JPH0624038A - Recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a recording device using laser beam capable of forming images to be seen easily by heightening image resolution in the vertical direction. CONSTITUTION:A recording device comprises a means 11 for outputting a plurality of laser beams in parallel up and down which can be controlled individually and independently and means 3 and 4 for simultaneously scanning on a photosensitive body 6 by parallel laser beams 12A and 12B from the laser beam output means 11, so as to record through the photosensitive body 6.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording apparatus, and more particularly, to a recording apparatus which records by scanning a laser beam.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An example of a conventional recording apparatus of this type is shown in FIG. In this example, a light beam (laser beam) 2 emitted from a semiconductor laser 1 is reflected by a polygon mirror 3 that rotates at a high speed, and the reflected light beam 2 is guided to a cylindrical lens 4 to be focused. The scanning light 5 is successively guided onto the rotating photosensitive drum 6 so that a recorded image can be obtained.

[0003]

However, in the conventional recording apparatus and laser beam printer as described above, the scanning light 5 of the laser beam 2 projected onto the photosensitive drum 6 is the laser beam 2 itself as shown in FIG. And the resolution in the vertical direction becomes rougher than the resolution in the horizontal direction in the formed image. Therefore, when the image recorded on the photosensitive drum 6 is viewed, there is a problem that zigzag edges are conspicuous in the diagonal lines and it is unsightly.

An object of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus as a laser beam printer capable of forming an easy-to-see image by increasing the image resolution in the vertical direction in order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems. is there.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a laser beam output means for outputting a plurality of laser beams which are independently controlled and are parallel to each other, and the laser beam output means. And a means for simultaneously scanning the photoconductor with a parallel laser beam from the means so that recording can be obtained through the photoconductor.

[0006]

According to the present invention, a plurality of laser beams which are vertically parallel to each other are used to perform a plurality of scanning operations on the photosensitive member at the same time. A laser beam having a diameter of one-half of the beam can be used to improve the vertical image resolution accordingly.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail and specifically below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 schematically shows a scanning state onto a photosensitive drum 5 by two laser beams 12A and 12B from a semiconductor laser 11 according to the present invention. is there. In this example, the thin laser beams 12A and 12B emitted from the semiconductor laser 11 are output in close proximity to each other in the vertical direction, so that the recording by the scanning lights 15A and 15B is performed on the photosensitive drum 6 at the same time. However, the spot diameter of the beams 12A and 12B is set to approximately half the diameter of the conventional beam 2. The semiconductor laser 11 for obtaining such an output may be a combination of a plurality of semiconductor chips, or may be a combination of two independently controllable semiconductor lasers. Good.

Therefore, such a laser beam 12A,
The spots 17A and 17B on the photosensitive drum 6 formed by 12B are arranged vertically as shown in the right side of FIG.
Its diameter is about half.

Next, one example of image recording formation will be described with reference to FIG. Here, (B) is a recorded image according to the present embodiment, and (A) is a conventional recording apparatus, and each of them schematically shows an example of forming a trapezoidal image. That is, in the trapezoidal image recording formation as shown in (A) and (B), in the case of (A), a trapezoidal image is formed on the photosensitive drum 6 by the output light from the semiconductor laser 1 according to the conventional one-beam method. Assuming that such an image is recorded on the photosensitive drum 6 by scanning five times, the diameter of the dot for one line is large as described above, and one of the figures is The unevenness of the diagonal line forming the end is too conspicuous.

On the other hand, FIG. 1B shows an example of forming the same image by the output light from the semiconductor laser 11 by the two-beam method according to the present invention. Here, the lines 1 and 1 ', the lines 2 and 2', the lines 3 and 3 ', ... Are respectively caused by the scanning of the laser beams simultaneously output from the semiconductor laser 11. However, the data of the line 1'in this example is output based on the data obtained by interpolating the data of the lines 1 and 2 stored in the memory as shown by the arrow. Thus, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to make the unevenness of the hatched line forming one end of the figure less noticeable than that of (A) with the conventional memory capacity, as shown in this figure. At the same time, it is possible to improve the vertical resolution of the entire image including the light and shade, in other words, the image density.

In the above example, the semiconductor lasers are configured so that two laser beams having a small diameter are output at the same time in the vertical direction. At the same time, they may be independently controlled and emitted. By doing so, it becomes possible to further increase the resolution in the vertical direction.

[0013]

As described above, according to the present invention, a laser beam output means for outputting a plurality of laser beams which are independently controlled and are parallel to each other in the vertical direction, and a parallel laser beam output means from the laser beam output means. Since a recording means can be obtained through the photoconductor by means of simultaneously scanning the photoconductor with a laser beam, the recording image resolution in the subscanning direction can be obtained without increasing the main scanning speed or the subscanning speed. It has become possible to improve at least double.
Further, in the case of scanning by the laser beam output means composed of upper and lower two chips, the print data at the time of scanning by the lower chip and the data at the time of first line scanning by the upper chip and the second data
By being obtained by interpolation with the data at the time of line scanning, it is not necessary to change the conventional memory capacity.

Furthermore, by forming a plurality of semiconductor lasers on one chip, it is possible to facilitate mounting adjustment including optical elements.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of a basic configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a scanning operation on a photosensitive drum according to the configuration example shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the size of a beam spot by a semiconductor laser in comparison between a conventional example and the above-described configuration example according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an image forming example by a semiconductor laser light beam scanning in comparison with a conventional example (A) and an example (B) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a conventional example.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a scanning operation on a photosensitive drum according to a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 11 Semiconductor laser 2, 12A, 12B Laser beam 3 Polygon mirror 4 Cylindrical lens 6 Photosensitive drum 15A, 15B Scanning light 17A, 17B Spot

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A laser beam output means which is independently controlled and outputs a plurality of vertically parallel laser beams, and a means for simultaneously scanning the photosensitive member with parallel laser beams from the laser beam output means. A recording apparatus comprising: a recording medium, wherein recording can be obtained through the photoconductor. 2. Interpolation data of image data prepared at the time of the preceding scanning and the scanning of the next row is used for the lower laser beam of the laser beams output from the laser beam output means and parallel to each other in the vertical direction. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording apparatus is provided.