JP2820207B2 - Light beam scanning recorder - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a light beam scanning recording apparatus, and more particularly, to a light beam output from a light source which is short in a main scanning direction and long in a sub scanning direction. The present invention relates to a light beam scanning recording apparatus capable of recording a high quality image and the like without unevenness by irradiating a photosensitive material through an opening to be formed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION There is a scanning recording apparatus that records characters, images, and the like by scanning an exposure head along a photosensitive material such as a film.
In this case, for example, the photosensitive material is rotating at a high speed in the main scanning direction while being wound around the outer periphery of the drum, and an exposure head having a light emitting element such as an LED is sub-scanned with respect to the photosensitive material. By moving in the direction, an image or the like is recorded on the photosensitive material.

By the way, in the scanning recording apparatus, an image or the like is recorded on the photosensitive material while rotating the drum and moving the exposure head. Therefore, each pixel formed by the light beam has a rotation direction of the drum and a movement of the exposure head. There is a possibility that they are extended in the respective directions. In this case, since the rotational speed of the drum in the main scanning direction is faster than the moving speed of the exposure head in the sub-scanning direction, pixels that are long in the main scanning direction are formed. In addition, since the intensity distribution of the light beam output from the light emitting element such as an LED is substantially Gaussian distribution, when the output of the light beam is small and the density of the pixels formed on the photosensitive material is low, the main scanning is performed. Pixels that are long in the direction and narrow in the sub-scanning direction are formed. Conversely, when the output of the light beam is large and the density of the pixel is high, a wide pixel is formed in the sub-scanning direction. As a result, it has been pointed out that an image is elongated in the main scanning direction and unevenness occurs in the sub-scanning direction, thereby deteriorating the quality of the image.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages, and is intended to reduce the length of a light beam output from a plurality of light-emitting elements arranged in the sub-scanning direction in the main scanning direction and to make the sub-scanning light beams smaller. It is an object of the present invention to provide a light beam scanning recording apparatus capable of forming a high quality image and the like without unevenness by irradiating a photosensitive material through an opening elongated in a direction.

[Means for Achieving the Object] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method in which a light beam output from a light source based on image information or the like is main-scanned on a photosensitive material and the speed of the main scanning is adjusted. In a light beam scanning recording apparatus for performing two-dimensional recording of an image or the like by sub-scanning at a lower speed than the light source, the light source includes a plurality of light emitting elements arranged in the sub scanning direction, and the light on the photosensitive material is provided. In order to make the exposure distribution by the beam isotropic with respect to the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction,
While the light beams from the plurality of light emitting elements are all passed in the sub-scanning direction between the light source and the photosensitive material, one of the light beams has a predetermined beam width in the main scanning direction. It is characterized in that an opening for shielding the portion is provided.

[Embodiments] Next, preferred embodiments of the light beam scanning recording apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 indicates a main body of the light beam scanning recording apparatus according to the present embodiment. The main body 10 is surrounded by a casing 12, in which an exposure unit 14, a water application unit 16, a heat development transfer unit 18, and a control unit 20 for controlling these are provided.

The main body 10 is loaded with a magazine 22 for accommodating a photosensitive material F wound in a roll shape, and the photosensitive material F taken out of the magazine 22 is transferred to the exposure unit 14 via a cutter 24. The exposure unit 14 includes a drum 26 that rotates at a high speed in the direction of arrow A (main scanning direction), and an exposure head 30 that is disposed close to the drum 26 and moves in a direction (sub-scanning direction) perpendicular to the drawing.

Here, the exposure head 30 is configured as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. That is, the exposure head 30 has a cylindrical body 32 having an inner peripheral surface subjected to an anti-reflection treatment.
A mounting part 34 is mounted on one end side of the. The mounting portion 34 is formed of an insulator, and two conductive bases 36 having an octagonal shape are provided on a surface of the mounting portion 34 facing the drum 26 side.
38 is attached. Heat radiating bases 40 and 42 which also serve as electrodes that pass through the mounting portion 34 and are led to the outside are connected to the bases 36 and 38, respectively. On one base 36, LEDs 44a and 44 made of NP junction
b and 46a, 46b are attached at predetermined intervals as shown in FIG. Also, the other base 38 has an LED 4 made of a PN junction.
8a and 48b are attached. In this case, LEDs 44a, 44b, 46a, 4
6b and 48a and 48b respectively emit light of different wavelengths to the photosensitive material F wound on the drum 26. For example, LED44
a and 44b irradiate the photosensitive material F with infrared light for coloring a cyan (C) dye, LEDs 46a and 46b irradiate red light for coloring a magenta (M) dye, and LEDs 48a and 48b as yellow (Y Irradiate yellow light to develop the dye of (d). In addition, each
The LEDs 44a, 44b, 46a, 46b and 48a, 48b are bonded to the electrodes 50a to 50f formed on the mounting portion 34 via wires 52a to 52f. Also, leads 54a to 54f that pass through the mounting portion 34 and are led out are connected to the electrodes 50a to 50f. On the other hand, a disk 56 is attached to the other end of the cylindrical body 32, and a cylindrical lens barrel 58 having an inner peripheral surface subjected to antireflection processing.
Is mounted at one end. In this case, the disk 56 is also subjected to an anti-reflection treatment, and the LEDs 44a, 44b, 46a, 46b and 4
As shown in FIG. 3, openings 60a to 60c which are short in the main scanning direction (direction of arrow A) and long in the sub-scanning direction (direction of arrow B) are formed at portions corresponding to 8a and 48b. Is done.
A condenser lens 62 is attached to the other end of the lens barrel 58.

On the other hand, the water application unit 16 applies dampening water to the exposed surface of the photosensitive material F transferred from the exposure unit 14, and transfers the photosensitive material F to the thermal development transfer unit 18. A tray 64 for storing a sheet-like image receiving material P is loaded on the upper part of the thermal development transfer section 18. The image receiving material P is conveyed by a conveying roller 66 and transferred to the thermal development transfer unit 18. In this case, the photosensitive material F and the image receiving material P are superimposed on each other in the heat development transfer section 18, and are subjected to heat development processing and color image transfer processing. On the other hand, a take-out tray 68 is provided on the upper surface of the casing 12, and the image receiving material P on which the color image has been transferred is carried out to the take-out tray 68. A waste box 70 is provided below the casing 12, and the waste box 70 accommodates the photosensitive material F carried out from the thermal development transfer unit 18.

The light beam scanning recording apparatus according to the present embodiment is basically configured as described above. Next, the operation and effects thereof will be described.

First, the photosensitive material F stored in the magazine 22 is
The rear end portion is cut by the cutter 24 at the time when a predetermined amount is sent out. Next, the photosensitive material F transferred to the exposure unit 14 is wound around a drum 26,
LEDs 44a, 44b, 46a, 46b and 48a, 48b mounted on 30
Exposed by

That is, when a predetermined current corresponding to the image information is applied between the heat radiation bases 40 and 42 and the leads 54a to 54f,
Light beams having a predetermined wavelength are output from the LEDs 44a, 44b, 46a, 46b and 48a, 48b in accordance with image information. In this case, the infrared light output from the LEDs 44a and 44b is condensed by the condensing lens 62 via the opening 60a defined in the disk 56, and the cyan light corresponding to the LEDs 44a and 44b is formed on the photosensitive material F. Form two pixels of color. The red light output from the LEDs 46a and 46b passes through the opening 60b of the
The light is condensed by 2 and two pixels of magenta corresponding to the LEDs 46a and 46b are formed on the photosensitive material F. In addition, LED48
The yellow light output from a and 48b is condensed by the condensing lens 62 through the opening 60c of the disc 56, and the LED 4 is placed on the photosensitive material F.
Two yellow pixels corresponding to 8a and 48b are formed. The pixels formed by the LEDs 44a, 44b, 46a, 46b and 48a, 48b are formed on the photosensitive material F at predetermined intervals in the main scanning direction (the direction of arrow A), and the drum 26 is driven by the main scanning. By rotating in the directions, the cyan, magenta and yellow colors are superimposed to form a desired color. Further, the exposure head 30 moves in the sub-scanning direction (the direction of arrow B), and in this direction, an image is formed two pixels at a time. As a result, a color image is two-dimensionally recorded on the photosensitive material F.

Here, in the present embodiment, the light beam output from each of the LEDs 44a, 44b, 46a, 46b and 48a, 48b is defined on the disc 56, and the opening is short in the main scanning direction and long in the sub-scanning direction. The light is guided onto the photosensitive material F through 60a to 60c. In this case, a part of the light beam in the main scanning direction is shielded by the openings 60a to 60c, so that the light beam on the photosensitive material F is short in the main scanning direction and sub-scanning, as shown in FIG. A beam spot having a shape elongated in the direction is formed. On the other hand, the photosensitive material F is moving in the main scanning direction (the direction of arrow A) due to the high-speed rotation of the drum 26. Therefore, a light beam having a distribution indicated by a broken line in FIG. , A pixel having the exposure distribution shown by the solid line is formed. The exposure head 30 is moved in the main scanning direction (arrow A).
) In the sub-scanning direction (arrow B direction) at a speed lower than the moving speed with respect to In this case, since the openings 60a to 60c of the disk 56 are elongated in the sub-scanning direction,
The light beam is not blocked at all in the sub-scanning direction. Accordingly, in the sub-scanning direction, pixels having a Gaussian distribution similar to FIG. 4B are formed as shown in FIG. 4C. As a result, the shape of one pixel formed on the photosensitive material F is substantially isotropic with respect to the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction. The unevenness in the scanning direction is also reduced and a high quality image is formed.

In this embodiment, since the light beam is shaped using the disk 56, it is not necessary to use an LED or the like capable of obtaining a special beam spot shape as shown in FIG. It is possible to improve the image quality at low cost. Further, since the openings 60a to 60c are formed at regular intervals in the main scanning direction with respect to the disk 56, color shift and unevenness in the main scanning direction can be reduced, so that the image quality is further improved. I do.

On the other hand, the photosensitive material F on which the color image is recorded is
Is rotated in the direction opposite to the direction of arrow A to
Transferred to 16. The photosensitive material F transferred to the water application unit 16 is applied with dampening water on its exposed surface,
Sent to On the other hand, the image receiving material P stored in the tray 64
Are conveyed by a conveying roller 66, and are superposed on the photosensitive material F in the thermal development transfer section 18. In this case, in the heat development transfer section 18, the color image is developed by heating the photosensitive material F, and then this color image is transferred to the image receiving material P. The image receiving material P to which the color image has been transferred is separated from the photosensitive material F, and then is carried out to the take-out tray 68.
The photosensitive material F is discharged into the waste box 70.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the light beams output from the plurality of light emitting elements arranged in the sub-scanning direction are short in the main scanning direction and long in the sub-scanning direction. The image is formed by irradiating the photosensitive material through the section.
In this case, since the beam spot shape formed on the photosensitive material by the opening is shaped to be long in the sub-scanning direction, when the light beam is scanned at a high speed in the main scanning direction, the exposure amount on the photosensitive material is increased. The distribution is isotropic with respect to the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction, and as a result, a uniform high-quality image or the like is formed. In addition, since light beams output from a plurality of light emitting elements arranged in the sub-scanning direction pass through one opening, a plurality of beam spot shapes can be simultaneously formed, so that an image or the like can be formed at high speed. Can be easily created.

As described above, the present invention has been described with reference to a preferred embodiment. However, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and can be applied to, for example, a monochrome scanner using a single light source. It goes without saying that various improvements and design changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a light beam scanning recording apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional configuration diagram of an image recording exposure head, FIG. FIGS. 7A to 7C are explanatory diagrams of characteristics of a light beam obtained by an image recording exposure head. 10 ... body part, 14 ... exposure part 16 ... water application part, 18 ... thermal development transfer part 20 ... control part, 26 ... drum 30 ... exposure heads 44a, 44b, 46a, 46b, 48a, 48b LED 56 Disc 60a-60c Opening 62 Condenser lens F Photosensitive material P Image receiving material

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A light beam for performing two-dimensional recording of an image or the like by causing a light beam output from a light source based on image information or the like to be main-scanned on a photosensitive material and to be sub-scanned at a speed lower than the main scanning speed. In the beam scanning recording apparatus, the light source includes a plurality of light emitting elements arranged in the sub-scanning direction, and an exposure amount distribution by the light beam on the photosensitive material is equal to a main scanning direction and a sub-scanning direction. In order to make the light beam from the plurality of light emitting elements pass in the sub-scanning direction between the light source and the photosensitive material so as to have a predetermined beam width in the main scanning direction. A light beam scanning and recording apparatus, wherein an opening for blocking a part of the light beam is provided.