Oki Data Corporation

Unitechno Corporation

Kazuaki Arai

Hiroyuki Inoue

Takao Uchida

Yasunaga Yamaguchi

Hidekazu Iwasaki

Makoto Yabuki

Motonobu Hatakeyama

Koichi Negishi

A contact probe can be easily mass-produced, reduce manufacturing cost, and obtain a stable contact state with an electrode such as a land of an inspection substrate. An inspection socket can be provided with the contact probe. The contact probe has a first contact terminal that contacts a solder ball of a device under test and a second contact terminal that contacts a land of a printed substrate, and a coil spring for urging contact terminals so as to separate the first and the second terminals. The first contact terminal is constituted by a first contact element formed by a rod-shaped metal member, and the second contact terminal is constituted by two second contact elements formed by a plate-shaped metal member and which clamp the first contact element in frictional contact with a part of the first contact element.

Contact probe and inspection socket provided with contact probe

An image forming apparatus containing a fusing device, a commercial power source providing power to the fusing device, a triac, a thermistor detecting a temperature of the fusing device, a fusion control unit controlling the fusing device based on a detection result of the thermistor, and a cathode terminal outputting a control current and an anode terminal receiving the control current to control the power supplied to the heating body from the commercial power source and the triac. The fusion control unit of the image forming apparatus contains a control current output terminal outputting the control current to the anode terminal, a control current input terminal receiving the control current from the cathode terminal, and a fusion temperature control unit controlling the control current received by the control current input terminal and the control current output by the control current output terminal.

Image forming apparatus having fusion control circuit that operates even in the presence of a short circuit

An image-forming apparatus includes an image-forming section, a detection section, and a controller. The image-forming section has an image-bearing body on which an electrostatic latent image is formed and a developing unit that develops the electrostatic latent image. The detection section generates an output indicative of a remaining amount of toner in the developing unit. The controller drives the drive section to cause the image-forming section to move from one position to another, and determines a position of the image-forming section based on the output of the detection section. The detection section is mounted to a toner cartridge within the developing unit. When the image-forming section is moved from one position to another, the detection section receives light reflected by a high-reflectivity area and a low-reflectivity area, thereby detecting the position of the image-forming section.

Image forming apparatus having position controller

A printer uses a consumable component having an internal fuse that is blown when the consumable component is installed. In one aspect of the invention, the consumable component includes a resistor connected in series with the fuse. Before the fuse is blown, the resistance value of the resistor is checked to make sure that the correct type of consumable component has been installed. In another aspect of the invention, if the fuse fails to blow on the first attempt, this is recorded in a memory and a second attempt is made later, the consumable component being used in the meantime. In still another aspect of the invention, the consumable component includes a resistor or thermistor connected in parallel with the fuse, enabling a consumable component with a blown fuse to be distinguished from a consumable component that is not installed.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Kazuaki Arai