Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation

Shoichi Koyama

Tsutomu Ishida

Norio Matsui

Shun-ichi Ebihara

Tomoharu Nakamura

Kimitaka Tsutsumi

Masahiro Fukui

Yusuke Hiwasaki

Shigeaki Sasaki

Shunichi Ebihara

Koichi Suzuki

Takashi Kuwata

Hiroyuki Yamazaki

Satoshi Tsuda

Yasuhiko Fuse

Yoshiteru Kaida

Shun-Ichi Ebihara

An image forming apparatus includes a feeding unit, a detection unit provided downstream of the feeding unit, a measurement unit that measures a measured time from the start of conveyance of a recording material to the detection of the recording material, and a determination unit that performs renewal determination for determining whether the feeding unit has been replaced with a new feeding unit. Thus, replacement of the feeding unit with a new feeding unit can automatically be detected.

Image forming apparatus

An image fixing device including a cylindrical film, a heater, and a heat conduction member. The cylindrical film is contactable with toner unfixed on a sheet. The heater includes a substrate and a heat generating resistor provided on the substrate. The heat conduction member has a thermal conductivity higher than that of the substrate and is on a side of the substrate opposite from the heat generating resistor. The substrate is provided with non-insulating wiring patterns on a side opposite from the side provided with the heat generating resistor with respect to a direction perpendicular to a recording material feeding direction. The heat conduction member is in contact with one of the wiring patterns and is in contact with the substrate from a position of the substrate outside of an end of the heat generating resistor toward a central portion.

Fixing apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes a paper dust collecting unit which collects, by application of a voltage, paper dust attached to a sheet, an optical detection unit provided on a downstream side of the paper dust collecting unit in a sheet conveyance direction, which irradiates the sheet with light and receives light via the sheet, a guide member which comes into contact with the sheet to be conveyed to guide the sheet, at least one of light directed toward the sheet from the optical detection unit and light directed toward the optical detection unit from the sheet passing through the guide member, and a control unit which switches a polarity of the voltage to be applied to the paper dust collecting unit and causes the sheet charged through the paper dust collecting unit to be conveyed to the guide member.

Image forming apparatus including paper dust collecting and optical detection

A normalization value calculatorcalculates a normalization value that is representative of a predetermined number of input samples. A normalization value quantizerquantizes the normalization value to obtain a quantized normalization value and a normalization-value quantization index corresponding to the quantized normalization value. An quantization-candidate calculatorsubtracts a value corresponding to the quantized normalization value from a value corresponding to the magnitude of each of the samples to obtain a difference value and, when the difference value is positive and the value of each of the samples is positive, sets the difference value as an quantization candidate corresponding to the sample. When the difference value is positive and the value of each of the samples is negative, the quantization-candidate calculatorreverses the sign of the difference value and setting the sign-reversed value as an quantization candidate corresponding to the sample. When the difference value is not positive, the quantization-candidate calculatorsets 0 as an quantization candidate corresponding to the sample. A vector quantizerjointly vector-quantizes a plurality of quantization candidates corresponding to a plurality of samples to obtain a vector quantization index.

Coding method, decoding method, apparatus, program, and recording medium

In encoding, index information indicating a group of coefficients that minimizes the sum of the error between the value of each sample and the value is obtained by multiplying the quantized value of each of a plurality of samples by a coefficient corresponding to the position of the sample. The coefficient is selected from a plurality of groups of predetermined coefficients corresponding to the positions of the samples. In decoding, a plurality of values corresponding to an input vector quantization index are obtained as decoded values corresponding to a plurality of sample positions. With the use of a group of predetermined coefficients corresponding to the plurality of sample positions and indicated by input index information, the values obtained by multiplying the decoded values and the coefficients, corresponding to the sample positions are output.

Encoding method, decoding method, encoding device, decoding device, and recording medium for a plurality of samples

By providing a step in a pressing member for pressing a recording material P to a reading surface of an image-pickup unit, surface images in a tight contact area and a non-tight-contact area are picked up. By identifying the type of the recording material P based on the two surface images, the accuracy of identifying the recording material is improved without using a plurality of sensors.

Recording-material identifying apparatus and image forming apparatus

An effective image area can be properly corrected in accordance with the quantity of light from an irradiation unit by selecting, as the effective image area, pixels having light quantities more than or equal to a threshold value that allows accurate acquisition of a surface image of a recording medium, on the basis of a light quantity distribution of the light from the irradiation unit. This reduces the influence of mounting accuracy of the irradiation unit, and allows the recording medium to be identified accurately.

Recording-medium imaging device and image forming apparatus

The image forming apparatus includes an image forming section that forms a patch image T on a recording material P, a fixing unit that fixes the patch image, a spectral color measurement device that irradiates light onto the patch image T that was fixed by the fixing unit, and measures reflected light from the patch image, a white reference plate disposed facing the spectral color measurement device; and a control unit that controls a density or a chromaticity of an image based on a result obtained by measuring the patch image and a result obtained by measuring the white reference plate by means of the spectral color measurement device. It is thereby possible to improve the color measurement accuracy of a color measurement device.

A recording material detection apparatus having a detecting device configured to detect a surface state of a recording material on the basis of reflected light from a surface of the recording material includes a reference surface to be irradiated with light from a light source, the detecting device includes a light-shielding portion configured to control conditions for detecting information relating to the surface state of the recording material on the basis of the reflected surface from the reference surface, and cover a portion of the reference panel other than the reference surface so as to prevent the light from the light source from being reflected from the portion of the reference panel other than the reference surface and being received by the light-receiving unit.

Recording material detection apparatus and image forming apparatus

A recording material determination device includes an ultrasonic wave transmission unit configured to transmit an ultrasonic wave to a recording material based on a driving signal, an ultrasonic wave receiving unit configured to receive the ultrasonic wave, a light exposure unit configured to expose the recording material to light, a light receiving unit configured to receive light, an amplification unit configured to amplify an ultrasonic wave received by the ultrasonic wave receiving unit to a first output value, and after the amplification unit amplifies the ultrasonic wave received by the ultrasonic wave receiving unit to the first output value, a control unit performs control so as to obtain the second output value by the light exposure unit and the light receiving unit during a period of time after the amplification of the ultrasonic wave is stopped and before the next ultrasonic wave comes to be transmittable.

Recording material determination device and image forming apparatus

There is provided a recording medium imaging device capable of properly selecting pixels used for determining the kind of the recording medium from the captured surface image to remove pixels from which the surface property of the recording medium cannot be properly determined because the pixels extremely high in light quantity are affected by some sort of dirt or scratches in determining the kind of a recording medium. This allows the determination of kind of the recording medium based on the normally captured surface image to reduce the decrease in accuracy in determining the kind of the recording medium.

Recording medium imaging device and image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus for detecting surface conditions of a recording sheet on which an image is formed, includes a light source configured to emit a first light beam and a second light beam, an image capture device configured to capture a first image of a surface of the recording sheet illuminated with the first light beam and a second image of the surface of the recording sheet illuminated with the second light beam. A first straight line including a ray in a center of the first light beam and a second straight line including a ray in a center of the second light beam intersect with each other, when each straight line is projected onto the surface of the recording sheet, and a detection device configured to detect information about the unevenness on the surface of the recording sheet based on the first image and the second image.

Recording sheet surface detection apparatus and image forming apparatus

In a device for detecting a basis weight of a recording material, an initial measurement is performed by using ultrasonic waves that have passed through the recording material, and the recording material is roughly classified first. By changing the number of pulses of the driving signal in accordance with a result of the initial measurement, the basis weight of the recording material can be detected by using ultrasonic waves suitable for the recording material, so that the detection accuracy of the basis weight of the recording material can be increased.

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Susono, Japan

Shoichi Koyama