Device and method for detecting state of discharged liquid droplet and image forming device incorporating such device

Abstract

A device for detecting a state of a liquid droplet discharged from each of nozzles placed in one or more rows, includes a light emitting element to emit a light beam to the liquid droplet from a nozzle in question, and a pair of light receiving elements disposed on both sides of a beam diameter of the light beam via an optical axis to receive scattered light occurring from the liquid droplet for detecting a state of the discharged liquid droplet on the basis of the scattered light. Either of the pair of the light receiving elements is selected for receiving the scattered light from the liquid droplet discharged from the nozzle according to a positional relation between the nozzle and the pair of light receiving elements.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.