Image forming apparatus for determining defects of light-emitting element array chips
AssigneeS-Printing Solution Co., Ltd.
InventorSu-hwan Kim
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An image forming apparatus includes a plurality of light-emitting element array chips including a light-emitting element array and a transfer element array, and a control driver applying a signal to the plurality of light-emitting element array chips. The control driver includes a check terminal that measures signals output from the plurality of light-emitting element array chips, and the control driver determines whether any of the plurality of light-emitting element array chips are defective by analyzing the signals measured at the check terminal.
Claims16
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of light-emitting element array chips each comprising a light-emitting element array, a transfer element array, and a data line;
- a control driver including:
- a plurality of output terminals to output at least one signal to be applied to the plurality of light-emitting element array chips, and
- a check terminal to input at least one signal to analyze at least one signal output from the data line of the plurality of light-emitting element array chips based on the at least one applied signal, and to determine whether any of the plurality of light-emitting element array chips are defective by analyzing the at least one signal input at the check terminal;
- a resistor connected between an output terminal of the plurality of output terminals of the control driver and a terminal of the data line of the light-emitting element arrays;
- and
- a comparator connected between the check terminal of the control driver and the terminal of the data line of the light-emitting element arrays and in parallel with the resistor.
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of light-emitting element array chips each being comprised of light-emitting elements;
- a control driver to determine whether any of the light-emitting elements are defective by sequentially applying a data signal in a different time slot to each of the light-emitting elements and including a check terminal to input a signal from the plurality of light-emitting element array chips during each of the different time slots and to measure the input signal;
- a resistor connected between an output terminal of the control driver and a terminal of the plurality of light-emitting element array chips;
- and
- a comparator connected between the check terminal of the control driver and the terminal of the plurality of light-emitting element array chips and in parallel with the resistor.
A method of detecting a defect in any light-emitting elements comprised by a light-emitting element array chip of an image forming apparatus, the method comprising:
- sequentially applying a data signal during a different time slot to each of the light-emitting elements;
- analyzing, by way of a hardware-based control driver of the image forming apparatus including a resistor connected between an output terminal of the control driver and a terminal of light-emitting element array chip, and a comparator connected between a check terminal of the control driver and the terminal of light-emitting element array chip in parallel with the resistor, a signal input at the check terminal during each of the different time slots;
- and
- determining whether any of the light-emitting elements are defective based on the analyzing of the signal input during each of the different time slots.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.