JPH10119344A - Optical recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform highly precisely optical recording and facilitate color recording by a constitution wherein a recording head to be a light source having one line in a pixel structure is comprised of an emitter array wherein emitters for emitting electrons by each of pixels are arranged on a substrate. SOLUTION: A recording head 1 is so constituted that an emitter array wherein field emitters 11 of cold cathodes for emitting electrons are arranged on a substrate 10, gate electrodes 12 each being provided to respective tip section thereof and an anode electrode 14 opposing to a tip of the emitter array wherein a fluorescent film 13 is formed on a face are integrally provided in a case 15. In the recording head 1, electron emission is executed by the probe type field emitters 11 in the emitter array in accordance with one line of image information and each emission electron (e) is emitted toward the front section of the head as a recording light in a pixel structure passing through the fluorescent film 13, thereby obtaining an arbitrary light emission pattern in the pixel structure by each one line.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical recording apparatus for performing optical recording using a recording head provided with a luminous body for one line in a pixel configuration.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a laser whose beam is narrowed so as to form a pin spot corresponding to a pixel is driven to blink on and off a photosensitive recording medium fed in a sub-scanning manner in accordance with image information. Meanwhile, there is an optical recording apparatus that performs main scanning with a laser beam to perform optical recording by exposure.

In such a laser type optical recording apparatus, the structures of a light source, an optical system for optical scanning, and a drive system for image information are complicated and large.

Further, conventionally, optical recording is performed on a photosensitive recording medium which is fed in the sub-scanning direction by using a recording head in which LED chips each having a pixel configuration are distributed in one line in the main scanning direction. There is a device.

[0005] It is difficult to manufacture a recording head in which one line of LED chips having such a pixel configuration is distributed, and the pixel density is low.

Recently, recording of a high-vision image having a higher pixel density has been desired. Considering that a 35 mm cine film is to be used to record an image with a pixel density nearly four times that of the conventional cine film, 2250 images can be printed only in the vertical direction.
These pixels are required. In order to realize optical recording with this level of pixel density, a vertical size of 15 μm is required.
It is necessary to use minute pixels of m or less, and it is difficult to manufacture a recording head using an LED chip in which such minute pixels are distributed in one line.

[0007]

The problem to be solved is that the use of a laser in performing optical recording results in a complicated and large-sized structure. Further, when optical recording is performed using a recording head provided with one line of LED chips in a pixel configuration, a pixel density is low and a high-definition image is recorded due to a problem in manufacturing the recording head. Cannot be performed.

[0008]

According to the present invention, there is provided a recording head in which a luminous body for one line having a pixel structure is arranged in a main scanning direction on a photosensitive recording medium which is fed in a sub-scanning direction. In an optical recording device that performs optical recording by driving according to a simple configuration, a recording head is provided on a substrate for electron emission in pixel units so that high-precision optical recording can be performed. An emitter array arranged in an array, a gate electrode arranged at the tip of the emitter array, and an emitter array facing the front of the emitter array, and a phosphor film is formed on one surface. The anode is made of a light-transmissive electrode.

Further, the present invention provides a recording head comprising: an emitter array in which emitters for emitting electrons in pixel units are arranged in an array on a substrate; a gate electrode provided at a tip portion of the emitter array; The emitter array is provided so as to face the vertical direction with an inclined surface in front of the emitter array, and is constituted by an anode formed of a light-reflective electrode having a fluorescent film formed on the front surface.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In an optical recording apparatus according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, a recording head 1 provided with a luminous body for one line having a pixel configuration in a main scanning X direction is arranged in accordance with image information. When driven, optical recording is performed on a photosensitive film (photo film) 4 fed in the sub-scanning Y direction by a film winding mechanism 3 driven by a motor 2.

The film winding mechanism 3 is provided with an encoder 5 for detecting a feed amount of the film 4. Then, the control unit G controls the drive of the motor 2 in the film winding mechanism 3 via the motor driver 7 while reading the output signal of the encoder 5 and detecting the feed amount of the film 4. .

The control unit 6 sequentially reads out image information for one line from the image memory 8 in synchronization with the sub-scan feed of the film 4 and supplies the read image information to the head driver 9. 1 is performed.

As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the recording head 1 has an emitter array in which field emitters 11 of field-type electron-emitting cold cathodes are arranged in a pixel unit on a substrate 10 in an array. A gate electrode 12 provided at a tip portion of the emitter array and an anode electrode 14 provided so as to face the front of the emitter array and having a fluorescent film 13 formed on one surface are integrally formed in a case 15. It is configured by being installed.

In this embodiment, the anode electrode 14 is made of a transparent electrode so that the light-transmitting type is formed, and the front surface of the case 15 to which the anode electrode 14 is attached is formed of a light-transmitting material. Like that.

As an emitter array, a metal thin film formed on the substrate 10 is etched by a micro-machining process so that the field emitters 11 are distributed in one line in pixel units in a probe shape. It is formed.

In the recording head 1 configured as described above,
Electrons are appropriately emitted from each probe-like field emitter 11 in the emitter array in accordance with the image information for each one line, and each emitted electron e passes through the fluorescent film 13 and becomes a recording light L in a pixel configuration. By emitting the light to the front of the head, it is possible to obtain an arbitrary light emission pattern based on the pixel configuration for each line.

According to the optical recording apparatus of the present invention, an emitter array including a field emitter 11 serving as a light emitting source in a pixel configuration in the recording head 1 can be finely formed by a micromachining process. 4 can easily record high-definition images.

Further, according to the present invention, the recording head 1 having a high pixel density can be manufactured in a small size, installation restrictions are reduced, and various types of image information can be easily incorporated into a photo camera or the like and incorporated into a photo film or the like. Recording can be performed.

FIG. 4 shows another example of the configuration of a recording head. In this example, a light reflection type recording head 1 'is used.
An anode electrode 14 'made of a conductive material having a good light reflection characteristic such as aluminum is disposed at an angle of 45 ° with respect to the vertical direction.

In this arrangement, the recording light L in the pixel configuration generated by the electrons e emitted from each field emitter 11 passing through the fluorescent film 13 is reflected by the anode electrode 14 'and the head Will be released upwards.

In the configuration shown in FIG. 4, the case 15 is formed of a glass plate, and a mask 16 is applied to the upper surface of the case 15 in order to suppress the influence of scattered light.

Further, according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 5, at least two recording heads 1 to 3 are used as a spatial pixel shifting method.
The optical recording pixels 1-1 and 1-2 are arranged side by side with a relative shift of half a pixel so that the apparent pixel interval is half of the pixel P in each recording head 1-1.1-2. The density can be increased.

In this case, since the pixel row of the recording head 1-1 and the pixel row of the recording head 1-2 are displaced by one pitch p in the Y direction in the sub-scanning feed direction of the photosensitive film, they are on the same line. It is necessary to control the recording head 1-2 such that the recording head 1-2 is driven with a delay of one pitch p with respect to the recording head 1-1 in order to perform the optical recording in the above.

FIG. 6 shows the structure of the recording head when color recording is performed. The emission color of the fluorescent film 13 in the recording head 1 shown in FIGS.
(Red), G (Green), and B (Blue)
One recording head 1 (R), 1 (G), 1 (B) is arranged in parallel, and each recording head can be driven by image information of each color to perform color recording.

Here, R (red), G (green), B (blue)
The recording heads 1 (R), 1 (G), and 1 (B) for the respective colors are arranged side by side by a relatively half pixel to increase the pixel density of a color image to be recorded.

FIG. 7 shows recording heads 1 (R), 1 for each color.
(G) and 1 (B) show the timing when color recording is performed on the photosensitive film 4 fed in the sub-scanning Y direction.

First, as shown in FIG. 7A, the recording head 1 (B) is controlled by the controller G while detecting the feed amount of the photosensitive film 4 by the encoder 5.
One line of the B (blue) color is recorded on the photosensitive film 4 by providing the data (DATA-B) for the (blue) color. Next, as shown in FIG. 7B, the photosensitive ratio film 4 is
When the recording head 1 is moved by one pitch p in the
(G) is given data (DATA-G) for G (green) color,
One line of G (green) color is recorded on the photosensitive film 4. Next, as shown in FIG. 7C, when the photosensitive film 4 is further fed by one pitch p in the sub-scanning Y direction, the data DAT for the R (red) color is sent to the recording head 1 (R).
A-R, giving one line of R to the photosensitive film 4
Record (red) color. Therefore, recording of each color of R (red), G (green), and B (blue) is sequentially performed on the same line, and color recording is performed on the photosensitive film 4.

FIG. 8 shows still another configuration of the recording head 1. In this embodiment, a deflection electrode 17 for deflecting the electron e emitted from the field emitter 11 in the vertical direction is provided at the end of the gate electrode 12. Phosphor films 131, 132, and 133 having different emission colors are formed on the surface of the anode electrode 14 in the deflection direction.

In such a configuration, the trajectory of the electrons e emitted from the field emitter 11 is appropriately deflected in the vertical direction by adjusting the voltage applied to the deflection electrode 17 so that the emitted light has different emission colors. Fluorescent film 13
1, 132, 133 can be selectively irradiated.

Therefore, in this case, the electrons e emitted from the field emitter 11 are converted into the fluorescent films 131, 132,
By selectively irradiating 133, recording light L (R), L (G), L (B) of different colors can be obtained, and optical recording with an arbitrary color can be performed. become.

In the above embodiment, the recording head 1 or 1 '
The optical recording is performed on the photosensitive film 4 by using the same recording head. However, as shown in FIG. 9, the same recording head 1 or 1 'is used for the photosensitive drum 18 in the electrophotographic printer. Optical recording can also be performed.

[0032]

As described above, in the optical recording apparatus according to the present invention, the recording head serving as a light emission source for one line by the pixel configuration is
An emitter array in which emitters for emitting electrons in pixel units are arranged on a substrate, a gate electrode provided at the tip of the emitter array, and a fluorescent film on one surface provided at the front of the emitter array. Since the anode is formed with the anode formed thereon, it can be easily and finely manufactured by micromachining, and a simple configuration enables high-precision optical recording to be performed. In addition, there is an advantage that color recording can be easily performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a simplified configuration diagram showing an embodiment of an optical recording apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan sectional view of a recording head according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a front sectional view of the recording head in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a front sectional view showing another configuration example of the recording head.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a pixel arrangement when two recording heads are relatively displaced by half a pixel.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a pixel array of each color when three print heads are arranged side by side to perform color printing.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating timings when color recording is performed on a photosensitive film that is sub-scanned and fed by a recording head for each color.

FIG. 8 is a front sectional view showing still another configuration example of the recording head.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a photosensitive drum and a recording head when an optical recording is performed on the photosensitive drum in the electrophotographic printer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Recording head 1 'Recording head 2 Motor 3 Film winding mechanism 4 Photosensitive film 5 Encoder 6 Control part 7 Motor driver 8 Image memory 9 Head driver 11 Field emitter 12 Gate electrode 13 Fluorescent film 14 Anode electrode 14' Anode electrode

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An optical recording apparatus comprising: a recording head provided with one line of light-emitting elements having a pixel configuration in a main scanning direction according to image information on a photosensitive recording medium fed in a sub-scanning direction; An optical recording device for performing the above, the recording head, an emitter array in which an emitter for electron emission in pixel units is arranged on the substrate in an array, and a gate electrode provided at the tip of the emitter array, An optical recording apparatus, comprising: an anode which is disposed to face a front side of an emitter array and is formed of a light-transmitting electrode having a fluorescent film formed on one surface. 2. An optical recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a recording head provided with a luminous body for one line in a pixel configuration in a main scanning direction is driven on a photosensitive recording medium fed in a sub-scanning direction in accordance with image information. An optical recording device for performing the above, the recording head, an emitter array in which an emitter for electron emission in pixel units is arranged on the substrate in an array, and a gate electrode provided at the tip of the emitter array, An optical recording apparatus comprising: an anode, which is provided at a front side of an emitter array so as to face a vertical direction with an inclined surface, and which is a light-reflective electrode having a fluorescent film formed on a front surface thereof. 3. An optical recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least two recording heads are arranged side by side with a relative shift of half a pixel. 4. A deflecting electrode for deflecting electrons emitted from each emitter of the emitter array in a vertical direction is provided, and fluorescent films of different colors are vertically arranged on the surface of the anode to apply the deflecting electrode. 3. The optical recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein electrons deflected by adjusting a voltage are selectively applied to a fluorescent film of an arbitrary color. 5. Three printing heads each having a phosphor film of each color of R (red), G (green), and B (blue) are arranged in parallel, and each printing head is driven by image information of each color. 3. The optical recording apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the color recording is performed by performing the color recording. 6. The light according to claim 5, wherein recording heads for each of R (red), G (green), and B (blue) are arranged side by side by a relatively half pixel. Recording device.