Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Nicoh Company, Ltd.

Toshio Inada

Yukio Ogura

Hironobu Mifune

Yusuke Takeda

Hiromichi Komai

Sadayuki Iwai

Tomoaki Nakano

Toshitaka Hirata

Aki Ueda

Tsuneo Kurotori

Masami Kadonaga

Kozoh Sudoh

Katsuaki Miyawaki

Makoto Obu

Seiichi Miyakawa

Osamu Naruse

Noriyasu Takeuchi

Kunio Hibi

Junichi Kitabayashi

Itsuo Ikeda

Masakazu Muranaka

Minoru Ameyama

Syuzo Matsumoto

Kouji Izumi

Kenichi Ichikawa

Youichi Ueda

Hidenori Kanno

An apparatus which forms a discharge electric field in order to discharge an object. The apparatus includes an electrode member facing and separated by a preselected gap from the object, and a power source which applies a discharge voltage to the electrode member to thereby cause discharge to occur between the object and the electrode member. Further, the electrode member at the gap includes a material selected in association with the gap so that a functional relationship between the discharge voltage and a discharge current caused by the discharge voltage is a continuous function.

Image forming device which forms an electric field to discharge an object

In an image forming apparatus, a fixing device fixes a toner image transferred to a sheet, but held in an unstable state, temporarily on the sheet by a Johnson Rahbeck effect. The fixed image firmly adhere to the sheet and is free from disturbance or suffers from a minimum of disturbance.

Image forming apparatus and fixing device therefor

A wet process image forming apparatus using a developing liquid consisting of a carrier liquid and a toner dispersed therein, in which air containing carrier vapor produced in, e.g., a fixing section, is sucked by a suction fan via a first duct into a liquefying section. The liquefying section liquefies the carrier vapor and water vapor. A separating section is disposed below the liquefying portion and includes a receptacle. A liquid produced by the liquefying section is caused to flow down into the receptacle along a chain due to its own weight. The separating section separates the liquid into the carrier liquid and water on the basis of a difference in specific gravity. Only the carrier overlying the water in the receptacle is fed to a carrier tank via overflow ports formed in the wall of the receptacle. The water is delivered to a water tank via a pipe. The pipe is so configured as to maintain the liquid level in the receptacle substantially at the level of the overflow ports.

Wet process image forming apparatus and carrier vapor collecting device

An ink jet printing head driving method includes steps of: applying a voltage falling edge of a first pulse signal to cause a piezoelectric element to contract so that a capacity of a liquid passage is increased so as to supply ink to the liquid passage; applying a voltage rising edge of the first pulse signal to cause the piezoelectric element to expand so that the capacity of the liquid passage is decreased, for discharging an ink droplet through a discharge port, the first pulse signal having a first pulse width and a first peak voltage amplitude; and applying a voltage rising edge of a second pulse signal to the piezoelectric element after a predetermined delay time has elapsed since application of the first pulse signal for discharging the ink droplet, a pulse width of the second pulse signal being smaller than the first pulse width, and a peak voltage amplitude of the second pulse signal being equal to the first peak voltage amplitude.

Method of driving ink jet printing head

An ink jet head used for pulsed droplet ink jet printer uses a grooved piezo-electric element. The piezo-electric element includes a plurality of grooves, diaphrams and actuators. The actuator and two grooves at both sides of the actuator, filled with stuffing material, covers a corresponding one of passages. Therefore, even if the stuffing material moves when the actuator is energized, an interference problem does not occur. Consequently, the flexure force of each actuator can transmit to the corresponding passage to jet ink in the passage via a nozzle.

Ink jet head

A method of driving an ink jet type printing head is applied to a printing head which has a plurality of channels, a plurality of nozzles provided on ends of the channels and a plurality of piezoelectric elements for varying volumes of the channels in response to driving voltages so as to eject ink from each nozzle having a corresponding channel the volume of which is reduced by a corresponding one of the piezoelectric elements. The method includes the steps of applying a first driving voltage to a first group of piezoelectric elements and a second driving voltage to a second group of piezoelectric elements, and controlling a phase of at least one of the first and second driving voltages so that a predetermined phase difference exists between the first driving voltage and the second driving voltage.

Method of driving ink jet type printing head

A parallel image processing apparatus includes (1) a light diffusing layer, (2) a photoelectric conversion layer which receives diffused light from the diffusion layer, and (3) an edge detection layer which receives signals from conversion elements in the conversion layer, and generates edge information which defines the edge of object(s) imaged on the light diffusing layer. The conversion layer includes pairs of conversion elements, the pairs having a center element and a peripheral element surrounding it. Signals from one or more center elements are summed, the sum being differentially amplified with a sum of signals from one or more peripheral elements to arrive at an edge signal. Edge signals may be used to differentiate among characters, pictures or photographs, and a blank images.

Parallel image processing apparatus using edge detection layer

A parallel optical image processing system comprises a image detection part for detecting an input image, an encoding part supplied with an electrical image signal from the image detection part for producing an encoded input image in a form of optical beam, an optical memory stored with a number of images in a form of encoded image, an optical interconnection part supplied with the encoded input image for addressing the optical memory by deflecting the optical beam so as to read out one of the images stored in the optical memory as an associated image, a first optical path supplied with the encoded input image, a second optical path supplied with the associated image, a decoding part supplied with the encoded input image and the associated image from said first and second optical paths as an encoded output image for decoding the encoded output image thus supplied to form a decoded output image, and feedback control part for controlling the addressing of the memory by the optical interconnection part responsive to the encoded output image.

Parallel optical image processing system

A parallel optical information processing system includes an information inputting part which produces a coherent optical beam spatially modulated by input image information. A rewritable hologram memory carries a plurality of stored images as holograms so that the holograms are overlapped with each other, the rewritable hologram memory being written with image information when illuminated by a recording optical beam. An image reproducing part is supplied with the input image information, and produces reproduced image information from the rewritable hologram memory. A hologram synthesizing part synthesizes a synthetic hologram in response to the reproduced image information. A hologram recording part records the synthetic hologram in the rewritable hologram memory through the recording optical beam.

Parallel optical information processing system

A parallel image processing system comprises an image detection array of photodector elements, edge detection circuit including a number of edge detection elements for producing an output signal indicating detection of edge of the input image, and movement detection circuit including a number of movement detection elements each being supplied with output signals from a first group of the edge detection elements along a first signal path as an excitement signal and further from a second group of the edge detection elements along a second signal path as an inhibitory signal, for producing a movement detection signal indicating movement of the input image on the basis of comparison of the excitement signal and the inhibitory signal.

Parallel image processing system

An optical processing system comprises first light source, a spatial modulator for modulating optical beam passing therethrough, an image input part for writing the input image on the modulator by means of an incoherent optical beam, an optical Fourier transform device, an optical memory for storing a plurality of image informations in a form of Fourier transform hologram comprising a medium which allows erasing and rewriting of information by optical beam, an image detection/light source device supplied with a plurality of optical beams for producing another optical beam in correspondence to one of the optical beams which has the maximum intensity along a path of that optical beam in a reversed direction, a second light source for irradiating the optical memory by another optical beam for writing a new information, an image output device provided in an optical path of the output beam, and a controller connected to the image input device, first light source and second light source for controlling energization thereof, in which the controller is further connected to the modulating means and optical memory means for clearing informations written thereon.

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Sagamihara, Japan

Toshio Inada