Konica Minolta, Inc.

Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.

Minolta Company, Ltd.

Tomonobu Tamura

Yuhei Tatsumoto

Toshikazu Higashi

Hiroshi Hiraguchi

Takashi Hasebe

Akira Takasu

Teruhiko Fujikura

Yasutaka Tanimura

Yuta Tachibana

Norihiko Nakano

Hiroyuki Watanabe

Hiroshi Eguchi

Hitoshi Asano

Toshio Sakata

Masayoshi Kuroda

Satoshi Teshima

Taiichi Oominami

Kenichi Hayashi

Katsunori Takahashi

Tatsuya Eguchi

Toru Kasamatsu

Hiroshi Yamaguchi

Katsuhide Sakai

Akihiro Hayashi

Harumitsu Fujimori

Masami Nakane

Kazuhiko Nakatsuka

A paper conveyance device includes: an upstream roller and a downstream roller being arranged at an interval in a paper conveyance path; paper conveyance guides being arranged between the upstream and downstream roller in the paper conveyance path to guide both surfaces of paper along the paper conveyance path during paper conveyance; drivers that drive the upstream and downstream roller independently; and a processor that measures the load torques on the upstream and downstream roller, that judges whether or not the paper is rubbing against one of the paper conveyance guides with reference to the load torques on the upstream and downstream roller, the load torques being obtained by the processor, and that performs controlled paper conveyance with reference to the load torques on the upstream and downstream roller depending on the result of the judgment being obtained by the processor.

Paper conveyance device, image forming apparatus, paper conveyance control method, and recording medium

A reading apparatus that reads a sheet includes: a first light emitting diode (LED) configured to emit light with a specific wavelength; a light emitting element including a second LED configured to emit light with the specific wavelength and a phosphor configured to be excited by the light emitted from the second LED; a line sensor configured to generate a reference signal according to a quantity of received light emitted from the first LED and reflected off the sheet, and also generate an image signal according to a quantity of received light emitted from the light emitting element and reflected off the sheet; and a controller configured to generate an image representing the sheet from a differential result obtained by removing a component corresponding to the reference signal from the image signal.

Reading apparatus, reading method, and reading program

A charge control device uses external electricity to charge a plurality of battery devices. A constant current source uses the external electricity to generate and adjust an output current amount to a constant target value. A selector selects one battery device from the plurality of battery devices and supplies output current from the constant current source to the one battery device. A measurer measures an amount of actual current flowing from the constant current source to the one battery device. An instructor monitors a measured value provided by the measurer and instructs the selector, when the measured value meets a condition for a reduction of charging current amount to be regarded as having occurred, to change a destination to which the output current of the constant current source is supplied from the one battery device to a different battery device.

Charge control device and image forming apparatus including charge control device

A magnesium cell includes a positive electrode, a negative electrode including a magnesium alloy, and a separator disposed between the positive electrode and the negative electrode to hold an electrolytic solution, in which a contact area between the negative electrode and the separator is variable.

Magnesium cell and magnesium cell system

Electronic device comprising: processing unit including accepting part accepting processing request from external device and executing process specified by request; secondary battery connected with external power source; and power-source device transitioning to operating state when request is accepted in waiting state, and transitioning to waiting state when processing unit completes executing process, wherein, in waiting state, power supply from external power source to processing unit is stopped and secondary battery supplies power to accepting part, and in operating state, power is supplied from external power source to processing unit. Power-source device includes controller executing first charge control operation to cause external power source to charge secondary battery when, in operating state, voltage of secondary battery is not higher than threshold, and end executing first charge control operation when transitioning to waiting state, controller updating threshold in response to increase in number of times first charge control operation is executed.

Electronic device and power-source device

A power controller includes: a measuring unit that measures outputs from plural power generating devices outputting power to a common load in parallel; an adjusting unit that controls the outputs of the plural power generating devices to adjust output voltages of the plural power generating devices to a predetermined value; and a matching control unit that calculates power-voltage characteristics of the plural power generating devices based on values measured by the measuring unit, determines a target value of output voltage to be shared by all the plural power generating devices based on the power-voltage characteristics thus calculated and corresponding to the whole parallel connection of the plural power generating devices, and allows the adjusting unit to match the predetermined value with the target value.

Power controller and image forming apparatus

The image forming device includes a reception unit, an image forming unit, a switching unit, a detection unit, and a charging unit. The switching unit switches the image forming device between a first mode in which the reception unit is not supplied a voltage from a power source, is supplied power from a secondary battery, and receives image forming requests, and a second mode in which the image forming unit is supplied the voltage and performs image forming. The detection unit detects a value of an amount of energy of the secondary battery. In the second mode, the charging unit charges the secondary battery by supplying the voltage to the secondary battery when the value is equal to or less than a threshold value, and the charging unit boosts the voltage and supplies the boosted voltage to the secondary battery when the value is greater than the threshold value.

Image forming device and charging method for secondary battery

An image forming apparatus includes a functional unit, a first power supply circuit supplying electric power to the functional unit from a commercial power supply, a second power supply circuit including a self-generation power supply, and a third power supply circuit including a power storage unit storing electric power and a charging circuit charging the power storage unit upon receipt of supply of electric power from at least one of the commercial power supply and the self-generation power supply. In accordance with the amount of power supply from the self-generation power supply, higher priority is given to supply of electric power to the functional unit from at least one of the second and third power supply circuits than to supply of electric power from the first power supply circuit.

Image forming apparatus having plurality of power supplies to control power provided from a commercial power supply

An electronic apparatus comprising: a main body including a reception unit and a processing unit; and a power supply device switches between an operation state for supplying power from an external power source to the main body and a standby state for supplying power from a secondary battery to the reception unit without supplying power from the power source to the main body. Charging of the battery with power from the power source is performed during the operation state and is terminated when a value indicating power level of the battery reaches a threshold value Vt satisfying (discharge lower limit VL+Vs)&#x2266;Vt&#x3c;charge upper limit VH, Vs denoting a decrease in power level occurring when power from the battery is supplied to the reception unit for an estimated maximum duration of the standby state within a time period having a unit time length.

Electronic apparatus and image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes a charging device for performing charging and discharging using a power storage device, and a plurality of loads each serving as a target of power supply from said charging device and being used in operation of the image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus obtains information about an operation status of the image forming apparatus and sets priorities for being a target of power supply from the charging device for the plurality of loads, according to the obtained information. The image forming apparatus controls power supply operation of the charging device according to the information about the remaining capacity of the power storage device and the set priorities.

Image forming apparatus performing control of changing targets of power supply from charging device

A control device for generating a second trigger with a delay of a predetermined time from generation of a first trigger, the control device having: a counter for counting numbers from 0 to n&#x2212;1 at a frequency with cycles of a first period; a control section, which operates at a frequency with cycles of a second period that is longer than the first period, for calculating a remainder of a division by adding a number of counts of the counter corresponding to the predetermined time to a count value of the counter at the time of generation of the first trigger and by dividing a result of the addition by n; and an output section for outputting the second trigger at a time when the count value of the counter becomes equal to the remainder.

Control apparatus and image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes: a stepping motor arranged in a conveying path for a paper; a driver for driving the stepping motor; a current detecting unit for detecting an actual current value; and a control unit for providing a set current value for every predetermined cycle. The control unit determines an estimated load torque value corresponding to the set current value in a previous cycle and the actual current value in a present cycle, by referring to a relationship between actual current and load torque of the stepping motor with respect to the set current value, determines a target load torque value based on the estimated load torque value, and determines, as the set current value, a current value corresponding to the target load torque value, by referring to a relationship between maximum output torque of the stepping motor and current supplied to the stepping motor.

Image forming apparatus having stepping motor arranged in conveying path for paper, and method for controlling stepping motor in image forming apparatus

A variable frequency clock output circuit, comprising: a target value register which stores a target value corresponding to an arbitrarily set target frequency; an increase/decrease value register which stores an arbitrarily set increase/decrease value; an adder-subtractor which has an input portion into which a current output value is inputted and outputs a calculation result obtained by adding/subtracting the increase/decrease value stored in the increase/decrease value register to/from the current output value inputted into the input portion based on an addition/subtraction instruction signal; a comparator which compares an output value of the adder-subtractor to the target value stored in the target value register, and outputs an addition/subtraction instruction signal to the adder-subtractor until the output value of the adder-subtractor and the target value coincide; and a clock generator which outputs a clock signal having a frequency proportional to the output value of the adder-subtractor.

Variable frequency clock output circuit and apparatus, motor driving apparatus, and image forming apparatus

A multi-functional copying machine according to the invention has a scanner for reading the image of a document and image information appended to the document and a printer for forming the image on a medium. It compares the image read by the scanner and the image information, determines according to the extent of alteration of the image whether or not reproduction of the image of the document as it is can be permitted and, if permitted, produces a copy from the reproduced image of the document. If reproduction is forbidden of the image of the document as it is, whether or not to permit restoration of the scanner-read image according to the image information is determined and, if permitted, a copy is produced from the restored image. This makes it possible to keep track of any alteration in a copyrighted image by quick processing, prevent altered copyrighted images from circulation, and protect copyrighted images appropriately.

Image formation apparatus and image formation method

A rotational shaft of a photosensitive drum is connected to a rotational shaft of a stepping motor by a coupling, so that the stepping motor directly drives the photosensitive drum. Here, &thgr; (&deg;) indicating a step angle of the stepping motor, p (mm) indicating a distance between scanning lines on the photosensitive drum, &pgr; indicating the circular constant, and d (mm) indicating a diameter of the photosensitive drum are set so as to satisfy an equation n&middot;&thgr;&equals;(360&middot;p)/(&pgr;&middot;d) to make an optical unit scan the photosensitive drum by one scanning line every time the photosensitive drum is made to rotate n steps, n being a positive integer.

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Toyokawa, Japan

Tomonobu Tamura