Image forming with synchronized control

A control method for an image forming apparatus which performs image forming a plurality of times in synchronization with plural times of original reading, said image forming apparatus including

• an optical system movable to scan an original document in a sub-scan direction,
• a reading device for reading image data for each line obtained through the scanning performed by said optical system,
• a rotary polygon mirror for deflecting, in a main scan direction, a light beam that is modulated based on said image data for each line that are read by said reading device, so that an image holding member that is rotated in the sub-scan direction is scanned by the deflected light beam and a latent image is formed thereon,
• said control method comprising:
• a first drive step of driving said rotary polygon mirror and said rotary image holding member, so as to maintain a phase difference between a sub-scan start reference signal, produced in synchronization with the rotation of said image holding member, and a main scan start reference signal, produced upon detecting the scanning of a predetermined location by a light beam deflected by said rotary polygon mirror, no matter how many times said rotary image holding member is rotated;
• a delay step of delaying said sub-scan start reference signal, so that the delayed sub-scan start reference signal generates substantially at the center of a generation period of said main scan start reference signal;
• a second drive step of starting the movement of said optical system in synchronization with said delayed sub-scan start reference signal;
• a reading step of reading the original document for each line by said reading device in synchronization with said main scan start reference signal after said sub-scan start reference signal is generated;
• and
• a forming step of forming a latent image using said light beam in synchronization with said main scan start reference signal after said reading device has started to read the image data.

An image forming apparatus which performs image forming a plurality of times in synchronization with plural times of original reading, and which forms a composite full-color image by superimposing a plurality of screen images, said image forming apparatus comprising:

• an optical system movable to scan an original document in a sub-scan direction;
• original reading means for employing a line sensor to scan the original document a plurality of times and for outputting image data acquired during each scan by moving said optical system;
• light beam generation means for generating a light beam based on said image data output by said original reading means;
• image holding member driving means for rotating an image holding member;
• a rotary polygon mirror for, while rotating, reflecting said light beam emitted by said light beam generation means, so as to scan said image holding member that is rotated by said image holding member driving means;
• main scan start signal generating means for generating a main scan start signal that indicates a rotation timing for said rotary polygon mirror;
• sub-scan start signal generation means for generating a sub-scan start signal that indicates a rotation timing for said image holding member;
• detection means for detecting a phase difference between said sub-scan start signal and said main scan start signal at a predetermined timing;
• and
• delay means for delaying said sub-scan start signal for a delay time according to the phase difference detected by said detection means, so that the delayed sub-scan start signal generates substantially at the center of a generation period of said main scan start signal,
• wherein said delay means delays each sub-scan signal
• generated every time said image holding member rotates after said predetermined timing, for a same time as said delay time, and
• wherein a start of the relative movement between said optical system and said original document is controlled in accordance with said sub-scan start signal delayed by said delay means, and a start of a main scan by said line sensor is controlled in accordance with said main scan start signal generated by said main scan start signal generation means after said delayed sub-scan start signal is generated.