Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Eichi Koizumi

Shinji Kato

Akira Yoshida

Nobutaka Takeuchi

Takahiro Asai

Kazuhiro Yoshida

Makoto Komatsu

Hiroshi Okamoto

Hitoshi Ishibashi

Ryota Yamashina

Hiroshi Shimura

Yushi Hirayama

Tetsuya Muto

Keiichi Kawaguchi

Yoshiyuki Toda

Hiroshi Suitoh

Tomohiro Ikeda

Taku Kitahara

A crawler type traveling body includes a drive wheel, an in-wheel motor incorporated in the drive wheel, a plurality of rotating wheels disposed below the drive wheel, a crawler, and a tensioner. The crawler is wound around the drive wheel and the rotating wheels and configured to be rotated by the drive wheel. The tensioner is coupled to a drive shaft of the in-wheel motor and configured to press the drive wheel against the crawler and apply tension to the crawler.

Crawler type traveling body and traveling apparatus

An apparatus for controlling image capturing, includes circuitry to control image capturing operation of each one of a first image capturing device and a second image capturing device, so as to cause the first image capturing device and the second image capturing device to cooperate with each other to perform linked image capturing, the first image capturing device capable of capturing an image with an angle of view wider than that of the second image capturing device. The circuitry controls one of the first image capturing device and the second image capturing device to start image capturing in response to starting of image capturing by other one of the first image capturing device and the second image capturing device.

Apparatus, system, and method of controlling image capturing, and recording medium

A microlens substrate includes a light receiving section that includes a light receiving surface configured to receive light, a supporting member that fixes the light receiving section, a microlens array that includes a plurality of microlenses configured to guide the light to the light receiving section, a lens holding member that holds the microlens array, and a fixing member that fixes the supporting member and the lens holding member. The fixing member includes a first fixing part that fixes the lens holding member and a second fixing member that fixes the supporting member. The lens holding member includes a lens holding part that holds the microlens array. The lens holding part is disposed at a position between the first fixing part and the second fixing part in a direction orthogonal to the light receiving surface.

Microlens substrate and imaging apparatus

A toner supplying device including a secondary toner container, a first feeding member performing a first feeding operation of feeding toner from a toner container to the secondary container on demand, a second feeding member performing a second feeding operation of feeding the toner from the secondary container to a developing device on demand, and a toner supply controller controlling the amount of the toner in the secondary container to be greater than a predetermined amount. The controller performs first control in which when the first feeding operation is performed, the amount of the toner fed in the second feeding operation per unit of time is decreased, or second control in which when the amount of the toner fed in the second feeding operation is greater than a predetermined amount, the amount of the toner fed in the first feeding operation per unit of time is decreased.

Toner supplying device and image forming apparatus using same

An image forming apparatus includes a latent image carrier; an image information obtaining unit; a latent image forming unit; a developer carrier; a developing device to develop the latent image by adhering toner onto the latent image carried on a latent image carrier; a toner replenishing device to replenish toner to the developing device; and a controller to adjust a toner replenishment amount by controlling drive of the toner replenishing device based on the image information. When the drive of the developing device is stopped, information relating to unreplenished portion of the toner replenishment amount excluding the already replenished amount from the toner replenishment amount based on the image information is stored in a nonvolatile memory, and the drive of the toner replenishing device is controlled using the stored information relating to the unreplenished portion of the toner replenishment amount when the drive of the developing device is resumed.

Image forming apparatus capable of optimally controlling toner concentration of developer

An image forming apparatus that includes a latent image carrier, a latent image forming unit, a developing unit, a toner supplier, a toner concentration detector, a prediction calculator, and a toner supply controller. The toner supplier includes a single driving source and supplies toner to a two-component developer at a predetermined supply position by driving a toner supply member with the driving source. The toner concentration detector detects a toner concentration in the developer at a predetermined detection position located upstream of the supply position. The prediction calculator predicts changes in the toner concentration in the developer over time at a prediction position located at the supply position or downstream of the supply position and upstream of a developer feed position to the developer carrier when toner is not supplied. The toner supply controller adjusts an amount of the toner supplied based on the prediction.

Image forming apparatus

A supply control unit is configured to, in a successive image-forming operation, perform a process of successively generating a driving control pattern for a toner supply device based on image information of each page, and synthesizing an unused portion of the driving control pattern which is obtained by eliminating a portion of the driving control pattern already reflected on a driving control of the toner supply device from the driving control pattern generated based on image information of a previous page with a driving control pattern generated based on a subsequent page.

Supply control unit and image forming apparatus

A first developer container having a toner supplying opening is provided in a developing unit. A toner concentration sensor is arranged downstream of the toner supplying opening to detect toner concentration in developer. A supply controlling unit is provided to determine an excess or a shortage in the amount of supplied toner based on image information correspondingly to a detection result by the toner concentration sensor, and to correct the driving amount of a toner supplying unit that has been determined based on the image information correspondingly to the recognized excess or shortage in the amount of supplied toner.

Image forming apparatus including developing unit and toner supplying unit

An image forming apparatus includes a latent image carrier, a latent image forming unit, a developing unit, a toner supplier, a toner concentration detector, a prediction calculator, and a toner supply controller. The toner supplier includes a single driving source and supplies toner to a two-component developer at a predetermined supply position by driving a toner supply member with the driving source. The toner concentration detector detects a toner concentration in the developer at a predetermined detection position located upstream of the supply position. The prediction calculator predicts changes in the toner concentration in the developer over time at a prediction position located at the supply position or downstream of the supply position and upstream of a developer feed position to the developer carrier when toner is not supplied, based on a result of the toner concentration detection. The toner supply controller adjusts an amount of the toner supplied based on the prediction.

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Kanagawa, Japan

Eichi Koizumi