Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Toshihiko Inuyama

Junichi Kimizuka

Kaoru Sato

Akihisa Kusano

Kazuhiko Okazawa

Toshiyuki Itoh

Makoto Abe

Masanori Ishizu

Toshiyuki Ito

Hiroshi Hashimoto

Takashi Soya

Takeji Gima

Yasutaka Noguchi

Hiromichi Yamanaka

Akihiko Takeuchi

Kaoru Seto

Tomohiro Nakamori

Kenjiro Hori

Hiroo Kobayashi

Yukihide Ushio

Tomoyuki Araki

Jun Saito

Tatsuto Tachibana

Hiroaki Miyake

Tsuyoshi Waragai

Yoshiro Tsuchiya

Takahiro Azeta

Soya Endo

Hitoshi Machino

Takamasa Sawada

Toshifumi Moritani

Tadashi Yagi

Yasumasa Nashida

Hiroshi Yukimachi

Hironori Shido

Masahito Otsuka

Kuasano Akihisa

Disclosed is a recording system in which an operation performed on the side of a printer unit in order to change over recording density is delayed while a recording operation is in progress. When a recording density changeover command is received during a recording operation, the density changeover is performed after the recording operation ends. A control unit which controls the printer unit is informed of the fact that the measures for changing over the recording density have been completed on the printer unit side.

Recording system

The invention provides an interunit communication system which comprises a main unit and a plurality of subunits and executes a communication between the units by a microcomputer of each unit. The system comprises: power producing means, provided for each subunit, for producing a driving power for the microcomputer of the subunit by a power which is supplied from the main unit through a power line; resetting means, provided for each subunit, for resetting the microcomputer of the subunit in the case where the power supply was restarted after the power supply from the main unit had been shut off; detecting means, provided for the main unit, for detecting a runaway of the microcomputer of the subunit on the basis of a reception state from a signal line for communication; power shut-off means, provided for the main unit, for shutting off the power supply to the subunit when the detecting means detects the runaway of the microcomputer; and power restarting means for restarting the power supply to the subunit.

Method and apparatus to reset a microcomputer by resetting the power

The present invention provides a laser beam scanning apparatus comprising a laser unit for emitting a laser beam, and a print circuit board having control means for controlling ON/OFF of the laser unit. The laser unit is provided directly on the print circuit board.

Laser beam scanning apparatus having laser beam unit provided directly

An image forming apparatus includes a movable image bearing member; an image forming device for forming an image on the image bearing member; a transfer device for transferring an image from the image bearing member onto a recording material at a transfer position; a detector for detecting a recording material conveying passage from a recording material feeding station to the image transfer position; and a controller responsive to the detector to form blanks at a leading and trailing edges of the recording material by controlling image forming operation of the image forming device.

Image forming apparatus having transfer means

A heating apparatus comprising a heating member, energization element for energizing said heating member, a temperature detection member for detecting a temperature of said heating member, a first switching element for turning on/off energization by said energization means on the basis of the temperature detected by said temperature detection member, abnormal current detection element for detecting an abnormal current flowing through said heating member, a second switching element for turning off energization by said energization element, and energization stop member for operating said second switching element to turn off energization.

Heating apparatus which interrupts energization in overheated state

An image recording apparatus operated in synchronism with a vertical synchronization signal from an external device comprises a unit for sending out to the external device a signal indicating a status to accept the vertical synchronization signal, and switching device for switching between a plurality of operation modes related to an elapsed time from the send-out of the signal by the signal sending unit.

Image recording apparatus operable with a vertical scan synchronization

A heater activating apparatus includes a power source, a heater heated to which is applied to voltage from the power source, and a current regulating element. The voltage from the power source is applied to the heater through the current regulating element when the heater is initially to energized, and thereafter, the voltage is applied to the heater without passing through the current regulating element.

Heater activating apparatus with a switchable current controlling element

An image forming apparatus includes an image forming device for forming an image on a recording material, the image forming device including an image bearing member, a movable charging member for charging the image bearing member and a power source for supplying electric power to the charging member; a constant current controller for supplying the charging member with a predetermined constant level of electric current; and a second controller for controlling an image forming condition by the image forming device on the basis of plural voltage provided at different points of time during a constant current control operation with the same constant current level by the constant current controller.

Image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus having a sorter, includes a plurality of bins for accommodating sheet materials, the bin each having sheet material sheet inlet portion, a discharging device movable along the inlet portions of the bins to discharge the sheet material to selected one of the bins, a sheet material accommodating tray other than the bins to accommodate the sheet materials, a guiding device switchable to direct the sheet material selectively to the bin or to the sheet material accommodating tray, and a device for switching the guiding device to direct the sheet material to the discharging device when the discharging device is at a position for discharging the sheet material to the bin, and the sheet material to the accommodating device when the discharging device is not at the position.

A light quantity control device suitable for use in a laser beam printer includes a beam generator, a monitor for monitoring the quantity of light of a beam generated by the beam generator, and a controller. The controller controls the light quantity of the beam generated by the beam generator in response to the output of the monitor. The controller includes a digital value output circuit and a light quantity control circuit. The digital value output circuit outputs a digital value representing the quantity of light of the beam, and the light quantity control circuit controls the quantity of light in response to the digital value. The digital value output circuit varies the timing of output of the digital value in accordance with the output of the monitor.

Light quantity control device

A driver for a light emitting device comprises first and second switching means associated with the light emitting device and application means for applying voltages to the first and second switching means to perform the switching operation in accordance with an input signal. The application means applies voltages of essentially same level to the first and second switching means.

Driver for light emitting device for providing a stable beam output

This invention relates to an image forming apparatus having a convey path comprising lateral movement apparatus for controlling a widthwise position of a sheet member to be conveyed, wherein the lateral movement apparatus is curved in a convey direction.

Image forming apparatus comprising lateral movement means

There is disclosed a laser driving device capable of providing a stable laser emission regardless of the ambient temperature, by supplying a laser element with a first current and a second bias current with a controlled ratio therebetween.

Laser driving device

A light quantity control device suitable for use in a laser beam printer. A controller varies the quantity of light emitted by a semiconductor laser so as to maintain a constant light quantity, regulating the rate of variation of the light quantity according to the output of a monitor for detecting the quantity of light emitted from the semiconductor laser.

A safety apparatus for an AC control circuit has a bidirectional thyristor, a photocoupler for detecting a load current, a transistor and a self-hold circuit for checking if a detection output from the photocoupler indicates a failure of the thyristor to commutate or lack of a trigger signal and another transistor which is turned on to blow a fuse and to cut off the load current when a failure of the thyristor to commutate or lack of the trigger signal is detected.

Growing community of inventors

Fujisawa, Japan

Toshihiko Inuyama