Konica Corporation

Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.

Konica-Minolta Holdings, Inc.

Shuta Hamada

Satoshi Haneda

Hisayoshi Nagase

Hiroyuki Tokimatsu

Toshihide Miura

Takashi Hasebe

Masahiro Onodera

Tetsu Sekine

Saburo Shimizu

Masakazu Fukuchi

Tadayoshi Ikeda

Satoshi Masumi

Atsushi Nakajima

Takashi Tamura

Yotaro Sato

Utami Soma

Kunio Shigeta

Takeo Arai

Takenobu Kimura

Hiroshi Fuma

Fumitaka Mochizuki

Akira Hamada, Legal Representative

Yoshiko Hamada, Legal Representative

An image forming apparatus for communicating with a management apparatus for storing a plurality of electronic prepaid information and authentication information related to the plurality of electronic prepaid information, and replaying to inquiry request for electronic prepaid information based on authentication information through a portable communication terminal storing authentication information. The image forming apparatus may include a connector to which the portable communication terminal is connected, a communication section for controlling the portable communication terminal and controlling communication with the portable communication terminal, a reading section for reading authentication information out of the portable communication terminal, an inquiry request section for sending authentication information and requesting the management apparatus to inquire the electronic prepaid information, a receiving section for receiving the electronic prepaid information, and an image forming control section for controlling whether to perform image processing.

Image forming apparatus and image forming system

There is described an image forming apparatus equipped with a cleaning unit to clean a belt-type transfer member. The cleaning unit includes: a conductive opposing roller that contacts an inner surface of the intermediate transfer member; a first conductive brush member and a second conductive brush member, both of which are pressed against the conductive opposing roller while putting the intermediate transfer member between them; a cleaning-voltage applying power source to apply a cleaning voltage having a polarity opposite to that of the residual toner onto the first conductive brush member; and an opposing-roller potential controlling unit to control an electric potential state of the conductive opposing roller, so that an electric potential difference, between the first conductive brush member and the conductive opposing roller at a time when the secondary transferring unit is deactivated, is larger than that at a time when the primary transferring unit is activated.

Image forming apparatus with cleaning unit

An image forming apparatus providing services for general users, capable of getting rid of trouble to collect use charges. The image forming apparatus has: a connector to which a portable communication terminal is connected; a communication section for controlling the portable communication terminal connected to the connector, and controlling communication with the portable communication terminal and a management apparatus; a reading section for reading authentication information out of the portable communication terminal; an inquiry request section for sending the authentication information to the management apparatus, and requesting the management apparatus to inquire the electronic prepaid information based on the authentication information; a receiving section for receiving the electronic prepaid information replied by the management apparatus through the communication section; and an image forming control section for controlling whether to perform image forming processing or not on the basis of the electronic prepaid information.

In an image recording apparatus equipped with plural printing heads each for jetting ink drops having a photo-setting property towards a recording medium, a conveyance unit for conveying the recording medium to the printing heads, and each of plural light radiation devices for radiating light to the ink drops landed on the recording medium to harden, is arranged at the downstream side of each of the plural printing heads, one having largest light energy, which is located at the most downstream position among the plural light radiation devices is determined at least to satisfy the light energy necessary for hardening of the ink drops jetted by any one of the printing heads positioned upstream thereof, and the light energy becomes smaller gradually for every light radiation device in the order from the light radiation device at the most downstream position to those at more upstream positions.

Image forming apparatus having a plurality of printing heads

An image printing apparatus including a conveyance-printing section for printing on a recording medium sheet; a first printing device including a plurality of black printing heads for jetting image-setting black ink drops onto the recording medium sheet; a second printing device including a plurality of color printing heads for jetting image-setting color ink drops onto the recording medium sheet; first light radiating devices which radiate ultraviolet rays to harden the image-setting black ink drops; and second light radiating devices which radiate the ultraviolet rays to harden the image-setting color ink drops.

Image recording apparatus

An ink jet printer for recording an image on a recording medium by jetting ink from nozzles having: an ink jet section which is provided with the nozzles; and an ink droplet detection section for detecting an impact force generated when an ink droplet jetted from the nozzles lands with a piezoelectric element, which is provided ahead in an ink droplet jetting direction from the nozzles.

Ink jet printer

An ink jet printer has an ink jet section for jetting ink from nozzles, a vibration detection section for detecting a jet failure of the nozzles, which is provided ahead in an ink droplet jetting direction from the nozzles, an ink droplet receiving section for receiving an ink droplet jetted from the nozzles, which is interposed between the nozzles and the vibration detection section, and a control section for controlling a maximum diameter of an ink droplet jetted from the nozzles when detecting a jet failure of the nozzles to be larger than that when recording an image.

An ink jet printer has: a vibration detection section to receive ink jetted from the nozzles and output a detection signal having an amplitude corresponding to a vibration generated when the ink lands; a sampling section to sample an amplitude value of the detection signal by a predetermined sampling clock signal; a storing section to store an amplitude value data of the detection signal sampled by the sampling section; a judging section to judge a jet failure of the nozzles based on the amplitude value data of the detection signal in the storing section; and a control section to control to jet the ink continuously a plurality of times with a jet drive cycle which is set by multiplying a standard drive waveform time of an ink jet signal from the nozzles by an odd number not less than five when detecting a jet failure of the nozzles.

An ink jet printer having: an ink heating device for heating an ink whose viscosity decreases as temperature increases; a printing head for jetting an ink heated by the heating device onto a recording medium; a carrying device for carrying the recording medium while supporting the recording medium to face a nozzle-plate of the printing head; and a cooling device for cooling the recording medium in an upstream side with respect to a position where an ink placed on the recording medium is cured, in a carrying direction of the recording medium by the carrying device.

This invention relates to an ink jet printer including a printing-head which discharges photo-curing ink toward a printing sheet, and a light irradiation unit which irradiates the ink landing surface of the printing sheet with light, wherein the light irradiation unit irradiates the ink landing surface by optical scanning via a reflecting member with rays having a wavelength range in which ink is cured, and an image printing apparatus having the ink jet printer.

Ink jet printer, and image printing apparatus having the printer

A fixing apparatus for fixing a toner image on a transfer sheet, comprises a fixing roller comprising a cylindrical light-transmitting base body capable of transmitting a heat ray; a light-transmitting elastic layer including a first light-transmitting elastic layer provided on an outer periphery of said light-transmitting base body and made of a material having a hardness A, and a second light-transmitting elastic layer provided on an outer periphery of said first light-transmitting elastic layer and made of a material having a hardness A; and a heat ray absorbing layer provided on an outer periphery of said light-transmitting elastic layer and to absorb said heat ray.

Fixing device for image-forming apparatus

There is described a method for manufacturing fixing rollers and a roller body holding device utilized for manufacturing fixing rollers. The method includes steps of press-fitting flanges into a roller body, shaped in a hollow cylinder, from each of both end openings of the roller body with putting an elastic material between each of the flanges and the roller body; installing the roller body in a shaping mold so that the roller body is supported by the flanges and the elastic material at a predetermined position in the shaping mold; injecting a melted rubber into a space between the roller body and the shaping mold from an injection opening; and curing the melted rubber injected into the space. The roller body holding device for holding a roller body is shaped in a hollow cylinder and includes a flange, which is press-fitted into the roller body from each of end openings of the roller body; and an elastic material disposed between the flange and the roller body.

Device for holding fixing roller, method for manufacturing fixing roller, and image forming apparatus

The fixing apparatus fixes a toner image on a transfer material by applying heat and pressure onto the transfer material. It uses a roll-shaped rotary member for applying heat. The roll-shaped rotary member has a ray radiating device for radiating heat rays inside a cylindrical ray-transmitting base member. A cylindrical ray-transmitting elastic/insulating layer is on the base member and a heat ray absorbing layer is provided on the elastic/insulating layer. The difference between the heat ray absorbing ratio (%) per unit thickness (mm) in the base member and that in the ray-transmitting elastic/insulating layer is made not more than 20%. The fluctuations of thickness in the base member and the elastic/insulating layer are equal to, or not more than, 0.1 mm.

Fixing apparatus with a ray transmitting device inside one roller

An image forming apparatus includes a first image carrier for carrying a toner image formed thereon; a second image carrier for carrying the toner image transferred from the first image carrier and for conveying a recording sheet; a first transfer device for transferring the toner image carried on the first image carrier onto the second image carrier or an obverse side of the recording sheet; a second transfer device for transferring the toner image carried on the second image carrier onto a reverse side of the recording sheet and a fixing device for fixing the toner image transferred on the recording sheet. The second image carrier is provided with a curved portion at an end on a side of the fixing device, at which the recording sheet conveyed by the second image carrier is bent toward the reverse side of the recording sheet so as to separate the recording sheet from the second image carrier. A conveyor is provided between the curved portion and the fixing device, having rotatable spurred wheels each equipped with a plurality of protrusions on a circumferential surface thereof for conveying the separated recording sheet to the fixing device, wherein the spurred wheels contact to guide the obverse or reverse side of the recording sheet so that a moving direction of the recording sheet is changed toward a side which is opposite to the side where the spurred wheels contact the recording sheet.

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Hachioji, Japan

Shuta Hamada