Single polygon scanner for multiple laser printer

A color laser printer, comprising:

• a photoconductor section comprising photoconductive material configured to be exposed to receive a plurality of color toners in a selective manner representative of a color image to be printed;
• and
• a scanning section comprising:
• a plurality of lasers, each said laser configured to generate pulsed beams of laser energy to be directed to the photoconductor section to selectively expose the photoconductive material;
• and
• a rotatable, polygonal-sided mirror having a plurality of reflective facets corresponding to selected sides of the polygon, the polygonal-sided mirror being positioned relative to the plurality of lasers and the photoconductor section such that the pulsed beams of laser energy from each said laser are reflected by the reflective facets of the polygonal-sided mirror to a predetermined relative lineal position on the photoconductive material, each predetermined relative lineal position being associated with a selected laser, and further such that as the polygonal-sided mirror rotates, the reflective facets are moved along a curved path to cause the beams of laser energy from each said laser to be variably reflected from the reflective facets and thereby move along their corresponding predetermined relative lineal positions on the photoconductive material to thereby selectively expose lines on the photoconductive material;
• and
• wherein a first laser is positioned with respect to the rotatable polygon-sided mirror and the photoconductor section such that a beam of laser energy from the first laser is in optical contact with one of the reflective facets throughout a predetermined angle of rotation of the rotatable polygon-sided mirror, and that during the first half of the rotation through the predetermined angle of rotation, the beam of laser energy is reflected by the reflective facet to a first predetermined relative lineal position on the photoconductive material, and during the second half of the rotation through the predetermined angle of rotation, the beam of laser energy is reflected to a second predetermined relative lineal position on the photoconductive material.

A method for scanning a composite color image onto photoconductive material, comprising:

• providing photoconductive material configured to be selectively configured with electrical charges to attract a plurality of color toners;
• providing at least a first, a second, and a third laser, each laser configured to generate a pulsed laser beam to selectively configure the photoconductive material with electrical charges;
• providing a single rotatable, polygonal-sided mirror having a plurality of reflective facets corresponding to selected sides of the polygon;
• generating a first pulsed laser beam with the first laser, a second pulsed laser beam with the second laser, and a third pulsed laser beam with the third laser;
• directing the first pulsed laser beam to a first reflective facet of the polygonal-sided mirror to cause the first pulsed laser beam to be reflected to a first predetermined relative lineal position on the photoconductive material;
• directing the second pulsed laser beam to a second reflective facet of the polygonal-sided mirror to cause the second pulsed laser beam to be reflected to a second predetermined relative lineal position on the photoconductive material;
• directing the third pulsed laser beam to a third reflective facet of the polygonal-sided mirror to cause the third pulsed laser beam to be reflected to a third predetermined relative lineal position on the photoconductive material;
• and
• rotating the polygonal-sided mirror to cause the first, the second, and the third pulsed laser beams to move across the photoconductive material along their respective first, second and third predetermined relative lineal positions on the photoconductive material and thereby selectively configure the photoconductive material along the respective relative lineal positions with electrical charges to thereby expose the photoconductive material to attract respective first, second and third color toners as part of the composite color image.

A color laser printer, comprising:

• a photoconductor section comprising photoconductive material configured to be exposed to receive a plurality of color toners in a selective manner representative of a color image to be printed;
• and
• a scanning section comprising:
• a plurality of lasers, each said laser configured to generate pulsed beams of laser energy to be directed to the photoconductor section to selectively expose the photoconductive material;
• a rotatable, essentially flat reflective surface mounted at an angle to, and configured to intercept, the pulsed beams of laser energy from the plurality of lasers, the rotatable mirror being rotatable about an axis parallel to the pulsed beams of laser energy such that beams of laser energy from the lasers are in optical contact with the reflective surface as the flat surface is rotated, and that during the first half of a rotation the beams of laser energy from the lasers are reflected by the reflective surface to an equal number of first predetermined relative lineal positions on the photoconductive material to thereby expose the photoconductor to receive at least first and second color toners as part of a composite color image, and during the second half of the rotation, the beams of laser energy are reflected an equal number of second predetermined relative lineal position on the photoconductive material to thereby expose the photoconductor to receive at least third and fourth color toners as part of the composite color image.