Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Kohji Ue

Yasushi Nakazato

Jun Yamane

Masahide Yamashita

Osamu Satoh

Atsushi Nakafuji

Hiroyuki Kunii

Yukimichi Someya

Hisashi Kikuchi

Katsuhiro Echigo

Toshihiko Baba

Shigeo Kurotaka

Takashi Fujita

Mikiko Imazeki

Masaichi Sawada

Takenori Oku

Hitoshi Shimizu

Shuji Hirai

Hiromitsu Takagaki

Hirohmi Tamura

Masami Tomita

Yasuo Suzuki

Ryota Yamashina

Akihiro Sugino

Yoshiaki Kawasaki

Takaaki Ikegami

Hideo Nakamori

Michio Kimura

Shintaroh Takahashi

Shokichiro Hino

Noriyuki Ochiai

Yosushi Nakazato

An area calculating unit calculates an image area of a toner image formed on a sheet recording member. A behavior detecting unit detects behavior of the recording member fed out of a conveying nip formed by a pair of conveying members. A thickness obtaining unit obtains thickness information of the recording member. An index calculating unit calculates an index value indicating windability of the recording member with respect to the conveying members based on the image area, the behavior, and the thickness information.

Image forming apparatus

An apparatus, system, and method of predicting failure of a fixing device of an image forming apparatus are provided. Based on a plurality of sheet transfer time values of the fixing device, a first characteristic value that is an average value of the plurality of sheet transfer time values, and at least one of a second characteristics value that indicates the variance of the plurality of sheet transfer time values and a third characteristics value that indicates the maximum value of the plurality of sheet transfer time values are calculated. Using a determination result generated based on the first characteristics value and the at least one of the second and third characteristics values, failure of the fixing device is predicted.

Apparatus, system, and method of predicting failure of image forming apparatus

A management apparatus includes: a receiver that receives, via a network, status data based on control system data for stabilizing image forming from an image forming apparatus formed by image forming units; an inference unit that determines abnormality occurrence symptom, and calculates an index of the abnormality occurrence symptom, of the image forming units based on the received status data; a replacement part information acquisition unit that acquires information including a replacement date from a maintenance management system via the network when receiving a diagnosis request from a terminal of a maintenance person; a judgment table generator that calculates weight information of the symptom determination index value; a integrated diagnostic information generator for the image forming units based on the symptom determination index value and the weight information; and a integrated diagnostic information notification unit transmitting the integrated diagnostic value information to the terminal of the maintenance person.

Management apparatus, management system, and management method

A rotation measuring mechanism capable of measuring a rotation amount and a displacement amount of a rotary member in a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis is provided. An exemplary combination of the rotation measuring mechanism includes a detection target rotating in synchrony with the rotary member and range sensors. Each time the detection target rotates once, each sensor outputs one cycle of a sine wave. The amplitude of the sine wave output from the sensor varies in accordance with the displacement of the detection target together with the rotary member in the direction perpendicular to the axis, thereby obtaining the rotation amount and the displacement amount of the rotary member.

Rotation measuring mechanism, sheet conveyance apparatus, original reading apparatus, and image forming apparatus

An image carrier deterioration degree evaluating apparatus for evaluating a degree of deterioration of an image carrier of an image forming apparatus, the image carrier deterioration degree evaluating apparatus including: an image deletion detecting unit that detects image deletion by obtaining latent image information written on the image carrier; an image deletion reducing unit that performs a process of reducing image deletion when the image deletion detecting unit detects image deletion, and an image carrier deterioration degree evaluating unit that drives the image deletion detecting unit and the image deletion reducing unit alternately one or more times each, and evaluates a degree of deterioration of the image carrier by using the latent image information obtained one or more times by the image deletion detecting unit.

Image carrier deterioration degree evaluating device, image carrier failure predicting device, and image forming apparatus

A first feature quantity computing unit that computes a first feature quantity representing an average of a plurality of driving loads recorded by a driving load of a fixing section recording unit of an image forming device that records the driving load acquired by a driving load acquiring unit that acquires the driving load, a second feature quantity computing unit that computes a second feature quantity representing a deviation of the plurality of the driving loads, and a diagnosis unit that performs failure diagnosis including estimation of a cause of a failure of the fixing section using the first feature quantity and the second feature quantity are used.

Failure diagnosis device, failure diagnosis method, image forming device, and recording medium

A management device for an image forming apparatus including a status data collection unit where multiple types of status data are received from the image forming apparatus and stored in a status database, a target data creation unit where multiple types of target data are created based upon the multiple types of status data, a first stage determination unit where the multiple types of target data are identified as being above or below reference values set for each type, and a second stage determination unit where a weight value set for each status data type is attached to the determination results of the multiple types of status data of the first stage determination unit and as a whole of the multiple types of status data determined with majority logic for abnormal occurrence prediction.

Management device of an image forming apparatus

A data collecting unit receives a plurality of types of status data from an image forming apparatus and stores the status data in a status database. A data generating unit generates a plurality of types of target data for determining a maintenance sign, based on the status data. A first determining unit determines whether each of the status data exceeds a predetermined reference value. A second determining unit performs weighted majority decision based on a determination result from the first determining unit and a weight value set for each of the status data, and determines whether there is a maintenance sign taking all the status data into consideration.

Management apparatus, management system, operation status determination method, and image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes a failure prediction unit, an image identification unit, a simulated-image generating unit, and an output unit. The failure prediction unit prepares an index value indicating a condition of the image forming apparatus based on multidimensional signal, obtained by monitoring the image forming apparatus, and compares the index value with a first threshold value to predict a failure mode of the image forming apparatus. The image identification unit identifies types of abnormal images based on the failure mode predicted by the failure prediction unit. An identified abnormal image is predicted to be appear a given time later. The simulated-image generating unit generates a simulated image of the identified abnormal image. The output unit outputs the identified abnormal image as the simulated image.

Apparatus and method for generating a simulated image including an identified image abnormality

A system abnormality determining method comprises the steps of transmitting fake abnormal information representing an abnormal condition of the target instrument from the target instrument to a condition determination device via a network during a test operation of the target instrument instead of condition information, determining if the condition determination device can determine the target instrument as being abnormal based on the fake abnormal information, and operating the target instrument in a normal operation condition when the condition determination device can determine the target instrument as being abnormal.

Condition determining system, method of detecting abnormality of condition determining system, and image forming apparatus

A fault prediction method predicts a plurality of faults in a target device, and includes the steps of collecting internal information of the target device output from the target device, generating one or more criteria for defining a deviation from a normal state based on the collected internal information of the target device, incorporating the one or more criteria into a device state discriminator, identifying a deviation from a normal state in the target device according to the one or more criteria using the device state discriminator, and outputting a fault prediction as a result of the identifying step to a user. One or more of the steps are performed by a processor.

Fault prediction method, fault prediction system, and image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus is provided. The image forming apparatus includes an acquiring unit that acquires a plurality of types of operation control information of the image forming apparatus that indicate deterioration of a toner in the image forming apparatus or deterioration of a component of the image forming apparatus. An index value calculating unit calculates an index value indicating a state of the image forming apparatus based on the acquired operation control information. An abnormality judging unit judges whether the image forming apparatus abnormality has occurred and predicts an occurrence of a failure that requires maintenance of the image forming apparatus due to deterioration of the toner in the image forming apparatus or deterioration of the component of the image forming apparatus based on the index value.

Image forming apparatus having a function of predicting device deterioration based on a plurality of types of operation control information

A determining unit determines whether the printer is in the predictive failure state based on the internal information of the printer acquired by the information acquiring unit. A failure risk computing unit performs a failure risk determination process for determining the size of failure risk of the printer when the printer is in the predictive failure state. The determination result is reported to a maintenance person or a user. In this way, the maintenance person or the user who receives the report can definitely grasp a degree of urgency of maintenance at that point.

Predictive failure reporting system, predictive failure reporting method, and method for maintaining image forming apparatus

In an image forming apparatus, a cleaning blade cleans residual toner adhered on the surface of an image carrier and a sound sensor collects a sound generated inside a casing of the image forming apparatus. A determining unit determines, based on the sound collected by the sound sensor, whether cleaning failure has occurred in the cleaning blade. The determining unit makes the determination based on at least intensity of a first sound component that is a sound component of a first frequency and intensity of a second sound component that is a sound component of a second frequency different from the first frequency.

Image forming apparatus including a sound sensor to determine cleaning failure

A plurality of weak discriminators output determinations results about a status of an apparatus. Weight values are individually assigned to the determination results. By performing majority vote of the weighted determination results, the status of the apparatus is determined. The determination results are displayed on a single status indicating screen such that portions corresponding to a normal status are indicated in white while portions corresponding to an anomalous status are indicated in one or more colors other than white. The areas of the portions differ from one another depending on magnitudes of weight assigned to the determination results corresponding to the portions.

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Kanagawa, Japan

Kohji Ue