Kyocera Document Solutions Inc.

Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Corporation

Satoshi Morimoto

Takashi Inoue

Tatsuya Nakagawa

Daichi Kawano

Keisuke Maeyama

Minori Yamamoto

Tadashi Iwamatsu

Shohei Komaru

Takahiro Minami

Masamitsu Moritani

Katsuhiko Kyuhken

Akihiro Namera

A liquid ejection apparatus includes a nozzle, a pressure chamber, a piezoelectric element, a count processing portion, and a detection processing portion. The nozzle ejects a liquid. The pressure chamber communicates with the nozzle and contains the liquid. The piezoelectric element changes a pressure in the pressure chamber in response to an input of a drive signal. The count processing portion counts a number of times that an electric signal output from the piezoelectric element and corresponding to vibration generated in the pressure chamber in response to the input of the drive signal to the piezoelectric element exceeds a predetermined threshold value. The detection processing portion detects a viscosity of the liquid contained in the pressure chamber, based on a count result of the count processing portion.

Liquid ejection apparatus and liquid viscosity detection method capable of detecting viscosity of liquid

A signal generation device includes a first signal generation portion and a second signal generation portion. The first signal generation portion, based on a reference signal that includes a plurality of rectangular single-wave signals, generates an original common signal in which the rise times of the two or more of the single-wave signals are extended so that they are different from each other, and the fall timing of one or more of the single-wave signals is shifted. The second signal generating portion generates a drive signal to be input to a piezoelectric element by extracting a rising edge of any one of the single-wave signals, the rise time of which is extended, from the original common signal amplified by the amplifying portion, maintaining a signal level changed by extracting the rising edge of the single-wave signal, and extracting a falling edge of a single-wave signal after the single-wave signal.

Signal generation device, liquid ejection device, and signal generation method capable of suppressing extension of liquid ejection interval

A liquid ejection apparatus includes a nozzle, a pressure chamber, a piezoelectric element, an output processing portion, and a determination processing portion. The nozzle ejects a liquid. The pressure chamber communicates with the nozzle and contains the liquid. The piezoelectric element changes a pressure in the pressure chamber in response to an input of a drive signal. The output processing portion causes the piezoelectric element to output a first electric signal corresponding to vibration generated in the pressure chamber in response to the input of the drive signal to the piezoelectric element. The determination processing portion determines whether or not the pressure chamber is in a filled state in which the pressure chamber is filled with the liquid, based on a frequency of the first electric signal output by the output processing portion.

Liquid ejection apparatus and determination method capable of determining whether or not liquid filling of pressure chamber has been completed

A liquid ejection apparatus includes a nozzle, a pressure chamber, a piezoelectric element, an acquisition processing portion, and a restriction processing portion. The nozzle ejects a liquid. The pressure chamber communicates with the nozzle and contains the liquid. The piezoelectric element changes a pressure in the pressure chamber in response to an input of a drive signal. When image formation processing for ejecting the liquid from the nozzle is executed based on image data, the acquisition processing portion acquires a length of a non-ejection period in which the liquid is not ejected from the nozzle, the non-ejection period being included in an execution period of the image formation processing. When the length of the non-ejection period acquired by the acquisition processing portion is less than a predetermined first threshold value, the restriction processing portion restricts abnormality detection processing for detecting an abnormality of the nozzle using the piezoelectric element.

Liquid ejection apparatus and abnormality detection method capable of detecting abnormality of nozzle

An analysis device includes an electron emission element, a collector, an electric field former, a power source, and a controller. The electron emission element includes a bottom electrode, a surface electrode, and an intermediate layer arranged between the bottom electrode and the surface electrode. The power source and the controller allow application of a voltage between the bottom electrode and the surface electrode. The electric field former forms an electric field in an ion movement region where anions directly or indirectly generated by electrons emitted from the electron emission element move toward the collector. The collector and the controller allow measurement of a current waveform of an electric current made to flow by arrival of anions at the collector. The controller regulates, based on the current waveform, a voltage applied between the bottom electrode and the surface electrode.

Analysis device

Provided is an image forming apparatus capable of accurately returning a carriage to a home position without having to turn ON a light source in the process of returning the carriage to the home position. A first reading-position-detection plate is arranged inside of a reading width of a line sensor and outside of a document-image-reading width. A second color region has a length that gradually increases in the main scanning direction as going away from the home position of the carriage. A reading-position-detecting unit detects the length in the main scanning direction of the second color region on the basis of output from the line sensor. A movement-distance-converting unit converts this length to a movement distance to the home position. A movement-control unit causes the carriage to move toward the home position just the movement distance.

Document reading apparatus that reads document images of documents by image sensors

A fixing device includes: a sensor circuit portion which includes a plurality of series circuits of thermistors and capacitors and in which the capacitors differ from each other in capacitance; a signal circuit portion to which each sensor output voltage that is a voltage between the thermistor and the capacitor is input and which switches between output levels each time the sensor output voltage that exceeds a threshold value is increased; and a processing circuit that includes a output port to which the series circuits are connected so as to be parallel to each other and an input port and that recognizes a target temperature to be detected with each of the thermistors based on a rising time since the start of the voltage application to each of the series circuits until the output signal rises and a falling time until the output signal falls that are measured.

Fixing device, image forming apparatus and method of controlling fixing device

A paper carrying device includes a carrying path, a light sensor, a contact sensor, and a judgment section. Both of the light sensor and the contact sensor output a presence-signal indicating that paper exists at a predetermined position in the carrying path or an absence-signal indicating that paper does not exist at the predetermined position. The judgment section judges that a signal output from the light sensor is an error when the light sensor outputs the presence-signal while the contact sensor outputs the absence-signal.

Paper carrying device, document scanning apparatus, and printing apparatus that detects error of sensor output signal

An image data processing circuit including: an input section for inputting image data; a plurality of compressing sections which are capable of compressing the input image data solely or in parallel; a plurality of decompressing sections which are capable of decompressing the compressed image data solely or in parallel; an output section for outputting the decompressed image data; a transferring section for transferring image data between a memory and of the input section, the compressing sections, the decompressing sections and the output section individually; and a transfer controlling section for selecting a mode from a parallel input/output mode, a parallel input mode and a parallel output mode.

Image data processing circuit and image processing apparatus including transfer control section for selective operation of transfer section

An apparatus includes a CCD that reads a script image, an analog front end unit (AFE) that adjusts the offset and the gain of an image signal and A/D-converts the image signal, an image processing IC that applies image processing such as shading correction, input gamma correction, color correction, MTF correction, output gamma correction to the digital image signal, and a spread spectrum frequency IC that generates a spread spectrum clock based on a source oscillation clock, wherein the former block of the image processing unit is driven with the source oscillation clock and the latter block is driven with the spread spectrum clock. The image signal is transferred asynchronously from the former block to the latter block through an external memory controller.

Image processing apparatus, image reading apparatus, and image forming apparatus

A transfer clock converter for digital data of the present invention is a circuit for converting digital data synchronized with a first transfer clock into digital data synchronized with a second transfer clock and outputting the digital data, and includes a plurality of latching elements and a comparator-selector circuit. The comparator-selector circuit compares the output data from predetermined latching elements, selects output data to be output according to the result of the comparison, and outputs the selected output data. With this structure, it is possible to always output correct digital data without using a PLL circuit or the like, thereby significantly improving the reliability.

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Osaka, Japan

Satoshi Morimoto