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US 6,611,279 B2Granted
Light beam scanning apparatus
AssigneesKabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Toshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsKenichi Komiya, Koji Tanimoto, Daisuke Ishikawa
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The sensor for converting a light beam into an electric signal is formed by a pair of symmetrical saw-toothed patterns with a narrowed width for marginally located teeth. The patterns are arranged interdigitally on the surface to be scanned or at a position equivalent to the surface. The difference of the output signals from the patterns is integrated to determine the scanning position of the light beam.
Claims26
A light beam scanning apparatus for scanning a surface to be scanned by means of a light beam, said apparatus comprising:
- a light emitting unit which outputs a light beam;
- a scanning member which causes the light beam output from the light emitting unit to scan the surface to be scanned in a main scanning direction;
- a light beam detecting section which has a pair of symmetrical saw-toothed patterns with a narrowed width for marginally located teeth and are formed by arranging optical elements for converting the light beam into respective electric signals, the patterns being arranged interdigitally on the surface to be scanned or at a position equivalent to the surface;
- a processing circuit which outputs the an integral value obtained by integrating the difference of the electric signals output from the respective patterns of the light beam detecting section;
- and
- a CPU which determines a passing position of the light beam output from the light emitting unit passing on the surface to be scanned on the basis of the value output from said processing circuit.
3 more elements
A light beam scanning apparatus for scanning a surface to be scanned by means of a light beam, said apparatus comprising:
- a light emitting unit which outputs a plurality of light beams;
- a scanning member which causes the light beams output from the light emitting unit to scan the surface to be scanned in a main scanning direction;
- a light beam detecting section which has a pair of symmetrical saw-toothed patterns with a narrowed width for marginally located teeth and are formed by arranging optical elements for converting the light beam into respective electric signals, the patterns being arranged interdigitally on the surface to be scanned or at a position equivalent to the surface;
- a processing circuit which outputs an integral value obtained by integrating the difference of the electric signals output from the respective patterns of the light beam detecting section;
- a CPU which determines a pitch of arrangement of said plurality of light beams in a direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction on the basis of the value output from the processing circuit;
- and
- a light path modifying member which modifies passing positions of the respective light beams so as to rearrange them at a predetermined pitch under the control of the CPU.
4 more elements
An image forming apparatus for forming an image on an image forming medium, said apparatus comprising:
- a light emitting unit which outputs a light beam;
- an image carrier on which a latent image is formed by the light beam from the light emitting unit;
- a scanning member which causes the light beam output from the light emitting unit to scan the surface to be scanned of the image carrier in a main scanning direction;
- a light beam detecting section which has a pair of symmetrical saw-toothed patterns with a narrowed width for marginally located teeth and are formed by arranging optical elements for converting the light beam into respective electric signals, the patterns being arranged interdigitally on the surface to be scanned or at a position equivalent to the surface;
- a processing circuit which outputs an integral value obtained by integrating the difference of the electric signals output from the respective patterns of the light beam detecting section;
- and
- a CPU which determines a passing position of the light beam output from the light emitting unit passing on the surface to be scanned on the basis of the integral value output from said processing circuit;
- a light path modifying member which regulates the passing position of the light beam under the control of the CPU;
- and
- an image forming section which forms a latent image by causing the light beam from said light emitting unit to scan the surface to be scanned of said image carrier by means of said scanning member, turning the latent image into a visible image and transferring it on an image forming medium after the passing position of said light beam is controlled to the predetermined position.
7 more elements
An image forming apparatus for forming an image on an image forming medium, said apparatus comprising:
- a light emitting unit which outputs a plurality of light beams;
- an image carrier on which a latent image is formed by the plurality of light beams from the light emitting unit;
- a scanning member which causes the light beams output from the light emitting unit to scan the surface to be scanned of the image carrier in a main scanning direction;
- a light beam detecting section which has a pair of symmetrical saw-toothed patterns with a narrowed width for marginally located teeth and are formed by arranging optical elements for converting the light beam into respective electric signals, the patterns being arranged interdigitally on the surface to be scanned or at a position equivalent to the surface;
- a processing circuit which outputs an integral value obtained by integrating the difference of the electric signals output from the respective patterns of the light beam detecting section;
- and
- a CPU which determines a pitch of arrangement of said plurality of light beams in a direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction on the basis of the value output from the processing circuit;
- a light path modifying member which modifies the passing positions of the light beams so as to rearrange them at a predetermined pitch under the control of the CPU;
- and
- an image forming section which forms a latent image by causing the light beams from said light emitting unit to scan the surface to be scanned of said image carrier by means of said scanning member, turning the latent image into a visible image and transferring it on an image forming medium after the passing position of said light beam is controlled to the predetermined position.
7 more elements
A light beam scanning apparatus comprising:
- a light emitting unit which outputs a light beam;
- a scanning member which causes the light beam output from the light emitting unit to scan a surface to be scanned in a main scanning direction;
- a light beam detecting section which is arranged on said surface to be scanned or at an equivalent position and has a sensor formed by patterns adapted to detect the light beam at a timing corresponding to the scanning position of the light beam in a direction perpendicular to said main scanning direction;
- an ON/OFF signal generating circuit which generates a first ON/OFF signal for producing an ON/OFF action and a second ON/OFF signal for producing an inverse ON/OFF action each time a light beam is detected by said sensor of said light beam detecting section;
- a first current source which outputs an electric current with a predetermined intensity according to said first ON/OFF signal;
- a first current/voltage converting circuit which converts the electric current from said first current source into a voltage;
- a second current source which outputs an electric current with a predetermined intensity according to said second ON/OFF signal;
- a second current/voltage converting circuit which converts the electric current from said second current source into a voltage;
- a processing circuit which outputs an integral value obtained by integrating the difference of the voltage from said first current/voltage converting circuit and the voltage from said second current/voltage converting circuit;
- and
- a CPU for determining a passing position of the light beam output from said light emitting unit on said surface to be scanned according to the value output from said processing circuit.
8 more elements
A light beam scanning apparatus comprising:
- a light emitting unit which outputs a light beam;
- a scanning member which causes the light beam output from the light emitting unit to scan a surface to be scanned in a main scanning direction;
- a sensor which is arranged on said surface to be scanned or at an equivalent position and formed by patterns adapted to detect the light beam at a timing corresponding to the scanning position of the light beam in a direction perpendicular to said main scanning direction;
- an ON/OFF signal generating circuit which generates a first ON/OFF signal for producing an ON/OFF action and a second ON/OFF signal for producing an inverse ON/OFF action each time a light beam is detected by said sensor;
- a first voltage source which outputs a voltage of a predetermined level according to said first ON/OFF signal;
- a second voltage source which outputs a voltage of a predetermined level according to said second ON/OFF signal;
- a processing circuit which outputs an integral value obtained by integrating the difference of the voltage from said first voltage source and the voltage from said second voltage source;
- and
- a CPU for determining a passing position of the light beam output from said light emitting unit on said surface to be scanned according to the value output from said processing circuit.
6 more elements
An image forming apparatus for forming an image on an image forming medium, said apparatus comprising:
- a light emitting unit which outputs a light beam;
- an image carrier on which a latent image is formed by the light beam from the light emitting unit;
- a scanning member which causes the light beam output from the light emitting unit to scan a surface to be scanned in a main scanning direction;
- a light beam detecting section which is arranged on said surface to be scanned or at an equivalent position and has a sensor formed by patterns adapted to detect the light beam at a timing corresponding to the scanning position of the light beam in a direction perpendicular to said main scanning direction;
- an ON/OFF signal generating circuit which generates a first ON/OFF signal for producing an ON/OFF action and a second ON/OFF signal for producing an inverse ON/OFF action each time a light beam is detected by said sensor of said light beam detecting section;
- a first current source which outputs an electric current with a predetermined intensity according to said first ON/OFF signal;
- a first current/voltage converting circuit which converts the electric current from said first current source into a voltage;
- a second current source which outputs an electric with a predetermined intensity according to said second ON/OFF signal;
- a second current/voltage converting circuit which converts electric current from said second current source into a voltage;
- a processing circuit which outputs an integral value obtained by integrating the difference of the voltage from said first current/voltage converting circuit and the voltage from said second current/voltage converting circuit;
- a CPU for determining a passing position of the light beam output from said light emitting unit on said surface to be scanned according to the value output from said processing circuit.
- a light path modifying member which regulates the passing position of the light beam under the control of the CPU;
- and
- an image forming section which forms a latent image by causing the light beam from said light emitting unit to scan the surface to be scanned of said image carrier by means of said scanning member, turning the latent image into a visible image and transferring it on an image forming medium after the passing position of said light beam is controlled to the predetermined position.
11 more elements
An image forming apparatus for forming an image on an image forming medium, said apparatus comprising:
- a light emitting unit which outputs a light beam;
- an image carrier on which a latent image is formed by the light beam from the light emitting unit;
- a scanning member which causes the light beam output from the light emitting unit to scan a surface to be scanned in a main scanning direction;
- a sensor which is arranged on said surface to be scanned or at an equivalent position and formed by patterns adapted to detect the light beam at a timing corresponding to the scanning position of the light beam in a direction perpendicular to said main scanning direction;
- an ON/OFF signal generating circuit which generates a first ON/OFF signal for producing an ON/OFF action and a second ON/OFF signal for producing an inverse ON/OFF action each time a light beam is detected by said sensor;
- a first voltage source which outputs a voltage of a predetermined level according to said first ON/OFF signal;
- a second voltage source which outputs a voltage of a predetermined level according to said second ON/OFF signal;
- a processing circuit which outputs an integral value obtained by integrating the difference of the voltage from said first voltage source and the voltage from said second voltage source;
- a CPU for determining the passing position of the light beam output from said light emitting unit on said surface to be scanned according to the value output from said processing circuit.
- a light path modifying member which regulates a passing position of the light beam under the control of the CPU;
- and
- an image forming section which forms a latent image by causing the light beam from said light emitting unit to scan the surface to be scanned of said image carrier by means of said scanning member, turning the latent image into a visible image and transferring it on an image forming medium after the passing position of said light beam is controlled to the predetermined position.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.