Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Ryuichi Araki

Yasutomo Furuta

Izuru Horiuchi

Yuki Tanaka

Masafumi Monde

Hiromitsu Kumada

Yasuhito Shirafuji

Junya Azami

Kazuhisa Koizumi

Naoka Omura

Koichiro Ino

Mayumi Sakai

A moisture sensor detects moisture in an object. A first light-emitting element emits light. A first reflecting member reflects light reflected from the object toward the object. A light-receiving element receives light that is multiple reflected between the object and the first reflecting member. A controller determines an amount of moisture in the object based on a light reception result from the light-receiving element.

Moisture sensor and image forming apparatus

A device includes a sensor including an emission unit which emits ultrasonic waves and a reception unit which receives the ultrasonic waves, the emission unit and the reception unit being arranged opposite each other across a conveyance path through which a recording material is conveyed, an instruction unit which supplies, to the emission unit, a first drive input or a second drive input larger than the first drive input, and a detection unit which detects information about a grammage of the recording material based on a first value obtained by the reception unit receiving ultrasonic waves emitted from the emission unit with the first drive input supplied thereto and coming not through the recording material and a second value obtained by the reception unit receiving ultrasonic waves emitted from the emission unit with the second drive input supplied thereto and coming through the recording material.

Recording material detection device, image forming apparatus, and ultrasonic emission device

A sheet property measurement device includes a passage configured to allow a sheet to be manually inserted thereinto; a reading sensor configured to read a surface of the sheet inserted into the passage; a detection unit having a displacement member configured to be brought into contact with the sheet downstream of a reading position of the reading sensor in an insertion direction in which the sheet is inserted and change in displacement amount depending on a thickness of the sheet, the detection unit being configured to detect the displacement amount of the displacement member; a sheet sensor configured to detect the sheet that has arrived at a detection position downstream of the displacement member in the insertion direction; and a controller.

Sheet property measurement device and image forming apparatus including sheet property measurement device

An optical sensor comprises a first light-emitting element, a second light-emitting element, a light-receiving element, a first amplifier circuit and a second amplifier circuit. The light-receiving element receives reflected light from an object to be measured, and outputs an output value on the basis of a light receiving result of the light-receiving element. The amplifier circuits amplifies the output value output from the light-receiving element.

Apparatus and method for adjusting output value of optical sensor having light-receiving element that receives regularly-reflected light and diffusely-reflected light

An image forming apparatus includes an optical sensor configured to detect an image formed on an intermediate transfer belt. The optical sensor includes a first light emitting diode (LED), a second LED, a first photodiode (PD), and a second PD on a substrate. The first PD is arranged at a position at which specularly reflected light of light emitted from the first LED can be received, and scattered reflected light of light emitted from the second LED can be received. The second PD is arranged at a position at which scattered reflected light of light emitted from the second LED can be received. A light receiving surface of the first PD and a light receiving surface of the second PD are formed at different angles. The light receiving surface of the first PD has an area that is smaller than an area of the light receiving surface of the second PD.

Image forming apparatus and optical sensor

Image forming apparatus and optical sensor with multiple light-receiving and light-emitting elements

An image forming apparatus includes an optical sensor configured to detect reflected light from a detection image formed on the transfer member. The optical sensor includes a light emitting element configured to emit light for irradiating the detection image at a predetermined angle of incidence, a first light receiving element arranged at a position at which diffused reflected light from the detection image is received at a first angle of reflection, and a second light receiving element arranged at a position at which the diffused reflected light from the detection image is received at a second angle of reflection.

Image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus is capable of switching thresholds for deciding a color registration amount from a pattern image. A controller controls image forming units to form first and second color patterns of different colors on a rotational image bearing member. The second color pattern is formed at an upstream side of the first color pattern in a rotational direction of the image bearing member. The controller controls a sensor to detect the color patterns. A comparator compares a detection result by the sensor with a threshold, and outputs an output value according to a comparison result. The controller controls the color registration according to the output value. The controller sets a second threshold for the second color pattern based on an edge timing of the output value from the comparator according to the comparison result between the detection result about the first color pattern and a first threshold.

Image forming apparatus having controller for switching thresholds for deciding amount of color misregistration

An image forming apparatus includes a photo sensor, which is configured to detect a measurement image formed on an intermediate transfer belt, and a controller. The controller includes a first comparator, a second comparator, an XOR unit, and a CPU. The first comparator is configured to binarize an analog detection waveform, which represents a detection result of a measurement image by the photo sensor, in accordance with a first threshold value to generate a first binary signal. The second comparator is configured to binarize the detection waveform in accordance with a second threshold value to generate a second binary signal. The XOR unit is configured to perform an XOR operation in accordance with the first binary signal and the second binary signal to generate an XOR signal.

Image forming apparatus and position detection method

Provided is an image forming apparatus, which is capable of detecting a color misregistration amount with high accuracy even when a density characteristic thereof is changed. The image forming apparatus includes a plurality of image forming units configured to form toner images of different colors on a predetermined intermediate transfer belt, and a density sensor configured to measure densities of the toner images formed on the intermediate transfer belt. The image forming apparatus determines a density target depending on a measurement result of a density correction image, which is formed by the plurality of image forming units, from the density sensor. The image forming apparatus causes the plurality of image forming units to form position detection images so that the position detection images have densities corresponding to the density target.

An image forming apparatus includes a plurality of image forming units, an intermediate transfer member, a detection unit, and a controller. The controller is configured to control the plurality of image forming units to form, on the intermediate transfer member, a pattern image including a first detection image having a reference color among the plurality of detection images and a second detection image having another color among the plurality of detection images. The first detection image and the second detection image are superimposed on a predetermined detection image. The controller is configured to control the detection unit to detect the amount of color misregistration which is related to a relative position of the first detection image and the second detection image, and to determine an adjustment value for adjusting an image write start timing of the other color different from the reference color.

Image forming apparatus for correcting color misregistration

An image forming apparatus, including: a deflection unit configured to deflect light beams emitted from light emitting points with a mirror face to form scanning lines in a second direction orthogonal to a first direction in which a photosensitive drum is rotated; a correction unit configured to correct an optical face tangle error of the mirror based on a deviation amount from a distance between the deflection unit and the photosensitive member; a calculation unit configured to calculate a positional deviation amount of the emitting points in the first direction; a transformation unit configured to transform a pixel position of an input image based on the positional deviation amount so that an interval between the scanning lines is a predetermined interval; and a filtering unit configured to obtain a pixel value of an output image based on the transformed pixel position of the input image.

A correction method for an image forming apparatus including a light source including a plurality of light emitting points, a photosensitive member configured to rotate in a first direction so that a latent image is formed thereon with light beams emitted from the light source, and a deflecting unit configured to deflect the light beams emitted from the light source in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction to form scanning lines, the correction method including a correction step of correcting sparseness and denseness of density in the first direction caused by deviation of the scanning lines in the first direction by moving a predetermined pixel in the first direction in accordance with the deviation of the scanning lines and causing a pixel value of the predetermined pixel to be output in accordance with a movement of the predetermined pixel.

Correction method for image forming apparatus

A correction method for an image forming apparatus including a light source including light emitting points, a photosensitive member configured to rotate in a first direction, and a deflecting unit configured to deflect light beams emitted from the light source in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction, the correction method includes: a first correction step of correcting sparseness and denseness of density in the first direction by moving a predetermined pixel in the first direction, and causing a pixel value of the predetermined pixel to be output or not to be output in accordance with movement of the predetermined pixel; and a second correction step of correcting the pixel value of the predetermined pixel by moving the pixel value of the predetermined pixel in the second direction so that a pixel value is caused to be output or not to be output with a plurality of continuous pixels.

An image forming apparatus includes: a photosensitive member rotating in a first direction; a light scanning device, when the photosensitive member rotates at a slower speed, irradiate the photosensitive member with light beam through use of part of scanning lines corresponding to the slower speed; a storage unit in which information on positional deviation of the scanning lines in the first direction is stored; and a correction portion calculating a correction value for correcting positional deviation amounts of a predetermined scanning line and a scanning line group, which is included within a predetermined range in an advance direction and a return direction in the first direction from the predetermined scanning line, with extracting information corresponding to the part of the scanning lines from the stored information when the photosensitive member rotates at the slower speed, and correcting positional deviation of the predetermined scanning line based on the calculated correction value.

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Tokyo, Japan

Ryuichi Araki