Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha

Renesas Technology Corp.

Tetsuya Hara

Satoshi Nakazawa

Shuji Hanai

Yuji Ieiri

Masashi Hommi

Nobuyuki Nagasawa

Takumi Miyagawa

Tomohito Shimizu

Hideyuki Kobori

Hiroki Somada

Kazuhisa Yamamoto

Shinichi Uramoto

Kazushi Takei

Tomohide Kondoh

Junichi Shimoda

Takuya Kemmochi

Yuki Osato

Yuusuke Tomura

A toner amount detector detects an amount of toner in a toner bottle. The toner amount detector includes at least one pair of electrodes disposed opposite each other via the toner bottle, grounding members disposed outboard of the at least one pair of electrodes and electrically grounded, circuitry to switch a first detection processing and a second detection processing, and an indicator to indicate that a positional deviation of the at least one pair of electrodes has occurred. The grounding members face the at least one pair of electrodes. The first detection processing detects the amount of toner based on a first capacitance between the at least one pair of electrodes, and the second detection processing detects a positional deviation based on a second capacitance between each of the grounding members and a corresponding one of the at least one pair of electrodes.

Toner amount detector, toner amount detection method, and non-transitory storage medium storing program

An image forming apparatus including an electrode pair including two electrodes facing each other; a powder container interposed between the two electrodes and including a storage medium that is communicably coupled to the image forming apparatus; a capacitance detector configured to detect capacitance between the two electrodes; a powder container mounting determiner configured to determine whether the powder container is mounted to the image forming apparatus based on the capacitance, upon detecting that communication is not possible between the image forming apparatus and the storage medium; and an image forming execution controller configured to cause the image forming apparatus to execute image formation, upon determining, by the powder container mounting determiner, that the powder container is mounted to the image forming apparatus.

Image forming apparatus, image forming method, and recording medium

A remaining toner amount detecting apparatus detects a remaining toner amount in a toner bottle. The remaining toner amount detecting apparatus includes at least one pair of electrodes that are configured to face each other with the toner bottle interposed between the electrodes; a first estimator configured to estimate the remaining toner amount based on a capacitance between the electrodes of the at least one pair of electrodes; a second estimator configured to estimate the remaining toner amount by counting a number of pixels in a printed image; and an estimation selector configured to use either one of the first estimator or the second estimator to output the remaining toner amount, based on a temperature or a humidity inside an apparatus in which the toner bottle is mounted.

Remaining toner amount detecting apparatus, remaining toner amount detecting method, and recording medium

Switch units control ON and OFF of communication between a master device and slave devices. Signal levels of communication lines between switch units and slave devices are maintained at a predetermined level. A switch unit in a first stage is turned on and off by a first switch control signal. A switch unit in a second stage is turned on and off by a switch control signal generated based on a level of a communication line in the first stage and the first switch control signal. A switch unit in each of subsequent stages is turned on and off by a switch control signal generated based on a level of a communication line in a preceding stage and a switch control signal in a second preceding stage. A portion of ground short circuit is identified based on states of communication between the master device and the slave devices.

Ground short circuit portion detecting apparatus, ground short circuit portion detecting method, and computer-readable recording medium

A curtain coating method including: discharging at least one coating liquid from a slot type die; forming a coating liquid film of the coating liquid freely falling; and applying the coating liquid film to a support medium continuously running, with both right and left ends of the coating liquid film being held by a pair of edge guides, wherein, during non-coating, a direction in which the coating liquid is discharged from the slot type die is kept in a horizontal direction or tilted from the horizontal direction in a direction distancing from the support medium.

Curtain coating method and curtain coating device

A curtain coating apparatus including: a pair of edge guides configured to support both side edges of at least one coating liquid so as to form a coating liquid film which falls freely and apply the coating liquid film onto a continuously running support; and an auxiliary water introduction port which allows auxiliary water to be introduced substantially uniformly with respect to a width direction of an edge guide auxiliary water flow-down surface of each edge guide from an upper portion toward a lower portion of the flow-down surface, wherein the flow-down surface has at its upper portion a flat surface portion, and wherein the flow-down surface has at its lower portion an arc-shaped portion which is provided at a center and which protrudes in the shape of an arc, and a flat surface portion which is provided on both sides of the arc-shaped portion.

Curtain coating apparatus and curtain coating method

A roll blade coating method including transferring an excessive amount of a coating liquid onto a continuously running web, and adjusting the excessive amount of the coating liquid to a desired adhesion amount with a roll blade, wherein the roll blade is held by a holding member for holding the roll blade, wherein the holding member is pressed by a plurality of air cylinders each configured to press the holding member, wherein the air cylinders are arranged in a side of the holding member, which side is opposite to a side where the holding member holds the roll blade, and wherein the air cylinders can separately be adjusted in air pressure.

Roll blade coating method and roll blade coating apparatus

A curtain coating method including: ejecting at least one layer of a coating liquid from a slit, and making the ejected coating liquid fall freely from a curtain nozzle lip by using a curtain edge guide which guides the coating liquid in the form of a curtain liquid film, so as to apply the coating liquid onto a continuously running web, wherein the coating liquid is applied by moving the curtain edge guide toward the depth direction when the curtain liquid film is seen from the front.

Curtain coating method and curtain coating apparatus

To provide a curtain coating apparatus including: a slit from which at least one layer of a coating liquid is ejected; a curtain edge guide configured to guide the ejected coating liquid in the form of a curtain liquid film and make the coating liquid fall freely, while pouring an auxiliary liquid from the whole of a surface provided in contact with the coating liquid in the curtain edge guide, so as to apply the coating liquid onto a continuously running web; and a claw which supports the curtain liquid film at a bottom of the curtain edge guide, wherein when a residue of the liquid is left on the claw, the claw is configured to move.

An audio decoding apparatus includes a CPU which groups received sample data into one block. Furthermore, the CPU adds control information relating to attributes to data of each block.

Method of and apparatus for decoding audio data

In branch prediction in a superscalar processor, a fetch block address is stored in a program counter (,) to make an access to a prediction table (,) not only when a branch instruction is predicted but also when an execution history (prediction information) of the branch instruction is registered or updated on the basis of the executed result of the branch instruction.

Branch prediction method using a prediction table indexed by fetch-block address

An A/V signal pickup unit receives an audio digital data stream. A CPU carries out a decode process, and adds tag data indicating the attribute of audio sample data to provide the same to an audio signal converter unit. The audio signal converter unit controls the timing of the output operation of sample data according to the tag data.

Decode apparatus that can accommodate dynamic change in sample data attribute during decoding process

There is provided a counter device comprising a master counter for counting an input signal applied thereto and a plurality of local counters disposed in a plurality of functional blocks, respectively, each for counting the input signal applied thereto, and for holding a count value corresponding to a plurality of bits of a count value of the master counter. A bus is disposed for each of the plurality of functional blocks to refer to remaining bits of the count value of the master counter.

Counter device

A branch predicting apparatus includes a prediction information buffer for supplying prediction information related to branch prediction of a branch instruction, at a same timing as fetching of an instruction fetched before the branch instruction, and a branch predicting mechanism for reading, if necessary, information required for branch prediction from a register file storing a result of operation of an instruction pipeline in accordance with the prediction information supplied from the prediction information buffer, performing branch prediction of the branch instruction by, at the latest, completion of the fetch cycle of the branch instruction, and for outputting a branch prediction signal.

Branch predicting mechanism for enhancing accuracy in branch prediction

A branch execution unit processes operand data which is supplied from an instruction decoder with branch instruction information which is read from a branch target buffer, carries out branch prediction and execution, and forms a branch probability flag which is generated in relation to a branch instruction for supplying to a branch target buffer registration/update decision mechanism. In registration of a branch instruction which is non-registered in the BTB registration/update decision mechanism, the registration or non-registration is carried out in accordance with the value of the branch probability flag. Thus, it is possible to prevent a branch instruction having a low branch probability from being registered in the branch target buffer, thereby preventing reduction of branch prediction accuracy. The branch prediction is executed with employment of only a validity bit. Thus provided is an instruction processing apparatus including a branch target buffer which can be readily constructed with high branch prediction accuracy and causes no cycle penalty upon registration of a branch instruction or updating of the content thereof.

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Tokyo, Japan

Tetsuya Hara