15492 results about "Image formation" patented technology

Provided are a system and method for visually representing project metrics on 3-dimensional product models. The system comprises: a user interface unit for receiving an input of color information, including variations in the colors and color tones of objects to be visualized in response to the course of a project, and output conditions, including a time interval at which an output is required, from a user; a database unit for storing the objects and temporal and/or spatial relationships between the objects; and an image formation unit for determining colors and color tones of the objects according to the project course based on the output conditions input by the user, and forming and outputting 3-dimensional images of the objects by the determined colors and color tones.

Method of deflecting light includes the steps of providing a substrate and forming a supporting member on the substrate. Next forming step forms electrodes at predetermined positions on the substrate. Next forming step forms a plate-like-shaped thin film member including light reflecting means. Placing step places the plate-like-shaped thin film member on the supporting member so that an opposite surface thereof faces the electrodes. Forming step forms space regulating members on edges of the substrate for regulating a space formed above the substrate in which the plate-like-shaped thin film member is freely movable. Applying step applies predetermined voltages to the electrodes to change a tilt direction of the plate-like-shaped thin film member in accordance with the voltages applied to deflect the input light in an arbitrary direction. Disclosure also describes light deflecting apparatuses, light deflecting array apparatuses, image forming apparatuses, image projection display apparatuses, and optical data transmission apparatuses.

A methodology for forming a composite color image fusion from a set of N gray level images takes advantage of the natural decomposition of color spaces into 2-D chromaticity planes and 1-D intensity. This is applied to the color fusion of thermal infrared and reflective domain (e.g., visible) images whereby chromaticity representation of this fusion is invariant to changes in reflective illumination.

Provided are an image display medium which satisfies, a safety and a high-speed response and which is capable of repetitive rewriting, an image-forming method in which an image can be formed on the image display medium, and an image-forming apparatus. An image display medium is formed by interposing black particles and white particles between a display substrate and a non-display substrate made of a dielectric. A printing electrode first applies an AC voltage to frictionally charge the black and white particles, and then applies a DC voltage adapted to an image between the substrates. The black particles adhered to a portion (non-image portion) to which the voltage of the display substrate is applied are moved to the non-display substrate.

Provided are a conductive endless belt, a method of producing the same, and an image forming apparatus employing the same, the conductive endless belt having both desirable intended belt properties and surface properties, and being producible without known problems in terms of cost and quality.

A conductive endless belt 100 is used as a transfer/transport conductive endless belt for a tandem system in which the conductive endless belt is circularly driven by a drive member so as to transport a recording medium held by the belt through electrostatic attraction to four differing image forming bodies, in which the toner images are sequentially transferred onto the recording medium. The conductive endless belt 100 is composed of a belt base 101 having thereon a resin layer 102, the resin layer 102 containing an ultraviolet or electron beam curable resin. The resin layer 102 preferably contains a conductive agent, specifically carbon black.

An image forming apparatus includes an image forming device for forming a toner image on a recording medium and a fixing device for fixing the toner image formed on the recording medium by applying heat and pressure to the recording medium. In the fixing device, an endless belt, having flexibility, moves to apply heat to the recording medium. A metal thermal conductor, having a pipe shape and provided inside a loop formed by the endless belt, guides the moving endless belt. A heat source heats the metal thermal conductor. A pressing member presses the metal thermal conductor via the endless belt to form a nip between the endless belt and the pressing member. At the nip, the endless belt and the pressing member nip the recording medium bearing the toner image to apply heat and pressure to the recording medium.

The invention features a system and method to automatically focus an image reader using a single frame of image data. The method comprises exposing sequentially a plurality of rows of pixels in the image sensor. The method further comprising varying in incremental steps the focus of the image reader's optical system from a first setting where a distinct image of objects located at a first distance from the image reader is formed on the image sensor to a second setting where a distinct image of objects located at a second distance from the image reader is formed on the image sensor. As part of the method, the varying of the focus of the optical system occurs during the exposure of the plurality of rows of pixels.

An image forming apparatus and method of displaying a multilingual keyboard uses an identifier of a language-specific entity, such as a country-code top-level domain of a domain name in an e-mail address to automatically output an input device configuration, such as a keyboard configuration, in accordance with stored keyboard table information corresponding to country identification information of a target recipient using the e-mail address of the target recipient, thereby increasing the convenience of use. The image forming apparatus receives an input email address of a target recipient, detects country identification information in the email address, searches stored keyboard information for that corresponding to the detected country identification information, and displays the keyboard in the language corresponding to the country identification information found in the searching of the stored country identification information.

Disclosed herein is a solid-state image pickup device including: a plurality of unit pixels each having: a charge generating section for generating a charge, a charge storage section for storing the charge generated by the charge generating section, a transfer gate section disposed between the charge generating section and the charge storage section for transferring the charge generated by the charge generating section to the charge storage section, and a pixel signal generating section for generating a pixel signal corresponding to the charge stored in the charge storage section; an unnecessary charge discharging gate section in each the unit pixel, switchable to block a flow of an unnecessary charge that is generated in the charge generating section and does not contribute to image formation, according to height of an electric barrier; and an unnecessary charge drain section disposed on an opposite side of the unnecessary charge discharging gate section from the charge generating section for receiving the unnecessary charge swept out of the charge generating section through the unnecessary charge discharging gate section.

A toner container detachably attached to a toner-container holder of a main body of an image forming apparatus includes a container body that includes an opening, and discharges toner contained in the container body, from the opening; and a held portion that is held by the toner-container holder in a non-rotating manner. The held portion includes an open/close member for opening/closing the toner outlet in synchronization with an attachment/detachment operation of the held portion to/from the toner-container holder.

The invention has an object of providing an organic electroluminescence element with a large emitted light quantity, an exposure unit and an image-forming apparatus both using the element. The organic electroluminescence element in accordance with the invention has, on a substrate, an anode acting as a hole injection electrode, a cathode acting as an electron injection electrode, a plurality of light emission layers each having a light emission region and a charge generation layer injecting electrons into the light emission layer lying close to the anode and injecting holes into the light emission layer lying close to the cathode, these layers being arranged between the anode and the cathode, and is configured so that the work function of the charge generation layer is set higher than the ionization potential of the light emission layer lying close to the anode.

An industrial reader is provided with an image formation system that is particularly adapted to read bar codes and two-dimensional symbols marked directly on objects. The image formation system includes illumination sources and illumination transmissive components that produce a combination of bright field and dark field illumination.

A stereoscopic image capturing apparatus includes a first image acquisition unit including a first image formation lens unit forming an image of an object, and a first image sensor having a plurality of capturing pixels to receive the image formed by the first formation lens unit, and a second image acquisition unit including a second image formation lens unit forming a image of the object, a first lens array unit having a plurality of lenses to receive the image formed by the second image formation lens, and a second image sensor having a plurality of capturing pixels to receive the formed image through the first lens array unit. The second image acquisition unit is disposed at a distance in a horizontal direction from the first image acquisition unit when viewed from the object.

An image input apparatus has a photoelectric converter element having a flat photosensitive surface and an image formation unit array having a plurality of image formation units arranged in an array. This image formation units individually receive light beams substantially from an identical area and focus the received light beams on different regions of the photosensitive surface of the photoelectric converter element to form images thereon.

In a fixing device, a stationary member is provided inside a belt member and pressed against a rotary pressing member via the belt member to form a nip between the rotary pressing member and the belt member through which a recording medium bearing a toner image passes. An expandable heating member is provided inside the belt member to face an inner circumferential surface of the belt member to heat the belt member. A regulator contacts a downstream portion of the heating member provided downstream from a center of the nip in a direction of rotation of the belt member to expand the downstream portion of the heating member.

In a pixel circuit that accumulates a display signal Vsig in a capacitor and supplies a display current to a light-emitting element using a TFT serving as a drive transistor in order to correct fall of a luminance due to aged deterioration of the light-emitting element, the pixel circuit supplies the display current to a gate of a TFT and sets a source of the TFT to a value obtained by deducting a threshold value of the TFT from an anode potential of the light-emitting element with respect to the display current using a variable bias voltage to thereby extract an amount of an increase of a voltage due to the aged deterioration of the light-emitting element as a source-to-drain current of the TFT. The pixel circuit feeds the source-to-drain current from the capacitor as a correction signal and adjusts a gate potential of the TFT serving as the drive transistor to thereby correct the display current and correct a luminance of the light-emitting element.

A consumable item supplying system includes a plurality of image forming apparatuses each using a plurality of consumable items, for example, copysheets, toner, and so on. The consumable item supplying system includes a consumable item manual requesting operation for manually requesting a consumable item from each of the image forming apparatuses. A central controller orders a consumable item from a consumable item supplier or the like when the consumable item is requested from one of the image forming apparatuses, and a data communication device can receive data representing a consumable item request by polling each of the image forming apparatuses and sending the polling results from the image forming apparatus to the central controller.

A fixing device includes a tubular, stationary metal pipe, a heater, a flexible fuser belt, a rotatable pressure member, a fuser pad, and a tubular pipe cover. The heater is disposed adjacent to the metal pipe to heat a circumference thereof. The metal pipe has multiple through-holes provided at least at a circumferential perforated section thereof. The flexible fuser belt is looped for rotation around the metal pipe to transfer heat radially outward from the heated circumference of the metal pipe. The rotatable pressure member extends opposite the metal pipe with the fuser belt interposed between the metal pipe and the pressure member. The fuser pad, accommodated within the metal pipe, held stationary inside the loop of the fuser belt, presses against the pressure member through the fuser belt to form a fixing nip. The tubular pipe cover is fitted around the metal pipe.

A sheet finisher of the present invention is included in an image forming system and folds a stack of sheets sequentially transferred from an image forming apparatus thereto. The sheet finisher includes a fold roller pair for holding the stack of sheets being conveyed via a nip thereof. A reinforce roller reinforces the fold of the folded sheet stack in cooperation with a guide plate. A drive mechanism causes the reinforce roller to move in a direction perpendicular to a direction of sheet conveyance. A shock absorbing member is located at a position where the reinforce roller and guide plate contact each other.

An image display apparatus enabling a wearer to observe an image free from a sense of incongruity is disclosed. This image display apparatus has an image forming unit for forming a first image and a second image mutually having a parallax, a first optical unit for guiding the first image to a first eye, a second optical unit for guiding the second image to a second eye, an interval changing portion for changing an interval between the first optical unit and the second optical unit and a signal output portion for outputting a signal corresponding to the interval to an image generating portion which generates the first and second images.

A fixing apparatus includes a flexible endless fixing member that moves in a predetermined direction for heating and melting a toner image, a heating member that is fixed to the fixing member in a position facing at least a part of an inner peripheral surface of the fixing member for heating the fixing member, and a pressing member that provides a nipping part by pressing into contact with the fixing member for conveying a recording medium. The heating member includes a metal plate subjected to a bending process.

A fixer includes a fixing member provided with a rotary heat generator, a pressure member to form a nip with the fixing member to sandwich the sheet, an excitation coil disposed facing a heat generation layer of the rotary heat generator to generate magnetic flux that inductively heats the heat generation layer, a loop-shaped demagnetization coil unit disposed facing the heat generation layer to generate magnetic flux that partly counteracts the magnetic flux generated by the excitation coil, a first magnetic core disposed in a first area that is enclosed by both the excitation coil and the demagnetization coil unit, and a second magnetic core disposed in a second area that is outside a loop of the demagnetization coil unit and enclosed by the excitation coil. The first magnetic core and the second magnetic core are magnetically continuous in a rotary axial direction of the rotary heat generator.

In a fixing device, a nip formation member is provided inside a loop formed by a fixing member rotating in a predetermined direction of rotation. A pressing member is pressed against the nip formation member via the fixing member to form a nip between the fixing member and the pressing member through which a recording medium bearing a toner image passes. The fixing member and the pressing member rotate and convey the recording medium bearing the toner image through the nip. The heat conduction member faces an inner circumferential surface of the fixing member to guide the fixing member sliding over the heat conduction member and to transmit heat to the fixing member. The heat conduction member includes a plurality of convex portions provided on an outer circumferential surface of the heat conduction member and contacting the inner circumferential surface of the fixing member.

In order to implement and manage an optimal system in the printing business and POD market, in an image forming system which comprises a plurality of devices including at least one of an image forming device which can print data in a storage unit that can store data of a plurality of jobs including data of a first job and data of a second job which is input after the data of the first job, and a sheet processing device which can execute a sheet process for a sheet printed by the image forming device, a schedule associated with a plurality of work flows including a first work flow that includes a plurality of process steps using a plurality of devices of the image forming system required to complete the first job, and a second work flow that includes a plurality of process steps using a plurality of devices of the image forming system required to complete the second job can be set.

An image pickup apparatus includes an image-pickup lens having an aperture diaphragm, an image-pickup element that has a color filter which is periodically allocated colors in units of a predetermined unit array and that generates picked-up image data including pixel data of colors using received light, the color filter being adjacent to a light receiving surface, a microlens array unit that is arranged on an image forming surface of the image-pickup lens and whose microlenses are each allocated a plurality of pixels of the image-pickup element, and an image processing unit that performs image processing on the picked-up image data generated by the image-pickup element. The image processing unit includes a parallax component image generation unit that generates a plurality of parallax component images and an interpolation processing unit that performs color interpolation processing for each of the parallax component images.

A fixing device includes a metal thermal conductor provided inside a loop formed by a fixing rotary body to heat the fixing rotary body; a heater provided inside the metal thermal conductor to heat the metal thermal conductor; a pad support provided inside the metal thermal conductor; and a reflector provided between the heater and the pad support to reflect heat emitted by the heater thereto toward an inner circumferential surface of the metal thermal conductor. The reflector includes a center reflection portion provided at a center of the reflector in a longitudinal direction thereof and a plurality of end reflection portions provided at respective lateral ends of the reflector. A plurality of reflector moving assemblies is connected to the plurality of end reflection portions of the reflector, respectively, to tilt the plurality of end reflection portions toward the center reflection portion.

The image forming method includes the steps of: ejecting and depositing an ink containing a coloring material and a radiation polymerizable compound on an intermediate transfer body, the radiation polymerizable compound having a molecular structure including a radical polymerizable group and a cationically polymerizable group; then irradiating the ink on the intermediate transfer body with a first radiation so that one of the radical polymerizable group and the cationically polymerizable group is selectively polymerized and cured; then heating the selectively polymerized and cured ink to a temperature not lower than a softening point of the selectively polymerized and cured ink and not higher than a temperature above the softening point by 10° C., while transferring the selectively polymerized and cured ink from the intermediate transfer body to a recording medium; and then irradiating the ink on the recording medium with a second radiation so that the other of the radical polymerizable group and the cationically polymerizable group is polymerized and cured.

An image forming apparatus including at least two image forming units arranged side by side in an arrangement direction and each of the image forming units contains a photoconductor configured to bear a latent electrostatic image thereon and at least one process device configured to form a toner image on the photoconductor, and a unit case having a notch thereon to grasp the unit case.

An image forming apparatus whereby it is possible to prevent unevenness in developing density caused by misalignment between the central axes of a driven side rotational coupling section for rotating a developer carrier and a drive side rotational coupling section for transmitting rotational drive force to the driven side rotational coupling section. The driven side rotational coupling section is fixed and the position thereof can be corrected slightly, by engaging the driven side rotational coupling section with a drive side rotational coupling section. A transmission gear is provided which meshes with the driven side rotational coupling section and transmits rotational drive force used to move the surface of the developer carrier. By means of an axle provided on at least one end of the transmission gear engaging with a positioning member on the main body of the image forming apparatus, the developer carrier is positioned in the main body of the image forming apparatus.

An optical scanner includes a light source; a deflecting unit that deflects and scans a light beam emitted from the light source; a scanning optical system that focuses the light beam deflected and scanned onto different surfaces to be scanned; and a light quantity correcting unit that corrects a light quantity of the light beam. The light quantity correcting unit changes light quantity correction data used for correcting the light quantity of the light beam for each of the surfaces. The light quantity correction data is dependent on positions in a main scanning direction.