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US4737860A Expired / Lapsed US ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Image recording apparatus

Assignee: Canon Inc
•
Filing: 1985-12-10
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Granted: 1988-04-12
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Expires: 2005-12-10
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Abstract

Abstract There is an image recording apparatus using a thermal head for use in a facsimile apparatus or the like. This recording apparatus comprises: an input device to input a plurality of kinds of image data; a discriminating device to determine the kind of image which is inputted to the input device; a thermal head as a recording device to reproduce the image inputted to the input device; and a control unit to variably control the energy which is supplied to the thermal head in order to make constant the recording density of the thermal head in accordance with the kind of input image data. When the input image is a half tone image, the control unit increases the supply energy to the thermal head as compared with the case of a simple binary image. When the resolution of the input image is high, the control unit reduces the supply energy to the thermal head than that when the resolution is low. The supply energy is reduced in the case of a copy image than that in the case of a received image. With this apparatus, characters, image, or the like can be always recorded at a constant recording density irrespective of the kind of image or the operating mode of the apparatus.

Inventors

  • 👤 Takeshi Ono
  • 👤 Shigeki Ohno

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction US
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-10-27 22:01
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06K; G06K15/00; G06K15/02; G06K15/028; H; H04; H04N; H04N1/00; H04N1/40; H04N1/40025; H04N1/40031

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 19
Claim 1
Independent Claim 81 words
An image recording apparatus comprising: input means for inputting image data; discriminating means for determining for every page of the image data, a kind of recording mode of said recording apparatus; image recording means for reproducing the image data inputted to said input means; and control means for variably controlling an energy which is supplied to said image recording means in order to make constant a recording density of said image recording means in accordance with the kind of recording mode.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 81 words
An image recording apparatus comprising: input means for inputting image data; discriminating means for determining for every page of the image data, a kind of recording mode of said recording apparatus; image recording means for reproducing the image data inputted to said input means; and control means for variably controlling an energy which is supplied to said image recording means in order to make constant a recording density of said image recording means in accordance with the kind of recording mode.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 17 words
An image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said image recording means is a thermal head.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 28 words
An image recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said control means variably controls a supply time of an electric power which is supplied to said thermal head.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 23 words
An image recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said thermal head performs the recording in contact relation with a thermal recording paper.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 31 words
An image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said discriminating means discriminates whether the recording mode is a half tone image reproduction mode or a simple binary image reproduction mode.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 42 words
An image recording apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said control means increases the energy which is supplied to said image recording means as compared with the simple binary image when the input recording mode is the half tone image reproduction mode.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 26 words
An image recording apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said half tone image mode carries out a half tone image by means of a dither method.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 19 words
An image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said discriminating means determines a resolution of the recording image.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim 30 words
An image recording apparatus according to claim 8, wherein when said resolution is high, said control means reduces said supply energy as compared with that when the resolution is low.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim 53 words
An image recording apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said discriminating means discriminates whether the recording mode is for recording a copy image or a received image, and in the case of the copy image, said control means reduces said supply energy as compared with that in the case of the received image.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim 75 words
An image recording apparatus, comprising: recording means having a plurality of thermal heads for recording an image signal; discriminating means for discriminating a kind of recording mode of said recording apparatus; detecting means for detecting a temperature of said thermal head; and control means for controlling a quantity of energy to be supplied into said thermal head in response to a discriminating result of said discriminating means and a detection output from said detecting means.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim 75 words
An image recording apparatus, comprising: recording means having a plurality of thermal heads for recording an image signal; discriminating means for discriminating a kind of recording mode of said recording apparatus; detecting means for detecting a temperature of said thermal head; and control means for controlling a quantity of energy to be supplied into said thermal head in response to a discriminating result of said discriminating means and a detection output from said detecting means.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim 28 words
An image recording apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said control means variably controls a supply time of an electric power which is supplied to said thermal head.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim 23 words
An image recording apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said thermal head performs the recording in contact relation with a thermal recording paper.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim 37 words
An image recording apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said control means controls the energy on the basis of whether the recording mode is a half tone image reproduction mode or a simple binary image reproduction mode.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim 27 words
An image recording apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said half tone image reproduction mode carries out a half tone image by means of a dither method.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim 24 words
An image recording apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said control means controls the energy in accordance with a resolution of the recording image.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim 34 words
An image recording apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said control means controls the energy due to whether the recording mode carries out a copy image reproduction mode or a received image reproduction mode.

References Cited (Backward Citations)

US4368491A Cited
US4415907A Cited
US4564847A Cited
US4494126A Cited
US4532523A Cited
US4590487A Cited

USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows

Annuity Stage Window Opens Payment Deadline Surcharge Period Until Estimated Fee Status
3.5 Years (Year 4) 1991-04-12 1991-10-12 1992-04-12 $2000.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8) 1995-04-12 1995-10-12 1996-04-12 $3760.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12) 1999-04-12 1999-10-12 2000-04-12 $7700.00 Window Closed / Lapsed

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