Konica-minolta Holdings, Inc.

Konica Corporation

Tetsushi Aoki

Satoshi Watanabe

Fujio Miyamoto

Akihiro Taguchi

Takashi Muramatsu

Minoru Maekawara

Shingo Tsubotani

Nobuya Yamamoto

An inkjet printer includes: a recording head which includes jet openings for jetting ink; a sensor for detecting a jet opening causing jetting failure among the jet openings; a sucking mechanism for sucking the ink from each jet opening; a comparing section for comparing number of the detected jet opening causing jetting failure with predetermined number; and a control section for performing a sucking process where the sucking mechanism performs a sucking operation, for performing an examination process to count the jet opening causing jetting failure by the detection of the sensor and by simulated jetting of each jet opening, for performing a comparing process where the comparing section performs a comparing operation after the examination process, and for re-performing the examination process without performing the sucking process when judged in the comparing process that the number of the jet opening causing jetting failure is more than the predetermined number.

Inkjet printer and inkjet printer controlling method

An ink jet printer having: a main tank to store ink; a recording head to form an image on a recording medium by jetting the ink from a nozzle; an ink supply path to supply the ink to the recording head from the main tank; a sub tank to temporarily store the ink supplied from the main tank, the sub tank being provided in the middle of the ink supply path; an ink supply valve to control to supply or stop supplying the ink from the main tank to the sub tank by an opening or closing the ink supply valve, the ink supply valve being provided between the main tank and the sub tank on the ink supply path; and a control unit to measure a cumulative time in which the ink supply valve becomes an opened state, and estimate a remaining ink amount in the main tank.

Ink jet printer

An inkjet recording apparatus includes: exchangeable first and second ink cartridges; a recording head which jets ink to a recording medium; an intermediate tank which receives the ink from the ink cartridge and supplies the ink to the recording head; a detecting sensor which detects whether ink residual quantity of an ink cartridge is not more than predetermined quantity based on ink quantity in the intermediate tank; a switching section which, if the ink residual quantity is not more than the predetermined quantity, switches the ink cartridge for supplying the ink to the intermediate tank; a first detector which detects the reset of the first ink cartridge; a second detector which detects the reset of the second ink cartridge; and a controller which, if the first ink cartridge is reset, controls the switching section to switch the second ink cartridge to the first ink cartridge, for supplying the ink.

Inkjet cartridge detection and switching apparatus

An ink jet printer comprises a cap for covering nozzles for jetting ink, wherein the cap has a suction opening and a atmosphere-communicating opening in the neighborhood of its one end portion in the lengthwise direction, and an ink absorption body formed in the cap, wherein the height of the ink absorption body in the area other than the neighborhood of the suction opening is higher than its height in the neighborhood of the suction openings, and carries out a restoration processing through suctioning ink from the nozzles.

A display apparatus for an electronic image having an image memory for storing video image data of a number of fields or a number of frames, which are obtained by processing, with a signal processing circuit, a video image signal from an image detecting element on which reflected light from a subject is imaged through an optical system and displaying video image data stored in the image memory to form a picture having the desired field or frame on a display unit. The apparatus includes a timing generating circuit for generating a vertical synchronizing signal by which video image data derived from a video memory, in units of fields or frames, is displayed as video image data on the display section, and a control means, responsive to the vertical synchronizing signal from the timing generating circuit, for sequentially switching video image data derived from the video memory of the desired frame or field, to supply the video image data to the display unit.

Electronic viewfinder

An object of the invention is to provide a flash light control circuit by which a flash bulb is controlled to maintain a constant quantity of emitted light at each flash, in order to counter an insufficient exposure of a photographic object, caused by a gradual decrease of emitted light with the progress of exposures, for example, in photography with a camera on a multi exposure basis. The object is achieved by a flash light control circuit comprising a trigger circuit that impresses a trigger voltage onto a trigger terminal of the flash bulb and comprising a non-self hold type switching element connected to the trigger circuit, which is turned on for discharging energy stored in a main capacitor into the flash bulb for its consequent flashing, wherein there is provided a pulse generating circuit that impresses, onto a gate terminal of the switching element, continual pulse signals whose duty ratios increase gradually.

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Hachioji, Japan

Tetsushi Aoki