Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090153930 | OPTICAL SCANNING DEVICE, OPTICAL SCANNING METHOD, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An optical scanning device includes a laser light source that emits a laser beam; a light deflector that deflects the laser beam; a scan-imaging optical system that focuses the laser beam deflected from the light deflector on a scanning surface to optically scan the scanning surface; a diffractive optical element receives the laser beam and diffracts a portion of the laser beam as a diffracted light; and a detecting unit that detects the diffracted light. The laser light source is a surface-emitting laser light source. Moreover, the diffractive optical element is made of plastic material having a linear expansion coefficient within a temperature variation range of the optical scanning device nearly equal to a rate of wavelength change of an emission wavelength of the laser light source within the temperature variation range. | 06-18-2009 |
20090238590 | TONER-DENSITY CALCULATING METHOD, REFLECTIVE OPTICAL SENSOR, REFLECTIVE OPTICAL SENSOR DEVICE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A toner density is calculated from outputs of light-receiving elements based on a difference between a reflection property of a supporting member and a reflection property of a toner pattern. Light-emitting elements aligned in one direction that is inclined to a sub-direction emit a detection light in such a manner that a distance between adjacent spots falling on the supporting member in a second direction is equal to or smaller than a width of the toner pattern in the second direction. The light-receiving elements receive a reflected light reflected from the supporting member and/or the toner pattern. The light-receiving elements are aligned, opposed to the supporting member, in a one direction corresponding to the light-emitting elements. | 09-24-2009 |
20100008686 | METHOD OF DETECTING POSITION OF TONER PATTERN, OPTICAL SENSOR, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A light-emitting unit includes M (M≧3) number of light-emitting elements. A light-receiving unit includes N (N≧3) number of light-receiving elements that receive a reflected light from at least one of a supporting member and a toner pattern. The toner pattern is formed on a surface of the supporting member. A detection light is emitted onto the supporting member from the light-emitting unit. A reflected light reflected from at least one of the supporting member and the toner pattern is received by the light-receiving unit. A position of the toner pattern on the supporting member is detected based on outputs of the light-receiving elements. | 01-14-2010 |
20100266302 | TONER-DENSITY CALCULATING METHOD, REFLECTIVE OPTICAL SENSOR, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - In a reflective optical sensor in an image forming apparatus, an output from each N number of light-receiving elements (N≧3), obtained when M number of light-emitting elements (M≧3) included in a light-emitting unit emit detecting light, is separated into an amount of specularly reflected light and an amount of diffusely reflected light. The toner density of a pattern, which is formed on a supporting member in the image forming apparatus, is calculated based on a sum of the amounts of specularly reflected light and a sum of the amounts of diffusely reflected light. | 10-21-2010 |
20100310284 | VELOCITY DETECTING DEVICE AND MULTI-COLOR IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A velocity detecting device includes an image-pattern acquiring unit that includes a laser light source and an area sensor that acquires a one-dimensional or a two-dimensional image. The image-pattern acquiring unit includes a lens between a moving member and the area sensor, irradiates a beam emitted from the laser light source to the moving member to make a scattering light of the moving member scattered from the moving member on the area sensor by using the lens, and acquires an image pattern at a predetermined time interval in association with movement of the moving member. A velocity calculating unit calculates the velocity of the moving member by computing the image pattern acquired by the image-pattern acquiring unit. The lens is a reduced optical system that projects a reduced object onto the area sensor. | 12-09-2010 |
20110043810 | REFLECTIVE OPTICAL SENSOR AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A reflective optical sensor detects a position and/or a toner density of the toner pattern. The reflective optical sensor includes an illuminating system that has at least three light-emitting units, a light-receiving system that has at least three light-receiving units and receives light output from the illuminating system and reflected by the toner pattern, and an illuminating optical system that includes at least three illuminating condenser lenses individually corresponding to the at least three light-emitting units and that guides the light output from the illuminating system to the toner pattern. The at least three light-emitting units and the at least three light-receiving units are both arranged in equal distance with respect to one direction. Optical axes of the at least three illuminating condenser lenses are off-center in parallel to an axis passing through a center of and perpendicular to the corresponding light-emitting unit. | 02-24-2011 |
20110044713 | REFLECTIVE OPTICAL SENSOR AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A reflective optical sensor includes at least three light-emitting elements; a lighting optical system that guides light emitted from the light-emitting elements to a toner pattern; and at least three light-receiving elements that receive the beams of light reflected by the toner pattern. The lighting optical system has a lateral magnification m that satisfies m≦P/S, where S is the size of the light-emitting elements and P is the arrangement pitch of the light-emitting elements. | 02-24-2011 |
20120268750 | Toner-Density Calculating Method, Reflective Optical Sensor, Reflective Optical Sensor Device, and Image Forming Apparatus - A toner density is calculated from outputs of light-receiving elements based on a difference between a reflection property of a supporting member and a reflection property of a toner pattern. Light-emitting elements aligned in one direction that is inclined to a sub-direction emit a detection light in such a manner that a distance between adjacent spots falling on the supporting member in a second direction is equal to or smaller than a width of the toner pattern in the second direction. The light-receiving elements receive a reflected light reflected from the supporting member and/or the toner pattern. The light-receiving elements are aligned, opposed to the supporting member, in a one direction corresponding to the light-emitting elements. | 10-25-2012 |
20130216267 | REFLECTIVE OPTICAL SENSOR AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A reflective optical sensor includes at least three light-emitting elements; a lighting optical system that guides light emitted from the light-emitting elements to a toner pattern; and at least three light-receiving elements that receive the beams of light reflected by the toner pattern. The lighting optical system has a lateral magnification m that satisfies m≦P/S, where S is the size of the light-emitting elements and P is the arrangement pitch of the light-emitting elements. | 08-22-2013 |
20130243446 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus forms, on a surface of a moving member moving in a first direction, an image under an image forming condition in accordance with image information. The image forming apparatus includes: a reflection-type optical sensor including an emission system including a plurality of light-emitting units arranged in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction and a light-receiving system including a plurality of light-receiving units that receive reflected light resulting from reflection of emission light emitted from the emission system at the surface of the moving member; and a determination device that determines whether there is an abnormality on the surface of the moving member on the basis of output signals from at least two or more light-receiving units. | 09-19-2013 |
20130243458 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - According to an embodiment, provided is an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a moving body using toner. The image forming apparatus includes a pattern creating device that creates a first pattern for toner density detection and a second pattern for positional deviation detection on the moving body, the first pattern and second pattern being disposed to be arrayed in a main-scanning direction; a reflecting optical sensor including an emitting system that includes at least three light-emitting elements of which positions at least in the second direction are different and a light-receiving system that includes at least three light-receiving elements that receive light beams that are emitted from the emitting system and reflected from the first pattern and second pattern; and a processing device that obtains toner density information and positional deviation information simultaneously based on an output signal of the light-receiving system. | 09-19-2013 |
20130251389 | TONER-DENSITY CALCULATING METHOD, REFLECTIVE OPTICAL SENSOR, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - In a reflective optical sensor in an image forming apparatus, an output from each N number of light-receiving elements (N≧3), obtained when M number of light-emitting elements (M≧3) included in a light-emitting unit emit detecting light, is separated into an amount of specularly reflected light and an amount of diffusely reflected light. The toner density of a pattern, which is formed on a supporting member in the image forming apparatus, is calculated based on a sum of the amounts of specularly reflected light and a sum of the amounts of diffusely reflected light. | 09-26-2013 |
20130308966 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING METHOD - An image forming apparatus includes a charging device configured to uniformly charge a surface of a photoconductive element; an image writing device configured to write an image in the charged photoconductive element by light to form an electrostatic latent image; a developing device configured to visualize the formed electrostatic latent image as a toner image; a transfer device configured to transfer the toner image to a sheet recording medium; a fixing device configured to fix the transferred toner image onto the medium; and a surface information detecting device configured to detect surface information of a fixing member of the fixing device. The surface information detecting device radiates optical spots on a surface of the fixing member in a direction crossing a conveying direction, receives reflected light of each optical spot, and detects the surface information of the fixing device based on the detection results of the reflective lights. | 11-21-2013 |
20140023391 | TONER-DENSITY CALCULATING METHOD, REFLECTIVE OPTICAL SENSOR, REFLECTIVE OPTICAL SENSOR DEVICE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A toner density is calculated from outputs of light-receiving elements based on a difference between a reflection property of a supporting member and a reflection property of a toner pattern. Light-emitting elements aligned in one direction that is inclined to a sub-direction emit a detection light in such a manner that a distance between adjacent spots falling on the supporting member in a second direction is equal to or smaller than a width of the toner pattern in the second direction. The light-receiving elements receive a reflected light reflected from the supporting member and/or the toner pattern. The light-receiving elements are aligned, opposed to the supporting member, in a one direction corresponding to the light-emitting elements. | 01-23-2014 |
20140044460 | MOVING-MEMBER DETECTING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A moving-member detecting device includes an image acquiring unit and a speed calculating unit. The image acquiring unit includes a light source configured to emit a light beam to a detecting position of a moving member; an area sensor configured to acquire image data of a one- or two-dimensional image; and an area-sensor control unit configured to acquire the image data. The image acquiring unit is configured to acquire pieces of image data of the moving member at first and second positions, respectively, in a moving direction of the moving member so as to acquire the piece of position image data for the second position when the moving member is at the second position after acquiring the piece of image data for the first position. The speed calculating unit is configured to calculate a moving speed of the moving member from the pieces of image data. | 02-13-2014 |
20140219670 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, SENSING METHOD, AND RECORDING MEDIUM - An image forming apparatus comprises: a sensor that includes a light-emitting part for emitting light to a moving body and a light-receiving part; a light-incidence adjusting mechanism that is able to alternatively select from a first state where the light-incidence adjusting mechanism causes light which have been emitted from the sensor and then reflected by the moving body to enter the sensor and a second state where the light-incidence adjusting mechanism causes a reflected light of light emitted from the sensor not to enter the sensor; and a processing unit that causes the sensor to emit light, and corrects output of the sensor when the light-incidence adjusting mechanism is in the first state on the basis of output of the sensor when the light-incidence adjusting mechanism is in the second state. | 08-07-2014 |
20150037057 | TONER-DENSITY CALCULATING METHOD, REFLECTIVE OPTICAL SENSOR, REFLECTIVE OPTICAL SENSOR DEVICE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A toner density is calculated from outputs of light-receiving elements based on a difference between a reflection property of a supporting member and a reflection property of a toner pattern. Light-emitting elements aligned in one direction that is inclined to a sub-direction emit a detection light in such a manner that a distance between adjacent spots falling on the supporting member in a second direction is equal to or smaller than a width of the toner pattern in the second direction. The light-receiving elements receive a reflected light reflected from the supporting member and/or the toner pattern. The light-receiving elements are aligned, opposed to the supporting member, in a one direction corresponding to the light-emitting elements. | 02-05-2015 |
20150043936 | REFLECTIVE OPTICAL SENSOR AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A reflective optical sensor includes at least three light-emitting elements; a lighting optical system that guides light emitted from the light-emitting elements to a toner pattern; and at least three light-receiving elements that receive the beams of light reflected by the toner pattern. The lighting optical system has a lateral magnification m that satisfies m≦P/S, where S is the size of the light-emitting elements and P is the arrangement pitch of the light-emitting elements. | 02-12-2015 |
20150063844 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a fixing member, at least one reflective optical sensor, a heat shielding member, and a processor. The fixing member fixes an image on a recording medium moving in a first axis direction. At least one reflective optical sensor emits light toward the fixing member and receives light reflected by the fixing member. The heat shielding member is arranged between the fixing member and the at least one reflective optical sensor, has a light passing part through which light directed to the fixing member from the at least one reflective optical sensor and light reflected by the fixing member and directed to the at least one reflective optical sensor passes, and prevents heat transfer from the fixing member to the at least one reflective optical sensor. The processor is configured to obtain a surface state of the fixing member on the basis of an output signal from the at least one reflective optical sensor. | 03-05-2015 |
20150078767 | FIXING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A fixing device that fixes a toner image carried on a transfer sheet onto the transfer sheet includes a fixing belt that relatively moves, with its surface being in contact with the toner image during the fixing operation, with respect to the transfer sheet, surface information detecting devices that determine surface information of the fixing belt, a surface condition changing roller that is arranged so as to be capable of coming into contact with and separating from the fixing belt and abrades the surface of the fixing belt in contact with the fixing belt, and a surface condition changing controller that controls the contact and separation of the surface condition changing roller with and from the fixing belt based on detection results obtained by the surface information detecting devices. | 03-19-2015 |