppermost stream in a transport direction of a sheet-type medium and a second roller disposed downstream therefrom, a belt alignment device to tilt a rotary shaft of the separation roller to restrict a range of belt mistracking of the first conveyor belt in a width direction thereof within a predetermined range, and a restriction member to restrict an amount of inclination of the rotary shaft such that a hypothetical extended plane, which is a hypothetical extension of the outer circumferential surface of the first conveyor belt between the separation roller and the support roller to a downstream side in the transport direction, does not contact a rotational center axis of the first roller. | 04-30-2015 |
20150125189 | BELT ASSEMBLY AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS INCLUDING SAME - A belt assembly includes a belt, a plurality of support rollers, and a shaft-end retainer. The belt is formed into an endless loop, entrained about and stretched taut between the plurality of support rollers with a rotary shaft. The plurality of support rollers includes a first support roller and a second support roller. The shaft-end retainer including a first retainer and a second retainer is disposed at each end of the rotary shaft of the plurality of support rollers. The first retainer detachably holds an end of the rotary shaft of the first support roller. The second retainer detachably holds an end of the rotary shaft of the second support roller and includes a second-retainer opening from which the end of the rotary shaft of the second roller is detachable from and attachable to the second retainer in a direction perpendicular to the rotary shaft of the second support roller. | 05-07-2015 |