Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Ryuuichi Satoh

Jun Watanabe

Tetsuyoshi Nakata

Tomoko Fukasawa

Hiroki Tanaka

Yasunari Harada

Toshiaki Hosokawa

Tomohide Kondoh

Sumihiro Inokuchi

Yohei Kushida

Kyohei Matsumura

Ryohta Ueba

Nobuyuki Nitta

An information processing apparatus, an image forming apparatus, an information processing method, and a non-transitory recording medium. The information processing apparatus in response to completion of a specific software activation process in the controller, transmits an activation completion notification to the operation device and the operation device in response to receiving the activation completion notification, updates a timeout period of a timer started after activation of software of the operation device to a shorter period of time and restart the timer, and in a case data communication is not established on the communication path within the updated timeout period, detects a malfunction and notifies the controller of the malfunction, and the controller performs a recovery process.

Information processing apparatus and method of detecting malfunction in data communication

A characteristic detector includes two electrodes facing each other to form a passage through which a medium passes, a cover disposed between the two electrodes, a current generator to supply a current between the two electrodes, a capacitance gauge to measure a capacitance generated between the two electrodes, and circuitry. The two electrodes have a shape or an arrangement in which at least two points on a leading end of the medium enter the passage with a time lag. The cover covers one of the two electrodes in connection with a size of the medium. The capacitance gauge detects the size of the medium based on the measured capacitance. The circuitry calculates a characteristic of the medium based on the capacitance measured by the capacitance gauge and the size of the medium detected by the capacitance gauge.

Characteristic detector, medium supply device, and image forming apparatus incorporating same

A printer is provided which includes: a recording head having multiple nozzles; two or more sensors that read a print medium into an image thereof and calculate a total moving distance based on the image; an instruction unit that instructs a timing for discharging liquid droplets from one or more of the nozzles; a sensor position calculator that calculates a position of each of the sensors; a nozzle position calculator that calculates a position of each of the nozzles; an acquisition unit that acquires image data of a specified area within an image to be printed; a determination unit that determines whether or not to discharge the liquid droplets from each of the nozzles; and a transmitter that transmits data of one or more of image elements and information on one or more of the nozzles determined to discharge the liquid droplets to a controller.

Printer, printing system, and method of printing

A printer including an optical moving amount calculator, an angle calculator, and a moving amount corrector is provided. The optical moving amount calculator calculates a moving amount of the printer or an object to be irradiated after a movement thereof, based on a difference in image data generated before and after the movement. The image data is generated by emitting light to the print medium or the object and receiving light reflected therefrom. The angle calculator calculates a deviation angle of an installation angle of the optical moving amount calculator installed in the printer, based on a calibration moving amount of the printer or the object after a calibration movement thereof that is a parallel translation. The moving amount corrector corrects the moving amount of the printer after the movement thereof, based on the calculated deviation angle of the optical moving amount calculator.

Printer, method of printing, and non-transitory recording medium

An image recording apparatus that includes a recording head controller that transfers image data and a driving waveform to a recording head in conjunction with position information of the recording head. The recording head controller includes a driving waveform storage unit that stores multiple driving waveform data, a number of driven nozzles calculator that calculates the number of nozzles driven simultaneously from the image data, and a driving waveform selector that selects one driving waveform data from the multiple driving waveform data based on the calculated number of driven nozzles and a predetermined threshold value of the number of driven nozzles.

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Kanagawa, Japan

Ryuuichi Satoh