Patent · US Expired

Laser beam scanning optical apparatus

US6172787A · kind A · utility

7Cited by
2References
23Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateApr 10, 1997
Grant dateJan 9, 2001
Priority date
Expiry dateApr 10, 2017

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04N1/12
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A laser beam scanning optical apparatus which images each laser beam emitted from a laser diode array via a deflector and optical elements and scans the laser beam linearly on a scanning surface at a substantially constant speed. The laser diode array has a plurality of light emitting sources arranged two-dimensionally, and more specifically, arranged in a first direction at uniform intervals of P.sub.1 and in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction at uniform intervals of P.sub.2 which is different from P.sub.1. In the laser beam scanning optical apparatus, the magnification ratio in the main scanning direction and the magnification ratio in the sub scanning direction are different from each other. If there are a number m of light emitting sources in each line of the first direction at the intervals of P.sub.1 and a number n of light emitting sources in each line of the second direction at the intervals of P.sub.2, the first direction is at an angle .theta. expressed by the following expression to the main scanning direction: EQU .theta.=tan.sup.-1 (P.sub.2 /mP.sub.1).

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.