| Class / Patent application number | Description | Number of patent applications / Date published |
|---|
| 399365000 | Original | 83 |
| 20090162118 | Driving apparatus and image forming apparatus - A driving apparatus includes a driving unit, a driven unit driven by the driving unit, a driving control unit configured to control the driving unit by performing feed-forward control based on feed-forward target data determined in advance to reduce a speed change of the driven unit. The speed change of the driven unit is expressed substantially as a positive half cycle of a sinusoidal waveform having an amplitude and a time duration, and the feed-forward target data is calculated from the amplitude and the time duration to represent a rectangular waveform approximating the positive half cycle of the sinusoidal waveform. | 06-25-2009 |
| 20100158592 | ORIGINAL PROCESSING APPARATUS - An original processing apparatus capable of enhancing original processing ability even in the case of continuously processing a plurality of originals. In a first processing unit of the original processing apparatus, MICR characters on an original conveyed along a conveying path are read and an image of a front side of the original is read. The original is then conveyed to a position short of a second processing unit, and the next original is fed to the conveying path. When control information including print information is created based on a result of the processing by the first processing unit, the original positioned short of the second processing unit is conveyed to the second processing unit where print information is printed on the original and an image of a back side of the original is read. | 06-24-2010 |
| 20120070212 | DOCUMENT TRANSPORTING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A document transporting device includes: a document-accommodating section; a transporting mechanism; a document-discharge section; a holding member that includes an attach-portion that is attached at an upper side of a discharge-port from which a document is discharged to the document-discharge section, and holding portion main-bodies provided such that lower ends are contacted with the document-discharge section, that hold down the document discharged on the document-discharge section from above, a length in a discharge-direction of the document from an attachment-position of the attach-portion to the lower end of the holding portion main-body being longer than a height from the document-discharge section to the attachment-position of the attach-portion; and protruding portions formed in the document-discharge section along a longitudinal direction of the discharge-port such that a top portion of the protruding portion is positioned at a downstream side of the discharge-direction relative to the lower end of the holding portion main-body. | 03-22-2012 |
| 20150362874 | ORIGINAL TRANSPORT DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An original transport device having paper discharge rollers constituted by a fixing roller in a fixed position and a separate/contact roller separating from/making contact with the fixing roller, for sandwiching and transporting an original in an original transport path, includes: a swinging support member supporting the separate/contact roller and swinging so that the separate/contact roller is separated from/press-contacted to the fixing roller; an operation unit coupled to the swinging support member to swing the swinging support member; and a locking member locking the swinging support member to stop the swing thereof. The locking member locks the swinging support member so that the paper discharge rollers are in a separate state or a press-contact state when the operation unit is driven, and after the operation unit is turned off, the locking member maintains the separate state or the press-contact state during driving of the operation unit. | 12-17-2015 |
| 399366000 | Unauthorized copy prevention | 7 |
| 20080226368 | IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS, IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM - A disclosed image processing apparatus is capable of shifting an illegal copy preventing pattern so that an image reading device can recognize the pattern printed at the edge end of the printing range on a paper even when the printing range on the paper is changed by, for example, trimming and user settings. The apparatus includes an image output unit outputting an image to a prescribed region; an output position setting unit acquiring output region information, comparing the output region information with the illegal copy preventing pattern; and determining an output position of the illegal copy preventing pattern based on the comparison result, and a combining unit combining the illegal copy preventing pattern and image data based on the output position determined by the output position setting unit. The image output unit outputs the image combined by the combining unit. | 09-18-2008 |
| 20080240815 | INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS AND INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD - An information processing apparatus that generates print data sent to a printing device acquires variable information from a plurality of devices, the variable information being finalized when the printing device carries out printing. The apparatus selects variable information from the plural pieces of variable information acquired from the plurality of devices in accordance with its own operation environment and operating location. The apparatus then adds the selected variable information to the print data and outputs the resultant. | 10-02-2008 |
| 20090010695 | INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS AND INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD - An information processing apparatus generates printing image data of a printing image and copy-forgery-inhibited-pattern-image data of a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image to be added to the printing image. The copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image includes a latent image and a background image. The apparatus includes a selecting unit and a printing-data generating unit. The selecting unit selects either the transparent-printing designation or overlay-printing designation, the transparent-printing designation is used for generating printing data so that the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is superimposed on the printing image, and the overlay-printing designation is used for generating printing data so that the printing image is superimposed on the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image. The printing-data generating unit generates printing data based on the printing designation selected by the selecting unit. | 01-08-2009 |
| 20090190977 | IMAGE PROCESSING FOR IMPROVING RELIABILITY OF JOB-LOCK FUNCTION - Whether a job-lock function is enabled is determined. Whether a current mode is a mode for outputting an image of an area on an original document onto a recording paper is determined. When the job-lock function is determined to be enabled, and when the current mode is the mode for outputting the image of the part of the area of the original document on the recording paper, the image of an area larger than the part of the area is read. It is possible to improve accuracy of recognizing a copying protection pattern, and to improve security, even when density unevenness is present on a copying prevented original document. | 07-30-2009 |
| 20090274501 | COUNTERFEIT DETERRENCE USING FULL WIDTH ARRAY SCANS - Systems and methods are described that facilitate counterfeit deterrence in a printer or the like. A final image is scanned from a photoreceptor belt before or after transfer of the image to a print medium or from the print medium itself prior to output, and the scanned image data is assessed using a set of stored criteria to detect counterfeit signatures in the scanned image. Upon a determination that the scanned image includes a restricted image, and therefore contains one or more counterfeit image, the printer is shut down, electronically locked until serviced, and/or caused to damage or mark the printed counterfeit image(s). | 11-05-2009 |
| 20100239342 | INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS AND INFORMATION PROCESSING METHOD - An information processing apparatus generates printing image data of a printing image and copy-forgery-inhibited-pattern-image data of a copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image to be added to the printing image. The copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image includes a latent image and a background image. The apparatus includes a selecting unit and a printing-data generating unit. The selecting unit selects either the transparent-printing designation or overlay-printing designation, the transparent-printing designation is used for generating printing data so that the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image is superimposed on the printing image, and the overlay-printing designation is used for generating printing data so that the printing image is superimposed on the copy-forgery-inhibited pattern image. The printing-data generating unit generates printing data based on the printing designation selected by the selecting unit. | 09-23-2010 |
| 20110085836 | Image forming apparatus forming copy prevention pattern and image processing method thereof - An image forming apparatus is provided which includes an input unit to receive an input image; an area determination unit to divide the input image into a plurality of areas, to compute a weight for at least one of a position, a density and a color of each of the plurality of divided areas and to determine an area on which a copy prevention pattern is to be superimposed among the plurality of divided areas; a generation unit to superimpose the copy prevention pattern on the determined area of the input image and to generate a copy prevention image; and an output unit to output the generated copy prevention image. Therefore, it is possible to select a position of a document into which the copy prevention pattern is to be inserted. | 04-14-2011 |
| 399367000 | Automatic document feeder | 57 |
| 20080205952 | SHEET FEEDING DEVICE AND IMAGE READING DEVICE - A sheet feeding device, including: a first tray on which sheets to be fed are stacked; a second tray which is disposed above the first tray to provide a two-tier structure and on which the sheets after having fed from the first tray are stacked; a sheet-feed path extending from the first tray to the second tray; a sheet-feed mechanism which is operable to separate one of the sheets stacked on the first tray, to feed the one of the sheets into the sheet-feed path, and to discharge the one of the sheets to the second tray such that the one of the sheets slides under another of the sheets that has been discharged immediately before the one of the sheets; and at least one sheet guide which is configured to warp the sheets discharged to the second tray, in a direction perpendicular to a sheet-feed direction in which the sheets are fed. | 08-28-2008 |
| 20080232876 | DUPLEX AUTOMATIC SHEET FEEDER - In a duplex automatic sheet feeder, a passageway group, connected to a supply tray and a discharge tray, includes a plurality of passageways and an image processing region. A sheet detector disposed in the passageway group is for detecting each sheet and thus outputting a sheet detecting signal. A transporting mechanism is for transporting the sheet from the supply tray to the discharge tray through the passageway group. Each sheet is transported across the image processing region at least twice and processed in the image processing region. A control module connected to the transporting mechanism and the sheet detector is for driving the transporting mechanism to transport each sheet, and for making the transporting mechanism switch from a forward-rotating state to a backward-rotating state according to the sheet detecting signal and a predetermined physical quantity so that each sheet is transported by a predetermined distance. | 09-25-2008 |
| 20080260442 | ORIGINAL DOCUMENT READING DEVICE - When an original document is placed on the lift tray, a timer is reset and starts counting a predetermined time (S | 10-23-2008 |
| 20080310898 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus having an automatic document feeding unit so as to successively read documents is disclosed. The image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit to form an image on a printing medium, an image reading unit pivotally coupled to an upper portion of the image forming unit to expose and shield a top of the image forming unit, an automatic document feeding unit pivotally coupled to an upper portion of the image reading unit to expose and shield a top of the image reading unit, and a locking device to selectively expose any one of the top of the image forming unit and the top of the image reading unit. Since the locking device prevents the top of the image forming unit and the top of the image reading unit from being simultaneously exposed, the automatic document feeding unit can be prevented from being damaged due to the simultaneous exposure of the top of the image forming unit and the top of the image reading unit. | 12-18-2008 |
| 20080317530 | FASTENING STRUCTURE FOR ROTATING MEMBER - In a fastening structure for a rotating member such as a paddle, projections are provided in a groove of the paddle, the center of a parallel pin and the center of a hole for the parallel pin of a shaft are shifted from each other to press the parallel pin to one side, and the parallel pin is loose-fit by the projections to eliminate backlash between the groove of the paddle and the parallel pin and eliminate a cause of noise. | 12-25-2008 |
| 20090003907 | IMAGE READING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - In an image reading apparatus which uses plural motors to open and close an original conveying apparatus, the original conveying apparatus can smoothly be opened and closed. | 01-01-2009 |
| 20090074489 | AUTO DOCUMENT FEEDER - An auto document feeder which loads and feeds a document to a read position provided on a read surface of a reader, the auto document feeder including a conveying device having an upstream roller placed upstream of the read position and a downstream roller placed downstream of the read position, the conveying device conveying the loaded document through the read position, a stabilizing roller provided upstream of the read position and opposing to the read surface, the stabilizing roller stabilizing movement of the document conveyed by the conveying device, and a guide member provided downstream of the read position and opposing to the read surface, the guide member guiding the document conveyed by the conveying device, wherein the following relationship is established the thickness of the document | 03-19-2009 |
| 20090136275 | Image reading apparatus and image forming system - An image reading apparatus includes an image reader, a document feeder, and a document retainer. A document feeder feeds the document to the image reader, and the image reader reads an image of a document. The document feeder discharges the document onto a stacker after the image of the document has been read. The document feeder is pivotal relative to the image reader. When the document feeder opens relative to the reader at an angle, the document retainer presses the document against the stacker. | 05-28-2009 |
| 20090185845 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes: a main body having; a recording sheet storing section capable of storing a recording sheet therein and being drawn from the main body, and an image forming section, which forms an image onto a recording sheet which is disposed above the recording sheet storing section, and an information storing device disposed on an upper portion of the main body, which stores at least image data. | 07-23-2009 |
| 20090220290 | Document Feeding Device - document feeding device comprises a document input tray, a document output tray, a feeding mechanism provided for a feeding path connecting the document input tray and the document output tray via a scanning position to feed each document from the document input tray to the scanning position and to the document output tray, a turnover mechanism provided for a turnover path connected to the feeding path to return the document after passing through the scanning position to the upstream side of the scanning position while interchanging the front end and rear end of the document, and an ejection mechanism configured so that its document ejection mode can be switched between a first ejection mode for successively ejecting each document while stacking it on documents already ejected to the document output tray and a second ejection mode for successively ejecting each document while sliding it under the already ejected documents. | 09-03-2009 |
| 20090245905 | Automatic Document Feeder and Image Reading Device - There is provided an automatic document feeder, comprising: a document tray; an output tray; a movable ejection flap configured to be movable between a first position where the document for which the image reading is finished is sunk into a position between the output tray and a bottom of a stacked document already staked on the output tray and a second position where the document is ejected on the output tray without being sunk into the position; a setting unit configured to set the movable flap to one of the first position and the second position; a change unit configured to change a position of the movable flap to the second position in response to a fact that a predetermined condition is satisfied in a state where the position of the movable flap has been set to the first position through the setting unit. | 10-01-2009 |
| 20090304425 | DOCUMENT READING APPARATUS - A document reading apparatus includes a first reading section for reading a first side of a document and a second reading section for reading a second side of the document, wherein a first reading position and a second reading position are disposed front and back in a conveyance direction at the document conveyance path, and wherein a pre-reading conveyance section and a post reading conveyance section which sandwich the first reading position and the second reading position in the conveyance direction are provided and the document is conveyed at the first reading position and at the second reading position by a conveyance section consisting of the pre-reading conveyance section and the post reading conveyance section, and wherein a conveyance force of the post reading conveyance section is equal to or less than a conveyance force of the pre-reading conveyance section. | 12-10-2009 |
| 20090311020 | AUTO DOCUMENT FEEDING DEVICE AND FEEDING METHOD - An auto document feeding device of an embodiment includes triple paper discharge rollers forming an upper paper discharge port for discharging a document at the time of one-sided reading and a lower paper discharge port for discharging a document reversed at the time of both-sided reading. A flap which covers the lower discharge port by its own weight and opens the lower discharge port by being pressed by the document discharged from the lower discharge port is provided on a shaft member of the triple paper discharge rollers. | 12-17-2009 |
| 20100040398 | SCANNING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS HAVING THE SAME - A scanning apparatus and an image forming apparatus having the same. The scanning apparatus includes: a main body having a scanning unit; a cover to open and close upon an upper surface of the main body; a hinge unit disposed on one of the main body and the cover so that the cover is rotatable with respect to the main body; a hinge accommodating unit disposed on the other of the main body and the cover to accommodate the hinge unit so that the cover is movable in an upward and downward direction with respect to the upper surface of the main body; and a movement restricting unit disposed on at least one of the hinge unit and the hinge accommodating unit to restrict a movement of the cover in the upward and downward direction. | 02-18-2010 |
| 20100061781 | AUTOMATIC DOCUMENT FEEDER AND SCANNER HAVING THE SAME - An automatic document feeder and a scanner having the same are provided. The automatic document feeder can include a transport unit configured to transport a document to a scanning unit, an apparatus main body configured to hold the transport unit, a cover configured to be rotatably disposed on the apparatus main body, and a sensing unit disposed on a document transportation path to sense whether the cover is open or closed, the position of the document, or both. The automatic document feeder and the scanner having the same are configured to allow a jammed document to be ejected without having the document be damaged. | 03-11-2010 |
| 20100247194 | SPACE EFFICIENT MULTI-SHEET BUFFER MODULE AND MODULAR PRINTING SYSTEM - Disclosed are a sheet buffer module and a printing system incorporating the buffer module. The buffer module has parallel first and second sheet transport paths that extend in opposite directions across a frame. Sheet buffer paths connect the first sheet transport path to the second sheet transport path. In operation, a stream of sheets is fed by the first sheet transport path from a multi-color printing module to a monochrome printing module. During this process, selected sheets are diverted from the stream into the sheet buffer paths and held. After processing by the monochrome printing module, the stream is fed by the second sheet transport path back to the multi-color printing module for further processing and/or final output. During this process, the sheet buffer paths feed the buffered sheets into the second sheet transport path such that they are inserted at the proper locations back into the stream. | 09-30-2010 |
| 20110052289 | SHEET CONVEYING APPARATUS, AUTOMATIC DOCUMENT FEEDING APPARATUS INCLUDING SAME, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A sheet carrying apparatus, being applicable in (i) an automatic document feeding apparatus and/or (ii) paper feeding and conveying mechanism of an image forming apparatus, has an opening in that part of a curved guiding surface of a lower conveyance guide of a sheet conveyance guiding section constituting a curved conveyance path, which receives a front end of a document fed to the curved conveyance path. The opening has such a size in a guide width direction orthogonal to a document conveying direction, which is passable for a small size sheet not larger than a predetermined size. With this, the small size sheet passed through the opening is sorted out. Applying of the sheet carrying apparatus in such apparatuses (i) and/or (ii) does not need any increase in cost or any increase in an apparatus size to bring about an effect that a document (business card, ID card) and/or recording sheet smaller than a normal document can be fed to a different conveyance path so as to be delivered to a different delivery tray. | 03-03-2011 |
| 20110129271 | AUTOMATIC DOCUMENT FEEDER AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS PROVIDED WITH THE SAME - The automatic document feeder includes a document tray, a document delivery tray, a document feed path, a feed roller, a housing member, and an ion generating unit. The housing member has at least an air intake portion and an air exhaust portion and is designed to accommodate a driving section therein. The ion generating unit is disposed laterally of the driving section within the housing member. | 06-02-2011 |
| 20110176846 | CONVEYING DEVICE, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, AND PROGRAM - An image forming apparatus includes a feed unit, a sensor, a control unit, a measuring unit, and a determining unit. The feed unit | 07-21-2011 |
| 20110182641 | DOCUMENT FEEDER AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A document feeder includes a document load tray, a duct, a ventilating section, and an ion generating device. The document load tray is a member for loading thereon a document to be read and has a hole extending therethrough to provide communication between a document load side of the document load tray and a reverse side of the document load tray which is opposite away from the document load side. The duct is placed on the reverse side of the document load tray continuously with the hole. The ventilating section is configured to feed air present outside an image forming apparatus into the duct through an opening of the duct. The ion generating device is disposed within the duct and configured to generate ions for cleaning up the air fed into the duct by the ventilating section. | 07-28-2011 |
| 20110243627 | Method Of Conveying Documents For Automatic Document Feeder - A method of conveying documents for an ADF includes steps of beginning a first conveying procedure of a next document after a preceding document passes through a scanning section during a first conveying procedure of the preceding document, performing a first inverting procedure and then beginning a second conveying procedure of the preceding document during the first conveying procedure of the next document, performing a first inverting procedure and then beginning a second conveying procedure of the next document during the second conveying procedure of the preceding document, performing a second inverting procedure and then beginning a third conveying procedure of the preceding document during the second conveying procedure of the next document, and performing a second inverting procedure and then beginning a third conveying procedure of the next document during the third conveying procedure of the preceding document. The next document begins the first conveying procedure during the preceding document performs the first conveying procedure to improve the efficiency and speed. | 10-06-2011 |
| 20120114405 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND SHEET FEED CONTROL METHOD - An intra discharge type image forming apparatus that uses an ADU to form an image onto both sides of a sheet and discharges the sheet on which an image has been formed to the vicinity of the center of the apparatus has: a sheet type information acquisition section | 05-10-2012 |
| 20120155941 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus including an automatic document feeder (ADF) that transports a document is provided. The ADF unit includes a subtray that is openable and closable. When transporting a document, the subtray is opened and a document to be transported is fed into a space below a guide member. At this time, surfaces of the subtray and a main tray are used as a feed tray. The document that has been transported is discharged onto a guide member and is further transported onto the surface of the second tray. At this time, the surface of the second tray and the surface of the guide member are used as a discharge tray. | 06-21-2012 |
| 20120269563 | TRANSPORTING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS USING THE SAME - In a transporting device that transports a sheet of paper which is transporting on a first direction, a control unit has a detection-unit-cleaning mode in which when roller members move to a second direction, which is perpendicular to the first direction, to perform a correction of the positional deflection of the sheet of paper, the control unit controls the roller members to move the sheet of paper to an outside position from an image forming position and a position of the side end of the sheet of paper when the sheet of paper passes through the detection unit, and then to move the sheet of paper to the image forming position, based on the image forming position and the position of a side end of the sheet of paper, which is detected by a detection unit. | 10-25-2012 |
| 20120308285 | AUTO-DOCUMENT FEEDER AND AUTO-DOCUMENT FEEDING METHOD - An auto-document feeder includes plural conveying sections which have different paths to reach an image scanning section configured to scan an image on a document from a paper feeding section and which guide the document to the image scanning section, a scanning conveying section configured to alternately nip the documents one by one fed by the plural conveying sections and feed the documents in a direction of a paper discharge section through the image scanning section, a gate section which directs the documents to one of the plural conveying sections, and a detecting section configured to detect if a document is fed by the paper feeding section. | 12-06-2012 |
| 20130058692 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND STORAGE DEVICE - An image forming apparatus including: a conveyance unit configured to convey a sheet; a printing unit configured to drive a developing device accommodating developer therein, supply the developer from the developing device to a photosensitive member having an electrostatic latent image formed thereon to thus form a developer image, and transfer the developer image onto the sheet, in accordance with the conveyance of the sheet by the conveyance unit; a first acquisition unit configured to acquire a remaining life span of the developing device based on a driving amount of the developing device; and an adjusting unit configured to adjust a distance between the sheets being conveyed by the conveyance unit based on the remaining life span of the developing device acquired by the first acquisition unit. | 03-07-2013 |
| 20130089365 | AUTOMATIC DOCUMENT FEEDER - Automatic document feeder includes a transport path member having a transport path surface configuring a transport path in a device body, a latching member that is mounted on a rotating shaft provided in the other end side, is urged in a first rotation direction latched to a latched portion, and holds the transport path member in closed transport path, and an operating member that is rotated up to an operating position by own weight thereof or urging force in a second rotation direction when the device body moves to an exposed position of the transport path member, and is mounted with allowance so that the latching member is rotated in the second rotation direction according to a further rotating operation in the second rotation direction from the operating position and the latching member is detached from the latched portion. | 04-11-2013 |
| 20130336696 | AUTOMATIC DOCUMENT FEEDER AND MEDIA RECORD EQUIPMENT USING THE SAME - An automatic document feeder and a media record equipment using the same are provided. The automatic document feeder includes a frame, a cover and a gear chain. An end of the cover pivoted to the frame has a cam. The gear chain disposed in the frame has multiple driven gears and a rotating unit. The driven gears engaged with each other rotate about a first axial direction. The rotating unit having a first rock arm contacting the cam and a second rock arm with one of the driven gears disposed thereon is capable of rotating about the first axial direction. The cam pushes the first rock arm to drive the rotating unit to rotate about the first axial direction, and then an engagement between the driven gear on the second rock arm is released by departing from another driven gear engaged therewith when the cover opens relative to the frame. | 12-19-2013 |
| 20140003851 | Image-Forming Apparatus | 01-02-2014 |
| 20140023415 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS FOR FORMING OUTPUT SHEET BUNDLES INSERTED WITH TABBED SHEETS, AND CONTROL METHOD AND STORAGE MEDIUM THEREFOR - An image forming apparatus capable of suppressing the productivity of image formation from being lowered due to discharge of surplus tabbed sheets in a double-sided printing job in which output sheet bundles are produced by inserting tabbed sheets into each bundle of double-sided printed recording sheets. In a case that output sheet bundles are each produced by setting tabbed sheet bundles each comprised of five tabbed sheets to the image forming apparatus, by inserting one tabbed sheet subsequently to double-sided image formation on five recording sheets, and by performing double-sided image formation on other five recording sheets, four surplus tabbed sheets are discharged subsequently to feeding of the tabbed sheet, instead of discharging the four surplus tabbed sheets after completion of image formation on a second surface of a tenth recording sheet. | 01-23-2014 |
| 20140044466 | MOTOR CONTROLLER, IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS INCLUDING THE MOTOR CONTROLLER, AND MOTOR CONTROL METHOD - A motor controller, operatively connected to a motor having an output shaft, includes a rotary detector to detect a rotation direction and a rotation amount of the output shaft of the motor to generate an actual rotary signal, a drive controller to generate a control signal based on the actual rotary signal and a target rotary signal indicating a target rotary direction and a target rotary amount, and a driver to supply a driving power to the motor based on the control signal. When the motor is in a hold state, the control signal is reversed periodically for a predetermined reverse time period T2 per a predetermined one reverse cycle T1. When the control signal is not reversed for a certain lock detection time period Tr that is longer than the revere cycle T1 of the control signal, supply of the driving power to the motor is blocked. | 02-13-2014 |
| 20140079456 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS FOR PERFORMING A DOCUMENT READING OPERATION AND A PRINTING OPERATION IN PARALLEL - When images of a plurality of document sheets are to be read and formed on a plurality of recording materials, an image forming apparatus performs control to convey a document sheet and a recording material at one of a recording material conveyance speed and a document conveyance speed, whichever is lower. | 03-20-2014 |
| 20140079457 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS WITH AUTOMATIC DOCUMENT FEEDER - An image forming apparatus performs control to parallelly achieve document image reading by a reading unit and image formation by an image forming unit for forming on a recording material a document image read by the reading unit. | 03-20-2014 |
| 20140241775 | SHEET TRAY, SHEET FEEDER WITH SHEET TRAY,IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS WITH SHEET TRAY, AND IMAGE READING DEVICE WITH SHEET TRAY - A sheet tray includes a tray section. A rear end portion of the tray section capable of supporting an upstream side of a sheet in a direction of conveyance of the sheet extends in a width direction of the sheet transversely of the direction of conveyance of the sheet. Both ends of the rear end portion of the tray section in the width direction of the sheet are raised upward perpendicularly to a placement surface relative to the middle of the rear end portion in the width direction of the sheet. | 08-28-2014 |
| 20150098742 | AUTOMATIC DOCUMENT FEEDER - An image forming apparatus includes a first conveying path guiding a sheet such that the sheet passes through the image forming portion, a second conveying path guiding the sheet on which the image is formed by the image forming portion to the first conveying path. A document is fed to the second conveying path and the image forming apparatus includes a first drive transmission portion transmitting a drive force to the image forming portion and a second drive transmission portion transmitting the drive force to a document feeding portion, a conveyance portion and a document discharge portion. | 04-09-2015 |
| 20160116880 | SHEET CONVEYANCE DEVICE, IMAGE READING DEVICE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A sheet conveyance section ( | 04-28-2016 |
| 20160139554 | SHEET FEEDER, IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS, METHOD OF FEEDING SHEET, AND NON-TRANSITORY RECORDING MEDIUM - A sheet feeder is provided. The sheet feeder includes a roller to feed a sheet, a motor to rotate the roller, and a motor controller to control rotation of the motor by a feedback control. The motor controller detects a condition of the sheet based on a value acquired in the feedback control at the time a load is applied from the sheet to the roller, while performing a stop control to stop the roller at a designated stop position. The stop control is performed after the motor is rotated in a direction opposite to a direction of feed of the sheet. | 05-19-2016 |
| 20160170355 | AUTOMATIC DOCUMENT FEEDER, IMAGE READING DEVICE, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, AND IMAGE FORMING SYSTEM | 06-16-2016 |
| 399371000 | Having position detection | 11 |
| 20080273907 | Positional-deviation correction apparatus, method of controlling positional deviation, and image forming apparatus - A first correction pattern and a second correction pattern are formed on an endless conveyor belt. The first correction pattern is located ahead of the second correction pattern on the conveyor belt with respect to the direction of movement of the conveyor belt. A sensor detects positional information of the correction patterns. A timing changing unit (controlling unit) changes a detection timing of the second correction pattern from a time point at which the sensor detects the second correction pattern. | 11-06-2008 |
| 20090087236 | PAPER ROUTE SWITCHING APPARATUS - A disk having one or more indentations is configured at one end of a driving shaft and has interaction with an extension arm configured at a corresponding end of a switch shaft for switching the medium conveying route in an image system. When the driving shaft drives the disk to rotate along different directions, the indentation on the disk provides the extension arm room for the disk to guide the extension arm to switch its position between a first position and a second position. A plurality of switch gates on the switch shaft also switch to different positions corresponding to the extension arm such that the conveying route of a medium can be switched between a first route and a second route. | 04-02-2009 |
| 20090238618 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes: an image forming apparatus main body; a cover provided openably/closably with respect to the image forming apparatus main body; a conveyance passage, formed in the image forming apparatus main body, on which a recording medium is conveyed; a detection device that detects movement of the recording medium conveyed on the conveyance passage; a first recording medium guide member provided oppositely to the moving member and fixed when the cover is closed; and a second recording medium guide member, provided on a downstream side of and following the first recording medium guide member in a recording medium conveyance direction, that movably guides the conveyed recording medium. | 09-24-2009 |
| 20090238619 | MEDIUM TRANSPORT APPARATUS, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND MEDIUM TRANSPORT METHOD - The medium transport apparatus is provided with: a transport unit that transports a recording medium continuing in a direction, in the direction where the recording medium continues; a detection unit that detects a mark formed on the recording medium transported by the transport unit, by using a detection effective range smaller than a dimension of the mark in a direction crossing a transport direction of the recording medium; a positional relationship identification unit that identifies a relative positional relationship between the detection unit and the mark in the direction crossing the transport direction, from a detection result obtained by the detection unit; and a move unit that moves the detection unit in the direction crossing the transport direction, on the basis of the relative positional relationship identified by the positional relationship identification unit. | 09-24-2009 |
| 20090238620 | DOCUMENT FEEDER AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A document feeder for transporting a document to a predetermined reading position at which image reading is performed by an image reading portion, including: a document transport portion for transporting the document to a reading standby position upstream of the reading position; and a control portion for controlling the document transport portion so that the document is made to stop at the reading standby position if the image reading portion is not in an image readable state by the time the document arrives at the reading standby position. | 09-24-2009 |
| 20100080639 | Document Feeder and Document Scanning Device Provided with the Same - A document feeder includes a feed tray, a catch tray, a carrying path extending from the feed tray to the catch tray via a scanning position, a reversal path diverging from a point on the carrying path downstream relative to the scanning position and connecting to a point on the carrying path upstream relative to the scanning position, a switchback mechanism conveying a sheet back to front from the reversal path toward the scanning point, an ejection mode switching mechanism having a flap provided upstream relative to the catch tray movably relative to an ejection roller, the ejection mode switching mechanism switching an ejection mode by moving the flap between a first mode to eject the sheets on already-ejected sheets and a second mode to insert the sheets under already-ejected sheets. The flap forms part of the reversal path in the first mode. | 04-01-2010 |
| 20110013960 | DOCUMENT FEEDER AND IMAGE-FORMING APPARATUS - A document feeder includes: a document tray on which documents to be scanned are placed; a discharge tray onto which a scanned document is discharged; and a conveyance unit that conveys a document from the document tray to the discharge tray such that the document is caused to pass through an image-scanning position, the conveyance unit having: a first conveyance roll that supplies a document to the image-scanning position; a second conveyance roll that conveys a document that has passed the image-scanning position further downstream; a third conveyance roll that discharges a scanned document to the discharge tray; a driving force transmission mechanism that causes the first conveyance roll, the second conveyance roll, and the third conveyance roll to rotate relative to each other; and a document feeding operation member provided at a rotational shaft of the third conveyance roll, that is manually operated to rotate the rotational shaft. | 01-20-2011 |
| 20130236227 | AUTOMATIC DOCUMENT FEEDING APPARATUS, IMAGE SCANNING APPARATUS, AND IMAGE FORMING SYSTEM - A CPU checks a detecting state of a document set sensor at a point when the trailing end of a document sheet is assumed to pass through a separating position at which the document sheet is separated by a separation roller, based on a document length determined based on a detecting output from an abutting sensor. If the document set sensor does not detect a document sheet, the CPU determines that the next document sheet is not present. If the document set sensor detects a document sheet, the CPU checks a detecting state of the document presence detecting sensor. If the document presence detecting sensor detects a document sheet, the CPU determines that the next document sheet is present. | 09-12-2013 |
| 20140140744 | AUTOMATIC DOCUMENT FEEDER, IMAGE SCANNING DEVICE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An automatic document feeder includes a document stack unit; a conveying unit configured to separate a document from the documents stacked on the document stack unit and convey the document to a scanning position through a conveying path; document detecting units configured to detect the document; an upstream document detecting unit configured to detect the document, the upstream document detecting unit being arranged in the conveying path at an uppermost stream in a document conveying direction with respect to the document detecting units; and a determining unit configured to determine a passage of a trailing end of the document at positions of the document detecting units and the upstream document detecting unit and determine a presence of a hole on the document, based on the detection results. A detection range of the upstream document detecting unit is set to be wider than detection ranges of the document detecting units. | 05-22-2014 |
| 20150023709 | RECORDING MEDIUM PLACEMENT DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A recording medium placement device includes a placement unit in which a recording medium is placed; a guide member provided along an edge of the recording medium and movable in a first direction orthogonal to the edge, the edge being at a first position; a distance detection unit that detects a distance between the guide member and the edge; a drive unit that moves the guide member in the first direction until the distance detection unit detects that the guide member contacts the recording medium; a gap length calculation unit that calculates a length of a gap between the recording medium and the guide member when a movement of the guide member is stopped using a detection output from the distance detection unit; and an adjustment unit that moves the guide member to the edge at the first position based on the length of the gap. | 01-22-2015 |
| 20150338812 | END POSITION DETECTION DEVICE, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, END POSITION DETECTION METHOD AND STORAGE MEDIUM - An end position detection device includes a light emission unit including plural light sources for plural colors, respectively, each of the light sources being configured to emit line-like light of one of the colors which is long in a width direction to a conveyance object, the width direction being orthogonal to a conveyance direction of the conveyance object; a light reception unit including plural light reception elements, each configured to receive reflected light from the conveyance object and output a signal corresponding to a received amount of light, arranged in an array in the width direction; and a detection unit configured to detect an end position in the width direction of the conveyance object based on the signals output from the light reception elements in a case where the light sources for the respective colors simultaneously emit light to the conveyance object. | 11-26-2015 |
| 399372000 | Registration | 3 |
| 20100014902 | AUTO DOCUMENT FEEDING DEVICE AND IMAGE SCANNING DEVICE - The lengths of an OUT path and an IN path are made longer than the length of a document of a main size in a traveling direction. The document of the main size stands by for conveyance in a direction of a READ document glass in a state where the entire document is contained in the OUT path or the IN path. The entrance speed of the document into the OUT path or the IN path is equal to the read speed of a scanner. The leading edge of a subsequent document is overlapped on the trailing edge of a preceding document, and the document is conveyed to the READ document glass. | 01-21-2010 |
| 20100080640 | Document Feeder and Document Scanning Device Provided with the Same - A document feeder configured to sequentially feed and eject document sheets so as to insert each document sheet under a stack of already-ejected document sheets. The document feeder includes a feed tray configured to be loaded with the document sheets to be fed, a catch tray configured to be loaded with the document sheets ejected thereon, a feeding mechanism configured to convey the document sheets from the feed tray to the catch tray, a counter configured to count a total number of the document sheets conveyed by the feeding mechanism, and a controller configured to take drive control of the feeding mechanism. The controller is configured to, when the total number counted by the counter exceeds a predetermined value, interrupt driving the feeding mechanism. | 04-01-2010 |
| 20110135362 | Image forming apparatus and method for de-skewing thereof - An image forming apparatus includes an input unit to receive an image of a print media fed through an automatic document feeder (ADF), a first storage unit to store the input image as predetermined data form, a computing unit to detect a lead edge of the print media and compute a skew level of the input image, a skew correcting unit to read the stored data through a direct memory access (DMA) processing, and carry out de-skewing with respect to the input image according to the computed skew level, an image processing unit to carry out image processing with respect to the de-skewed image, and an output unit to output the resultant image of the image processing. As a result, efficient processing of de-skewing is provided. | 06-09-2011 |
| 399373000 | Recirculating | 1 |
| 20140321897 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a document separation and feed portion separating and feeding a document, a document discharge roller pair discharging the document, and a sheet discharge roller pair discharging a sheet. The document separation and feed portion or the document discharge roller pair is disposed so as to overlap with the sheet discharge roller pair in a vertical direction. | 10-30-2014 |
| 399374000 | Copying both sides of original | 4 |
| 20080226369 | APPARATUS FOR SCANNING DUPLEX DOCUMENT AND METHOD OF SCANNING DUPLEX DOCUMENT USING THE SAME - A method and apparatus for efficiently scanning a duplex document in which a scan unit sequentially scans both sides of a sheet of a duplex document by moving the sheet across a reader, and a reverse output unit to output the sheet after turning over the sheet. Therefore, since the sheet of a document can be fed and scanned while the second side of the previous sheet of the document is scanned, scanning time can be reduced. Particularly, the reduction in scanning time is very useful when multiple sheets of a duplex document need to be scanned. | 09-18-2008 |
| 20090074490 | AUTOMATIC SCANNING APPARATUS - According to an embodiment of the invention, a reverse path for double-side scanning of an original and a paper discharge path for reversing the original after completion of double-side scanning are separately provided. On completion of its double-side scanning, a preceding original is turned into the paper discharge path, reversed in the paper discharge path and then discharged. Scanning of a face side of a subsequent original is stared immediately after completion of rear-side scanning of the preceding original. | 03-19-2009 |
| 20100054833 | DOCUMENT FEEDER AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS INCLUDING THE SAME - A document feeder includes a document feeding means which feeds document sheets stacked on a document tray one at a time, a registration means which feeds each document sheet to an image reading position, a re-feeding means which receives the document sheet after a first side thereof is read and re-feeds the document sheet to allow a second side to be read, a discharging means which discharges the document sheet, a first drive transmission mechanism which transmits a driving force to the document feeding means and the re-feeding means, and a second drive transmission mechanism which transmits the driving force to the registration means and the discharging means. The driving force is transmitted to the first and second drive transmission mechanisms from a single motor. A clutch is provided upstream of the document feeding means in a direction in which the driving force is transmitted in the first drive transmission mechanism. | 03-04-2010 |
| 20100098472 | COPIER, AUTOMATIC DOCUMENT FEEDER FOR USE THEREIN, IMAGE SCANNING DEVICE, AND METHOD OF COPYING - A copier includes an image scanning device having an ADF, and an image forming device having a duplex printing function that forms an image first on a back side surface of recording medium. The ADF includes an original tray, a separation unit, a first double-surface path, a second double-surface path, a discharge path, and a discharge tray. Originals with their front side surfaces facing upward can be placed on the original tray. The first double-surface path guides the original separated by the separation unit in such a manner that aback side surface of the original passes through a scanning position of a scanner unit. The second double-surface path reverses the original, which has passed through the first double-surface path and has had the back side surface scanned, and guides the original to the scanning position of the scanning unit so that the front side surface of the original can be scanned. | 04-22-2010 |
| 399376000 | Having detection of size | 2 |
| 20090257800 | POSITION DETECTION APPARATUS, PAPER THICKNESS DETECTION APPARATUS, BELT POSITION DETECTION APPARATUS, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A position detection apparatus includes: a moving member in contact with a detection object that moves following movement of the detection object; and a support member that rotatably supports the moving member; a detection unit that detects a positional change of the moving member, the moving member being acted on by a first force as a force to press the moving member against the detection object, a second force as a force to press the moving member substantially in a direction of a rotation shaft of the moving member, and a third force as a force to press the moving member in a direction substantially orthogonal to the direction of the rotation shaft of the moving member. | 10-15-2009 |
| 20110188912 | PRINT SYSTEM WITH LINEAR ENCODER FOR TRAY PRINT MEDIA SIZING - According to aspects of the embodiments there is provided a printing system such as a printer, a copier, and a facsimile machine having an automatic print media size determining apparatus. At least one side guide is coupled with a linear encoder and an external sensor to determine the size of media received on a support surface. According to one implementation, the support surface is provided by a paper tray. The paper tray includes a support surface configured to receive media, at least one side guide, and an encoder that moves with the side guide. The side guide is movably supported for continuously adjustable positioning relative to the tray to conform dimensionally with print media received in the tray. The print media size determining apparatus includes an external position-detecting sensor associated with the encoder and the side guide that is operative to generate a unique electrical pattern corresponding with a detected position of the side relative to the tray. The unique electrical pattern is indicative of the size of the media detected in the tray. | 08-04-2011 |
| 399377000 | Holder | 13 |
| 20080247792 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - In an image forming apparatus having driving conditions for plural image forming modes such as color and monochrome, when an original with a blank sheet (inter-sheet) inserted at an arbitrary position therein is to be printed, the image forming mode for the position where the blank sheet is inserted is properly determined and a transfer belt is caused to contact and separate from an image carrier related to image formation, thereby improving printing productivity. | 10-09-2008 |
| 20090022533 | CLOSING AUXILIARY DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS THEREWITH - A closing auxiliary device includes an automatic sheet feeder, a closing auxiliary handle, and a magnet and a metal portion. The automatic sheet feeder is provided in the apparatus main body while being openable and closable by a hinge unit. The closing auxiliary handle is rotatably provided in one side portion of the automatic sheet feeder. The magnet and the metal portion fix the closing auxiliary handle and the automatic sheet feeder. When the automatic sheet feeder is opened to form a predetermined angle between the automatic sheet feeder and the apparatus main body, the closing auxiliary handle is released from the automatic sheet feeder to which the closing auxiliary handle is fixed by the magnet and the metal portion. A projection portion and a rotation control portion are provided in the closing auxiliary handle. | 01-22-2009 |
| 20090103960 | DEVELOPING APPARATUS - A developing apparatus disclosed includes a spin chuck for spinnably holding a substrate, a developer nozzle having a plurality of exhaust ports arranged in a row for discharging a developer, the developer nozzle causing the developer discharged from the exhaust ports to impinge in separate streams on the substrate, a horizontal movement mechanism for moving the developer nozzle in one direction extending to the center of the substrate in plan view while maintaining a direction of arrangement of the exhaust ports in the one direction, thereby to move the developer nozzle between substantially the center and an edge of the substrate in plan view, and a controller for controlling the spin chuck and horizontal movement mechanism to cause the separate streams of the developer discharged from the exhaust ports to impinge spirally on the substrate, thereby to develop the substrate. | 04-23-2009 |
| 20110249997 | VARIABLE PRESSURE TRANSFER ASSIST BLADE - A printing apparatus and method include a charging device positioned adjacent a photoreceptor that places a latent image charge on the photoreceptor. A donor device is adjacent the photoreceptor, and transfers marking material to regions of the photoreceptor that have received the latent image charge. In addition, a media path that is adjacent the photoreceptor causes at least one sheet of media to be placed on the photoreceptor and the marking material. A transfer assist blade that is also adjacent the photoreceptor, presses the sheet of media against the photoreceptor to cause the marking material to be transferred to the sheet of media. The apparatus also includes a controller that is operatively connected to the transfer assist blade. The controller causes the transfer assist blade to apply more pressure to leading and trailing portions of the sheet of media relative to the middle portion of the sheet of media. | 10-13-2011 |
| 20140016978 | HINGE APPARATUS FOR COVER OF IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A hinge apparatus for a cover of an image forming apparatus has a hinge body with supporting brackets, movably inserted into a coupling hole positioned in a main body of the image forming apparatus, a hinge cam connected to the cover and pivotably connected to the supporting brackets, and a pressure device disposed at the hinge body to press the hinge cam. Accordingly, the hinge apparatus can be implemented with a simple and easy assembly operation, since it is not a complicated structural connection among the component parts of the hinge apparatus. | 01-16-2014 |
| 399379000 | Platen | 8 |
| 20100135707 | SCANNER PAGE ALIGNMENT TOOLS - This is a system to provide real time ways of aligning a paper original with a skewed image so that a right imaged reproduction is produced on subsequent copies. Alignment members used in the method of this invention are at least two members of: (A) flood lamps positioned above and below a platen, (B) alignment marks on the platen, and (C) a video camera. | 06-03-2010 |
| 20100322688 | IMAGE ALIGNMENT PROCEDURE - This is an alignment system where precise alignment of a reproducible image is obtained with respect to the paper. An imaged paper to be reproduced is placed on a light table having a right angle fitting or marking. The paper is placed on top of the light table and is aligned with this right angle marking. A transparent platen with marked scales is placed over the imaged paper and also aligned with the right angle fitting. The scales are placed over the corners of the image and image corner location readings are taken from the scales. These readings are then entered and fixed into a marking system such as an electrophotographic printer for reproduction of copies from the aligned and fixed original image. | 12-23-2010 |
| 399380000 | Having cover | 6 |
| 20090154974 | ORIGINAL COVER CLOSER WITH QUICKLY ADJUSTABLE ENERGY ABSORPTION CAPABILITY - An original cover closer of which the energy absorption capability can be freely adjusted by a damper is described. The adjustment of the energy absorption capability can be easily and quickly made by the user or serviceman without a need for disassembling. The original cover closer comprises: an attachment member to be mounted on the main body of a device; a support member pivotally connected to the attachment member and operable to support an original cover; a first and a second slider slidably installed in the support member; a compression coil spring interposed between the first and second sliders and operable to urge the original cover to open; and a fluid damper located in the compression coil spring. Particularly, the fluid damper comprises: a cylinder having a base end fixed to the first slider; a piston slidably installed in the cylinder; an abutment stem integrally provided on the piston and located in order that a tip portion of the abutment stem can come in contact with the second slider; a first fluid chamber formed on one side of the piston; a second fluid chamber formed on the other side of the piston; a viscous fluid with which the first fluid second fluid chambers are filled; a fluid conduit formed through the cylinder in order that the viscous fluid can move through the fluid conduit from the first fluid chamber to the second fluid chamber and vice versa; and a flow rate regulating needle valve formed in the fluid conduit and operable to adjust the speed of the viscous fluid passing through the fluid conduit when the piston slides in the cylinder. | 06-18-2009 |
| 20090274502 | Hinge apparatus for cover of image forming apparatus - A hinge apparatus for a cover of an image forming apparatus has a hinge body with supporting brackets, movably inserted into a coupling hole positioned in a main body of the image forming apparatus, a hinge cam connected to the cover and pivotably connected to the supporting brackets, and a pressure device disposed at the hinge body to press the hinge cam. Accordingly, the hinge apparatus can be implemented with a simple and easy assembly operation, since it is not a complicated structural connection among the component parts of the hinge apparatus. | 11-05-2009 |
| 20100061782 | DOCUMENT PRESSING APPARATUS, IMAGE READING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS WITH DOCUMENT PRESSING APPARATUS - A document pressing apparatus is provided with a document pressing cover including a first lateral part and a second lateral part facing the first lateral part and openable and closable with respect to a housing fitted with a contact glass, a supporting member for supporting the document pressing cover rotatably with respect to the housing at the side of the first lateral part, a plate member connected with the document pressing cover for pressing a document against the contact glass, a first resilient member arranged at the side of the first lateral part between the plate member and the document pressing cover for exerting a pressing force to the document, and a second resilient member provided at the side of the second lateral part between the plate member and the document pressing cover for exerting a pressing force smaller than that of the first resilient member to the document. | 03-11-2010 |
| 20110176847 | GENERIC PERMANENTLY ATTACHED LOOPED PULL ITEM FOR A DOCUMENT HANDLER - This invention provides a looped item or device attached to a document cover of a xerographic copier so that a wheelchair occupant can pull the document cover down over the platen glass. Better copies are obtained when the cover is down and the automatic document feeder is not accessible until the document cover is down over the platen glass. This invention provides a simple but effective way for a wheelchair occupant to easily use the automatic document feeder even when a previous user of the copier leaves the document cover up away from the platen glass. The loop provided in the looped item (lanyard or handle) is important to this invention. | 07-21-2011 |
| 20130121741 | DOCUMENT COVER, IMAGE READER HAVING DOCUMENT COVER, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A document cover covers a document platen of a housing. The document cover has a cover frame, a document pressing part, and a hinge. The hinge has a first member and a second member. The first member has a rotating shaft and a first fixed part that is mounted on one of the cover frame and the housing. The second member has a fitted part that is fitted rotatably to the rotating shaft, and a second fixed part, which is mounted on the other of the cover frame and the housing. The first member and the second member can change states thereof between a first state in which the first member and the second member can be attached to or detached from each other, and a second state in which the first member and the second member are prevented from being detached from each other. | 05-16-2013 |
| 20140023416 | Image Reading Apparatus - An image reading apparatus, including a main unit including a placement plane and an image reader, a document cover swingably supported by the main unit via a hinge to move between a closed position and an open position, and a conveyer unit to convey a document sheet, is provided. The hinge includes an in-main-unit joint section attached to an end of the main unit, an on-cover joint section attached to an end of the document cover, and an urging member arranged in between the in-main-unit joint section and the on-cover joint section. A coupling device to couple the end of the document cover and the end of the main unit together and to restrict the end of the document cover and the end of the main unit from being separated from each other is disposed in an intermediate position between the document cover and the conveyer unit. | 01-23-2014 |
