Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Shuhei Watanabe

Kenji Watanabe

Takuroh Sone

Tsutomu Ishida

Hideyuki Kihara

Takashi Soma

Takayuki Gotoh

Akihiro Iwamatsu

Takuya Mukaibara

Atsuhiko Yamaguchi

Satoru Koyama

Naoki Nakamura

Hiroshi Hagiwara

Takashi Kawana

Akinobu Hirayama

Motoyasu Muramatsu

Teruhiko Namiki

Hiromitsu Kumada

Yasutaka Yagi

Takateru Ohkubo

Hiroyuki Fukuhara

Yasuo Yoda

Tadashi Okanishi

Hidenori Kanazawa

Yoshiko Kubo

Junya Kobayashi

Kentaro Yamashita

Takafumi Hiroi

A surface characteristics evaluation method for evaluating a surface characteristic of a painted surface including a glittering material, including: a multi-angle condition image acquisition step Sfor acquiring a multi-angle condition image including multi-angle conditions in a continuous manner by performing an image-capturing process to capture how a reflection condition of the painted surface changes when rotating an illumination deviceemitting light onto the painted surface, the image-capturing process being performed by the line scan camerawhile a sample P having the painted surface is moved in a certain direction; an in-plane chromaticity distribution acquisition step Sfor acquiring an in-plane chromaticity distribution of the painted surface from the multi-angle condition image acquired; and a surface characteristics evaluation step Sfor calculating particle characteristics S as surface characteristics evaluation values of the multi-angle conditions, on the basis of the in-plane chromaticity distribution acquired.

Surface characteristics evaluation method, surface characteristics evaluation apparatus, and surface characteristics evaluation program

The power supply apparatus includes a control unit configured to output a pulse signal for driving a switching element, to drive a transformer to output a voltage from a secondary winding of the transformer, and a memory unit configured to store information associating the output voltage with the duty and the frequency of the pulse signal, and the control unit switches the frequency and the duty based on the output voltage and the information stored in the memory unit.

Power supply apparatus and image forming apparatus

An evaluating method includes obtaining, by an imaging device, a two-dimensional reflected light amount distribution of a surface of a target; classifying, by one or more processors, the surface into a plurality of areas on the basis of chromaticity information of the two-dimensional reflected light amount distribution; and evaluating, by one or more processors, appearance characteristics of the target on the basis of respective sets of chromaticity information of the areas.

Evaluator, measurement apparatus, evaluating method, and non-transitory recording medium

An evaluation device includes a projector to project a pattern having an edge component onto an object, an imaging device to capture an image of the object, a reflective-property correction unit to correct an amount of change in shape of a virtual image of the pattern reflected in the object, using reflective-property data of a surface of the object, and an evaluation-value calculator to evaluate image clarity of the surface of the object based on the corrected amount of change. A computer-readable non-transitory recording medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute a method. The method includes correcting an amount of change in shape of a virtual image of the pattern reflected in the object based on image data that is obtained by capturing an object onto which a pattern having an edge component is projected, using reflective-property data of a surface of the object.

Evaluation device and recording medium storing evaluation program

A texture evaluation apparatus includes a projector, an imager, and an evaluator. The projector is configured to project a two-dimensional pattern having an edge element onto an object. The imager is configured to capture an image of a surface of the object. The evaluator is configured to calculate an amount of shape change of a virtual image of the two-dimensional pattern in the image, and evaluate texture of the object based on the amount of shape change and sensory evaluation information obtained in advance.

Texture evaluation apparatus, texture evaluation method, and computer-readable recording medium

An image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit, a transmission unit, a reception unit, a control unit configured to obtain a time period until the reception unit receives a first ultrasonic wave via a first recording material and an amplitude value thereof at a reference temperature, obtain a time period until the reception unit receives a second ultrasonic wave via a second recording material and an amplitude value thereof at a different temperature, control an image formation condition for forming the image on the first recording material on the basis of the amplitude value of the first ultrasonic wave, obtain a difference time period between reception of the first and second ultrasonic waves, and control an image formation condition for forming the image on the second recording material on the basis of the difference time period and the amplitude value of the second ultrasonic wave.

Image forming apparatus and ultrasonic sensor

A color measurement apparatus includes at least one illuminator, an imager, and circuitry. The circuitry is configured to normalize each pixel included in an imaging region of one of the spectral reflectance images of the measurement target irradiated with light at a specific illumination angle of the plurality of illumination angles, with one of the spectral reflectance images of the reference object irradiated with light at the specific illumination angle, for each of the plurality of illumination angles so as to generate normalized spectral reflectance images of the measurement target. The circuitry further calculates a numerical value of at least one color for each pixel of the normalized spectral reflectance images of the measurement target, for respective ones of the plurality of illumination angles, to measure color of the surface of the measurement target.

Color measurement apparatus and color information processing apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes: a scanning unit configured to form a latent image on a photosensitive member, wherein a scanning speed changes within a scan line; a control unit configured to perform correction control of a luminance and a light-emitting time of a light source; a holding unit configured to hold profile information indicating a change of the light spot due to an environment or due to a position of the pixel. The holding unit is further configured to hold scanning information indicating the light-emitting time of the light source or the luminance of the light source with respect to a pixel, for correcting a change in the scanning time of the pixel, and the control unit is further configured to perform the correction control based on the scanning information and the profile information.

Image forming apparatus and optical scanning apparatus for scanning photosensitive member with light spot

An image forming apparatus includes: a photosensitive member configured to be rotated; scanning means for scanning, by light corresponding to image data, the photosensitive member that is charged, thereby forming an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive member; and a contacting member in contact with the photosensitive member to form a nip portion. In a correction mode in which a shift of an image is corrected based on a detection result obtained by detecting, at the nip portion, an electrostatic latent image for correction formed on the photosensitive member by the scanning means, a width of the electrostatic latent image for correction is equal to or more than a width of the nip portion in a rotation direction of the photosensitive member.

Image forming apparatus that detects electrostatic latent image for correction

The recording medium determination apparatus includes a transmission unit for transmitting an ultrasonic wave, a receiving unit for outputting a signal corresponding to the ultrasonic wave, a peak extraction unit for detecting a value of the signal output from the receiving unit, a control unit for determining basis weight of a recording medium based on the value of the signal, and a timer for measuring a period of time from when the transmission unit transmits the ultrasonic wave to the detection by the peak extraction unit. The control unit calculates, based on a period of time measured by the timer at the time of factory shipment and a period of time measured by the timer after the factory shipment, variation of a distance between the transmission unit and the receiving unit after the factory shipment.

Recording medium determination apparatus and image forming apparatus

A grammage detection sensor according to an aspect of the present invention includes a transmission unit configured to transmit an ultrasonic wave, a reception unit configured to receive the ultrasonic wave transmitted from the transmission unit, and a control unit configured to detect a grammage of a recording material, when a plurality of recording materials are continuously conveyed between the transmission unit and the reception unit, on the basis of a first ultrasonic wave received by the reception unit after the ultrasonic wave is transmitted by the transmission unit between a preceding recording material and a recording material following the preceding recording material, and a second ultrasonic wave received via a recording material by the reception unit after the ultrasonic wave is transmitted by the transmission unit.

Grammage detection sensor for recording material and image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier, an image forming unit for forming a patch image on the image carrier, a light emitting unit, a plurality of light receiving units adjacently arranged so as to receive light reflected from the patch image when light is irradiated by the light emitting unit onto the patch image which moves with movement of the image carrier and each including one or more light receiving elements, and an output unit for outputting an output signal that depends on a difference between a received light quantity of a first light receiving unit and a received light quantity of a second light receiving unit that are respectively odd-numbered and even-numbered in the arrangement order of the light receiving units.

Image forming apparatus having two or more light receiving units

An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier, an image forming unit configured to form a patch image on the image carrier, and a light emitting unit. In addition, a light receiving unit receives light reflected by the patch image when the patch image that moves with movement of the image carrier is irradiated with light by the light emitting unit, and includes one or more light receiving elements. A setting unit sets a first subset of light receiving elements for receiving reflected light from a first patch image and sets a second subset of light receiving elements for receiving reflected light from a second patch image, with the number of light receiving elements in the first subset differing from that in the second subset.

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Yokohama, Japan

Shuhei Watanabe