Minolta Camera Kabushiki Kaisha

Minolta Company, Ltd.

Toeisangyo Co., Ltd.

Akihito Ikegawa

Hiroshi Mizuno

Masaki Asano

Shuji Iino

Izumi Osawa

Hiroshi Murasaki

Kouichi Etou

Isao Doi

Masashi Yamamoto

Keiko Nagayasu

Keyaki Yogome

Keiko Momotani

Takaji Kurita

Masaharu Kanazawa

Masahiko Matsuura

Yuji Enoguchi

Toshiya Natsuhara

Satoshi Deishi

Tomoo Izumi

Katsuhiko Takeda

Shuichi Nakagawa

Hiroyuki Yamasaki

Kenzo Tanaka

Kouichi Aritomo

Michiya Yamashita

Kazuki Tsukamoto

Tateki Oka

Takashi Kondo

Junji Machida

Tatsuya Eguchi

Hirofumi Hasegawa

Naoki Toyoshi

Tomoaki Yokoyama

Koji Uno

Hitoshi Saito

Seishi Ojima

Kazuyoshi Hara

Hitoshi Sekino

Kazuko Taniguchi

Yasuhiro Matsuura

Katsuyuki Taima

Satoshi Yoshida

Masaaki Takama

Yoshio Tohyama

Norio Tamada

Takayuki Ogawa

Masasi Yamamoto

Toshiya Natushara

Noriko Yoshida

Kenji Otokawa

Denji Nota

An initial resin substrate is formed by laminating resin layers, and one surface of the initial substrate is heated and pressed by a molding die to mold a projected and dented surface such that substantially no deformation occurs on the resin layer providing a surface opposed to the one surface of the initial substrate. A reversible image display medium is produced by a method comprising the steps of accommodating a dry developer into the concavities and fixing a second substrate to the first substrate using an adhesive. Alternatively a reversible image display medium may be produced by, e.g., a method comprising the steps of providing a first substrate having one surface including concavities, spreading the dry developer over the one surface, removing the excess developer while accommodating the developer into the concavities, and fixing a second substrate to the one surface, or alternatively forming a cell sheet having the cells and accommodating a dry developer therein by use of supersonic oscillation, magnetic force or vacuum suction force.

Method for producing resin-molded substrate and method for producing reversible image display medium

Disclosed is a reversible image display medium which can be repeatedly used and can display high quality images, in which cells between the two substrates accommodate a dry developer containing at least two kinds of frictionally chargeable dry developing particles having different chargeable polarities and different optical reflection densities; images are displayed by forming an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the image to be formed on one of the two substrates to drive the developing particles in an electrostatic field based on the electrostatic latent image; a developer-facing surface of one of the substrates has a surface resistivity of at least 1&#xd7;10ohm/square; a developer-facing surface of the opposite substrate has a surface resistivity from 1&#xd7;10ohm/square to 1&#xd7;10ohm/square; a developer-facing surface of one of the substrates has a surface average median roughness Ra of 0.2 &#x3bc;m to 0.5 &#x3bc;m; and an external surface of the substrate on image observation side has a surface average median roughness Ra of 0.2 &#x3bc;m to 0.7 &#x3bc;m.

Reversible image display medium

The invention provides an image display medium comprising: a first transparent substrate disposed on an observation side; a second substrate disposed on a further side from the observation side than the first substrate; and a display layer formed between the first substrate and the second substrate and containing a plurality of developer particles; the first substrate including a color filter having at least one group of a plurality of light-transmitting filter films of different colors. The invention also provides an image recording apparatus including a recording head for recording an image on the medium and a positioning device for positioning the filter films of the color filter and the recording head. The invention further provides an image recording method comprising the steps of positioning the filter films of the medium and the recording head, and recording an image by the recording head on the medium having the filter films positioned.

Image display medium and image recording apparatus

In order to provide an image creating apparatus which is driven at a high speed by a low voltage and realizes high contrast, the image creating apparatus of the present invention applies a voltage selectively to surfaces of arranged plural polymeric electrolyte films and generate a potential difference between both surfaces of the polymeric electrolyte films to which the voltage is applied to deform the polymeric electrolyte films. This image creating apparatus can provide an optical shutter of an image recording apparatus and a reflection or transmitting type image display device.

Image creating apparatus and image recording apparatus

A method and apparatus capable of displaying a high-quality image using a reversible image display medium in which a cell(s) formed between two substrates accommodates at least two kinds of frictionally chargeable dry developing particles having different chargeable polarities and different optical reflection densities in image display, an electric field strength of, e.g., 0.3 V/&#x3bc;m to 3.0 V/&#x3bc;m is applied to the developer. An oscillating force (e.g. oscillating magnetic filed) is applicable and the oscillating force is substantially stopped during application of the electrostatic field. After completion of the electrostatic field, the surface of the medium on the image observation side may be charged to a potential holding the displayed image. Optionally, before image display, an alternating electric field may be applied to stir the developer for initialization of the medium.

Image displaying method and image forming apparatus utilizing a reversible image display medium having a high resolution image display

An image is formed on an image display medium having a display layer whose optical characteristics are changed by applying an electric field. An electrostatic latent image corresponding to the image to be formed is formed on a dielectric film having a plurality of float electrodes formed thereon by injecting an electrical charge into at least one of the float electrodes. The electric field formed by the electrostatic latent image on the dielectric film is applied to the display layer of the image display medium by bringing the electrostatic latent image formed on the dielectric film to a position opposed to the image display medium.

Method and apparatus for forming an image on display medium

A reversible image display medium accommodates a dry developer in each cell formed between two substrates. The developer contains at least two kinds of frictionally chargeable dry developing particles having different chargeable polarities and different optical reflection densities. An image display can be achieved by forming an electrostatic latent image on one of the substrates to drive the developing particles in an electric field based on the electrostatic latent image. The developing particles are set to an average charge quantity of 1.0 &mgr;C/g to 10 &mgr;C/g to achieve good image display. Optionally at least one kind of the developing particles are magnetic developing particles having a coercive force of 50 oersteds to 250 oersteds, and optionally having an optical reflection density of 1.0 or more. An amount of small-size developing particles and/or an addition of a third component may be adjusted and volume average particle size ratio of developing particles may be controlled.

An image forming apparatus includes an image carrying member having an electrostatic latent image carried on its surface, a release agent application device for applying a release agent to the surface of the image carrying member, an ink developing device for bringing an ink into contact with the image carrying member having the electrostatic latent image formed thereon and the release agent applied thereto, to form an ink image corresponding to the electrostatic latent image, and an ink supplying device for supplying a replenishing ink to the ink developing device when the release agent is mixed with the ink in the ink developing device to control the viscosity of the ink, wherein the replenishing ink differs in viscosity from the ink in the ink developing device. And, the supply of ink is varied as a function of the environmental conditions, such as temperature. Image forming methods are disclosed for using the disclosed image forming apparatuses.

Image forming apparatus and method using a developing device relating to

In the present invention, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of an image carrying member, while ink having a tack value of not less than one is used as ink in an ink developing device. The ink is held in an ink carrying member. The ink held in the ink carrying member is brought into contact with the surface of the image carrying member to supply the ink to the electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the image carrying member, to form an ink image on the surface of the image carrying member. The ink image is transferred onto a recording medium from the surface of the image carrying member by a transfer device.

Image forming apparatus and image forming method

An image forming apparatus includes a first conductive member, a photoelectric transfer layer mounted on the first conductive member, a surface electrode mounted adjacent to the photoelectric transfer layer but away from the first conductive layer, a dielectric layer opposed to the surface electrode, a second conductive member mounted on one surface of the dielectric layer away from the photoelectric transfer layer. A first power supply is provided for applying a voltage V.sub.c between first and second conductive members and a second power supply is provided for applying a voltage V.sub.b between the surface electrode and the second conductive member. The image forming apparatus satisfies following relationship:

Image forming apparatus

A contact charging device, in which a contact member for charging has a surface including a contact portion to be in contact with a charge receiving member as well as a charge contributing portion having a surface resistivity (.rho.s) of 1.times.10.sup.5 .OMEGA./.quadrature. or less. A maximum distance between the contributing portion and the charge receiving member is in a range from 5 .mu.m to 60 .mu.m. Alternatively, an electric power formed of a DC component is applied to the contact member to produce a potential difference in a range from 550 v to 750 v between the applied power and a potential at the surface of the charge receiving member before being charged by the electric power.

Charging method and charging device

An image forming method according to the present invention comprises the steps of forming an electrostatic latent image on an image carrying member by a latent image forming device, applying a release agent to the surface of the image carrying member by an application device, and bringing an ink carried on an ink carrying member into contact with the surface of the image carrying member coated with the release agent to form an ink image corresponding to the electrostatic latent image on the surface of the image carrying member.

Image forming method and apparatus transferring an ink image

An electrostatic recording apparatus 1 for forming an electrostatic image on an electric charge carrying member 2 comprises a photoelectric transfer member 14 spaced from the electric charge carrying member 2, a floating electrode 16 provided on a first surface of the photoelectric transfer member 14, an electric power supply 27 for applying a voltage between the second surface of the photoelectric transfer member 14 and the second surface of the electric charge carrying member 2, and an exposure device 8 for exposing a second surface of the photoelectric transfer member 14. The floating electrode 16 having an electric discharge terminal 18a close to the electric charge carrying member 2. When the exposure device 8 exposes a second surface of the photoelectric transfer member 14, the carriers generated in the photoelectric transfer member 14 move toward the floating electrode 16 to cause an electric discharge between the electric discharge terminal 18a of the floating electrode 16 and the electric charge carrying member 2, which allows an electrostatic image to be formed on the electric charge carrying member 2.

Electrostatic recording apparatus having a floating electrode on a

The present invention provides a contact charging device, in which a contact member for charging is in contact with a charge receiving member for charging the same while suppressing charging irregularity. The contact member has a surface to be in contact with the charge receiving member. This surface has a volume resistivity in a range from 1.times.10.sup.4 .OMEGA..multidot.cm to 1.times.10.sup.10 .OMEGA..multidot.cm, and has a surface resistivity in a range from 1.times.10.sup.5 .OMEGA./.quadrature. to 1.times.10.sup.10 .OMEGA./.quadrature.. Alternatively, the contact member has a surface to be in contact with the charge receiving member. This surface of the contact member has a surface hardness which provides a scratch width of 1 .mu.m or less under scratch hardness test.

Growing community of inventors

Sakai, Japan

Akihito Ikegawa