Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

E.i. Dupont De Nemours and Company

Ikeda Bussan Co. Ltd.

Yamatake Corporation

Kansai Coke and Chemicals Co., Ltd.

Ohba, Ryoji

Isao Hayashi

Seiichiro Karita

Takatsuna Aoki

Hiroshi Takabayashi

Masaaki Naoi

Ichiro Okumura

Takashi Yoshida

Hideo Kanno

Hisae Shimizu

Masaya Kobayashi

Tsutomu Nishikawa

Shinji Yamamoto

Hiroshi Ito

Yasushi Murayama

Makoto Ise

Makoto Shihoh

Hisatoshi Baba

Kota Kiyama

Yoshihiro Shigemura

Kosuke Fujimoto

Akira Fukushima

Takashi Narasawa

Katsumasa Nishikawa

Yuri Mizutani

Yumi Matsuura

Ryoji Ohba

Hirofumi Yamashita

Masaaki Kogure

Mitsuru Terui

Masao Okajima

An image sensor including a first signal processing circuit including a first ramp signal generation circuit and a first analog-to-digital (AD) conversion circuit, a second signal processing circuit including a second ramp signal generation circuit and a second AD conversion circuit, and wiring connected so that a first ramp signal output from the first ramp signal generation circuit is supplied to the first and second AD conversion circuits, and a second ramp signal output from the second ramp signal generation circuit is supplied to the first and second AD conversion circuits.

Image sensor and imaging apparatus

A method for manufacturing a back-contact solar cell, comprising the steps of: (i) preparing a semiconductor substrate comprising an n-layer and a p-layer at the back side of the semiconductor substrate; (ii) applying a conductive paste on both the n-layer and the p-layer, wherein the conductive paste comprises a silver (Ag) powder, a palladium (Pd) powder, an additional metal powder selected from the group consisting of molybdenum (Mo), boron (B) and a mixture thereof, a glass frit, and an organic medium; and (iii) firing the applied conductive paste.

Back-contact solar cell and method for manufacturing the same

A conductive paste used for a solar cell electrode comprising, (i) 60 wt % to 95 wt % of a conductive powder; (ii) 0.1 wt % to 5.0 wt % of a lead-tellurium-oxide powder, comprising 20 wt % to 60 wt % of PbO and 20 wt % to 60 wt % of TeObased on the total weight of the lead-tellurium-oxide powder; (iii) 3 wt % to 38 wt % of an organic medium; and (iv) 0.1 wt % to 1.5 wt % of an inorganic oxide powder selected from the group consisting of HoO, LaO, SmO, YO, YbO, GdOand a mixture thereof, based on the total weight of the conductive paste.

Conductive paste used for solar cell electrodes and method of manufacturing the solar cell electrodes

First position information formed on a conveyance body is read by an information detecting portion, and second position information formed on a second image carrier is read by the information detecting portion. Control is made such that a position of an image on the second image carrier matches with a position of an image on the conveyance body from information read by the information detecting portion in transferring the image from the second image carrier to the conveyance body. The information detecting portion is held by a hold member and is disposed at a transfer region.

Image forming apparatus

A secondary coil is attached to an end portion of a heating film. A space is formed inside a core member. A primary coil, which generates a magnetic field that causes the secondary coil to generate a current by electromagnetic induction, is arranged inside the space together with the secondary coil.

Fixing device for fixing toner on sheet by heating toner, and image forming apparatus including fixing device

A non-contact power supply unit including a secondary coil supplies an alternating voltage to multiple heat generation layers provided in a heat generation film. In one of the heat generation layers, a loop is provided as a variable impedance circuit in which the impedance changes according to the frequency. A capacitance element in which the impedance changes according to the frequency is provided in the loop. The heat generation amounts of the heat generation layers are switched by changing the frequency of the alternating voltage generated in the secondary coil according to the size of the recording material that is the heating target.

Heating apparatus for heating a toner image and image forming apparatus including the same

An image forming apparatus includes a first station including a first photosensitive drum, a second station including a second photosensitive drum, and an intermediate transfer member for receiving the first toner image from the first drum and the second toner image from the second drum sequentially. In addition, a first sensor detects a first index image on the intermediate transfer member, and a second sensor detects a second index image on the second drum. A controller controls a peripheral speed of the second drum, and an executing device executes a test mode using a first test inclined index image and a second test inclined index image. The controller controls image forming conditions for the first and second index images in accordance with outputs of the first and second sensors in the test mode.

Image forming apparatus and controlling method therefor

The present invention provides a recording head that has a driving circuit performing driving by dividing a plurality of heaters into a plurality of blocks and supplying electric current on a block-by-block basis based on recording data; a constant current source applying a common bias current to each temperature sensor group obtained by dividing temperature sensors disposed in correspondence to each heater of a plurality of heaters into blocks; a voltage output circuit having a switching element that turns electric current supply to the temperature sensors of the selected temperature sensor group ON and OFF, and obtaining a voltage generated at both terminals of the selected temperature sensor by supplying an electric current to the temperature sensor; and an amplifier circuit amplifying the detection voltages.

Recording head and recording apparatus using the recording head

A printing apparatus and ink discharge failure detection method capable of precisely detecting temperature information corresponding to each nozzle are provided. Temperatures of respective electrothermal transducers (heaters) are measured on the basis of outputs from a plurality of sensors corresponding to the respective heaters. The temperatures of the heaters at a predetermined timing during a printing operation are predicted on the basis of the temperature change profiles of the respective heaters that are generated by energizing the heaters. A plurality of thresholds corresponding to nozzle states are generated on the basis of the predicted temperatures and the driving conditions of an inkjet printhead, and it is controlled to execute temperature measurement at the predetermined timing. A temperature measured under the control is compared with the respective generated thresholds, and the nozzle state is identified on the basis of the comparison results.

Printing apparatus and ink discharge failure detection method

A charging device capable of appropriately grasping the charged state of a battery pack using data stored in a memory of the battery pack even when the battery pack becomes commercial as a new product. A charging device determines charged state data indicative of a charged state of a battery pack mounted thereon based on a charging current supplied and/or a charging voltage applied to the battery pack. A charge control microcomputer reads charging characteristics data from a memory of the battery pack, and generates a data table associating at least one of the charging current supplied and the charging voltage applied to the battery pack and the charged state data with each other, based on the charging characteristics data read out. The microcomputer determines charged state data indicative of a charged state of the battery pack, based on the generated data table.

Battery pack, charging device, and electronic device

An image forming apparatus which is capable of detecting the direction and amount of an image shift in the main scanning direction without wasting toner, to thereby provide a higher-quality image with reduced running costs. A conductor is disposed such that the conductor partially overlaps an electrostatic latent image line formed on a photosensitive drum in a manner extending in a main scanning direction of the photosensitive drum, while moving relative to the electrostatic latent image line. The conductor generates induced current by the relative motion. An image shift in the main scanning direction is detected based on a result of measurement of the induced current generated by the conductor.

Image forming apparatus that detects image shift in the main scanning direction without wasting toner

A battery charger capable of correcting the deterioration of a secondary battery left unattended in a charge state and capable of accurately grasping a residual capacity. A battery pack having a nonvolatile memory and a secondary battery cell is attached to the battery charger. Full charge capacity data indicating a chargeable capacity of the battery pack at full charge and a left-charged battery deterioration correcting table to correct the full charge capacity data in accordance with the number of charge cycles are read out from the nonvolatile memory. The charged state data is counted each time it is stored in the nonvolatile memory. A battery cycle deterioration correcting value is specified based on the number of charge cycles, and full charge capacity data is corrected using the specified correcting value. The full charge capacity stored in the nonvolatile memory is rewritten.

Battery charger and control method therefor

A method includes a pixel-value correction step that causes an average and variance of pixel values in a second subregion inclusive of a first subregion inclusive of being formed of only one pixel in a comparison image resolved into pixels to match with an average and variance of pixel values in a subregion corresponding to the second subregion on a reference image similarly resolved into pixels, thereby to execute calculation that corrects the pixel value of each pixel in the first subregion in the comparison image by recognizing each of subregions to be the first subregion, the subregions being obtained when the comparison image is divided into the subregions respectively inclusive of being formed of only one pixel; and a change determination step that determines the presence/absence of a change in the object by comparing the reference image with a post-correction comparison image acquired through the pixel value correction step.

Object monitoring method, object monitoring apparatus, and object monitoring program storage medium

A charging device which enables the charged state and remaining capacity of the battery pack to be accurately grasped. In the charging device on which a battery pack including a nonvolatile memory and a secondary battery cell is mounted, a charge control microcomputer measures a charging current supplied to and a charging voltage applied to the battery pack. Charged state data indicative of the charged state of the battery pack is determined based on at least one of the measured charging current and the measured charging voltage. The charge control microcomputer writes the determined charged state data in the memory of the battery pack.

Battery pack, charging device, and electronic device and obtaining a charge state thereof

An image forming apparatus includes first and second image bearing members on which toner images are to be formed, a conveying member, and a conveying member position index detecting device for detecting a conveying member position index provided on the conveying member. The apparatus also includes an image bearing member position index detecting device for detecting image bearing member position indices provided on the second image bearing member, an adjusting device for adjusting a rotational speed of the second image bearing member, and a controller for controlling the adjusting device so as to adjust a position of an image bearing member position index correspondingly to the conveying member position index, on the basis of detection results of the conveying member position index detecting device and the image bearing member position index detecting device.

Growing community of inventors

Kawasaki, Japan

Isao Hayashi