JPS5957774A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable to print in two different printing modes, by a method wherein a common electrode for a liquid crystal light valve is split into four, each signal electrode is provided in the manner of opposedly intersecting with the four common electrodes, and they are divided into two pairs. CONSTITUTION:In a device for printing by causing light from a light source 111 to irradiate onto a photoconductor 102 through a micro-shutter 112 (consisting of a liquid crystal light valve) and a focusing lens 115, the common electrode for the light valve is split into four electrodes 401-404, and each of the signal electrode is provided in the condition of opposedly intersecting with the four electrodes 401-404. The thus formed four micro-shutters 406-407 per each of the signal electrode 405 are divided into two pairs, which are used for printing at respectively different speeds or in different recording densities.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention is applied to a printing device 1-1.
(Relating to a printing device using k-crystalline pulp, 647.)

Recent advances in information processing technology have been remarkable, and along with this, printing devices, which are one of the output devices, have
High density and high speed are required. Furthermore, there is a strong demand for printing quality, and the printing device that satisfies this demand is the 1/-zerbeam printer (1/2), which uses electrophotography and optical writing.
LBP) or optical fiber tube (OUT) printers are in practical use. However, despite the strong demand as mentioned above, the extremely high cost of both LBP and OUT is a major reason for preventing their widespread use.

In view of this situation, the present invention has realized a light pulp type printing device using only conventional ideas, and which has been considered difficult to put into practical use since the technology. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a high-resolution, high-quality, high-speed optical printing device f11: in a compact size of 41 inches and at low cost.

Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a printing device 1-1 which has two different printing modes although using the same liquid crystal light pulp.
i) without increasing costs.

As a method for realizing an optical printing device using liquid crystal light pulp, there is a method described in 9'9 Te. First, the fi of the printing mount fi = 7 using the upstream method
The characteristics of η formation and liquid crystal light pulp will be described.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of the printing device 1t. Optical writing is performed on the photosensitive drum 102 by an optical signal generating section 101 using liquid crystal light pulp. At this time, the photosensitive drum 102
is charged in advance by a corona charger 110. The optical signal at this time is usually that when a character is copied, light is generated corresponding to the character part. As a result, a static 1u image is formed, and toner is developed in the magnetic brush developer 106.

The development method at this time is generally called reversal development.

After this, the toner is transferred by the transfer corona discharger 105 to the normal 41; The image is removed by the static eliminating lamp 109 and completed. Figure 2 shows the (1°, I) configuration of the optical signal generating section. The optical signal generating section consists of a light source 111 such as a fluorescent lamp, The liquid crystal light nozzle 150 consists of a liquid crystal panel 112 and a liquid crystal drive circuit 11:1i116 and is mounted on a mounting board 114.The light emitted from the light source is converted into %l' by the liquid crystal light pulp. This optical signal 116 is imaged on the optical drum 102 by an image lens 115. An erect condition is obtained by using a convergent optical fiber array for the image forming lens. The structure 1j- of the liquid crystal panel is not shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

The LCD panel has common signals 1iLlid 119 and 12
Glass substrate 117 with 0 and signal? Glass substrate 118 and svage-126 with iL poles 121 and 122
In between, a liquid crystal i+ is sealed with a samurai 125, and polarizing plates 123 and 124 are provided on both sides of the glass substrate.

Joint if! The signal electrode consists of a transparent 11L pole 119 and a chemically opaque metal electrode 120, and the signal electrode 41Jf
i 12 ′ and 122 are transparent electrodes. The polarization plates 123 and 124 are arranged so that their polarization planes are perpendicular to each other. The light is modulated by a microshutter formed by the transparent E11s portion 119 of the common electrode and the signal electrode. In the following text, there are parts where the shape of the transparent portion of the common electrode is expressed as a microshutter, but in this case, it should be interpreted that the shape of the transparent portion of the common electrode forms a microshutter together with the opposing signal electrode.

The liquid crystal composition to be encapsulated is '! 'J'I'＋♂I'f
fir-f 55-141085 Optically active substance/14.4-(2-methylbut
yl) -4'-cyano biphen, yl
Add s to 7% triple J? A high-speed liquid crystal light valve can be obtained by using a long-period cholesteric liquid crystal. FIG. 5 shows the frequency characteristics of the 5G electrical anisotropy of this liquid crystal. The frequency at which the h4fold anisotropy is zero is called the crossover frequency and is not expressed by fc.

Let fl be a frequency lower than fc, and fh be a frequency higher than fc. By applying signals of frequencies fl and fh to each signal electrode, the liquid crystal light valve (operates).
(h) shows the response of the applied signal and (a) the light transmitted through the liquid crystal light valve.

A signal at time f1 indicated by T2 and a signal at time fh at T3 are applied. T1 is called the "sinking Rd no υ1," T2 is called the opening time, and T3 is called the non-opening time.The liquid crystal light valve opens by applying the fh signal, and closes by the fl signal. We were able to obtain a high-speed liquid crystal light valve.

The above method yields a 21-inch crystal light valve with a height of 1, but this method uses an innovative method for the liquid crystal panel pattern shape and driving method, resulting in twice the number of columns as in the above method. 3 g or f('< crystal light valve with two modes of twice the density.

Figure 7 shows the electrode structure of a liquid crystal panel according to Mori & Akira.

41st; The difference from the conventional example shown in I is that the common electrode is 4
01.402 e There are four points 405 and 404,
No. 451 1Ji, 41'i with one micro shutter 406, 407, 408, 409! 4 for 405
This is a unique point.

Next, the method of moving 111≦, which is the main point of the present invention, is shown in FIGS. 8 and 9. LCD 19. : In the present invention, a dedicated high-voltage construction a is used for the movement.
By performing the operation in time division N of MF1. This produced the effect of greatly improving i-friendliness.

Figure 9 is for explaining the principle of the 1/2 time division 1-bar dynamic method.Is t of the electric power υi 71, or is it common? +'5 Jhi1
Micro shutters 424 and 425 are driven by the signal type I/Ui 421 and 422 and the signal type I/Ui 423. The signals to be applied are shown in FIG. 8, and the write period T is 1/2 11! Each common cloth pole has JfiiJTa as a selection period. An ON signal 410 and an OFF signal 411 are applied to the signal 1 pole as data signals during the period Tα.The ON signal 410 is a high frequency fh signal during the period T2.
, T3, the OFF signal 411 is generated at the low frequency f1, and the OFF signal 411 is at the low frequency f1. The common electrode signal 412 is a signal having a phase opposite to that of the ON signal 410 during the selection period, and a signal having a phase opposite to the OFF signal 411 during the non-selection period.

The phase of each frame signal is shifted by half a cycle.

Now, for example, if the common electrode signal 412 is applied to the common electrode 421, and the ON signal and OFF signal are applied for a period of T to the signal electrode 423, the signals applied to the micro shutter 424 will be 413 and 414, respectively. The photoresponses as microshutters are 415 and 41, respectively.
It will be like 6. As shown here, in the present invention, the liquid crystal light) and valve t, the same j-j notification, the pole and the i1-(number 'i
Both 'tLjl'lj and 'tLjl'lj emit light only when a high frequency is applied. Based on the above principle, the present invention is based on the high 111. Does it have a high bud mode? IV. The crystal light valve is shown in Figures 7 and 10.

First, the high note υ! In the 11°f mode, the first micro-shutter pair 406 and 407 performs °C writing.

The common electrode signals 430 and 431 are applied to the common 'IL network 1i401 and 402, respectively, and the common 'jiLMi4
As the OFF signal, a low frequency wave 432 of seven opposite phases is applied to 03 and 404. Then, when a signal 433 corresponding to the data is applied to the signal electrode 405, the micro shutter 406°407
and 408 have electric IJ of 434, 435 and 466 respectively.
: will be applied, and as described above, the microshutters 406 and 407 will open and close during each selection period, regardless of the data signal.

On the other hand, the second micro-shutter pair 408.40 always applies only low frequency to the common electrodes 406, 404.
9 remains completely closed. Therefore, at this time, it is as if there is no row of second micro-shutter pairs 408 and 409, and optical writing is performed using only two rows of first micro-shutter pairs 406 and 407. The microshutters 406 and 407 are arranged in a staggered manner, and one line of printing is performed using the two microshutter arrays. Now, the interval between the microshutters 406 and 407 is l, the scanning period is T1, and the speed of the photoreceptor is 1ul in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 7.
If it moves with v, the micro shutter 406
, 407 are opened and closed every /2T, so in order for the written matching dots to line up on a straight line, t I = (m +-!-)XT, XV
, (m==Q , 1.2...) as 1t'j L
/ Must be. As above, 72 hours shift 1
jf! Since 1<1j method is used, a microshutter with twice the density as shown in FIG. 4 can be driven with the same number of electrodes 1-).

Next, in the high speed mode, the % f-121 micro shutter pair 405, 406 is closed, and the second micro shutter pair 407', 408 performs optical writing. A low frequency 432 is added to the common electrodes 401 and 402, and the common cry 1i
Common electrode signals 450 and 451 are applied to LI:r'4403 and 404, respectively. Therefore, the micro-shutter pair 406, 407 of M'\1 is now closed, and the second micro-shutter pair 408, 409 is opened and closed during the respective J-51 selection periods.

Micro shutters 408 and 409 are used to move the photoreceptor.
They are located on the same straight line in the IJ direction, that is, in the sub-scanning direction, and one line of printing is performed alternately. Therefore, the printing density is half that of the 1 degree mode, so the product position is 11 degrees.
In order to do this, it is necessary to make the area of the second micro-shutter pair 408, 409 N: larger than that of the first one.

On the other hand, in 1゛, b bud IJ [mode, oblique (scanning speed T
In contrast to writing one line in time 1, in high-speed mode two lines are written in time T, and the recording density is halved, so the recording speed is high in the end.
It is four times as long as the i-degree mode.

Therefore, if the moving speed of the photoconductor in the high altitude mode is
v,・i t 2 is Z 2 ” 4 nvT 1
If (n = 1 o 295...), it is 1 far away.

Next, an embodiment and a drive circuit will be described. With this invention, C
We prototyped 16.7 dots/rhm and 83 dots/mm. Damn, +1 streak period Tl = 2m, so V
= 3 cm / sec Considering the ease of making the panel J・^ (Since it is m-2 and rhm1, each is 1
1 = 15011m, t2 = 2401tm. In Figure 11, Ql 1 time tX? Ina showed. The controller 501 selects the double density mode and the eight-way mode. Control? '11: Data request clock from 502 a) 11 in 3-high mode; JvC every 2 m, 1 m in high speed mode 4. If no, it is sent to the external time series pixel 14 generation t11i 510, and the data selector 503 clocks the request clock! The receiver receives the data obtained by υI. When in high-density IW mode, the receiver is 1
Divide the line data into two and send one to the shift register 5
05 and the rest to the data buffer memory 504. The data written in the memory 504 is delayed by two cycles and sent to the shift register 505 alternately every half cycle with the data output from the data selector. After the data entered in the shift register 505 is transferred, it is latched by a latch 506, and the signal selector 507 outputs an ON signal 511 or an OFF signal depending on the latched data.
J″512 is output.

At 1 in the high-speed mode, the input data is alternately divided into one line of data to be sent directly to the shift register 505 and data to be sent to the memory 504, and the data is sent to the memory 504 for 2 mse.
cr! The delayed data and the undelayed data are alternately transferred to the shift register 504, and one line is 1m5e.
Inject i at speed c. 508 is a signal light generation section, ON
Mo No. 1 511. OFF Shinsou 5] 2゜Common electric/I:ii Shinsou etc. are generated.

In addition, printing systems other than optical writing (119) have two promotion settings, and the speeds ① and ② can be switched depending on the mode selection.

As described above, the present invention is an epoch-making device in which one optical writing unit has two modes: high absorption mode and high absorption mode.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 shows the printing mode using a liquid crystal light valve.
An example of I-formation is shown. Figure 2 shows f of the optical signal generation section using a liquid crystal light valve.
7; An example of the composition was shown. 6 and 4 and 1? Figure 5 shows the frequency characteristics of the dielectric anisotropy of the liquid crystal material used in the present invention. Figure 6 shows the frequency characteristics of the liquid crystal material used in the present invention. The response characteristics and the driving signals at that time are shown. Figure 7 shows the h'l composition of the liquid crystal panel having a high-speed, high-density mode according to the present invention. Figure 8 shows the time period adopted in the present invention. :] Drive method I!
, +< both waveforms and a light valley were shown. Figure 9 shows 'l'li, pole (1':
FIG. 10 shows the driving waveform for realizing the double-speed double signal crab mode of the present invention. FIG. 11 shows the driving circuit of the present invention. 101...・Optical signal 1] raw part 102...1 and optical drum 103...developing R;) 105......Tobe imager 110...
・・・・・I1shi Electric Heat g106・・・Fixing part 111・・・Light source 112・・・Numa, crystal panel 11ro・・・・Drive 1 [・h circuit 115...The operating lenses 401, 402, 403, and 404 are each common IJ
I, i11ji i1-! -No.'' 1 I
2 9 ro 9 4406.407...
1st Micro Shutter Bear 408.409... 2nd Micro Shutter Bear and above M'person M9 Hoseikosha Co., Ltd. Agent Patent Attorney Tsutomu Mogami Figure 1 Figure 2 Ash Figure 3 Figure 7 Figure [1 Figure 8

Claims (6)

[Claims] (1) Printing consisting of a liquid crystal light valve consisting of a liquid crystal panel and a liquid crystal drive circuit, a light signal generating section consisting of a light source, an imaging lens, a photosensitive section, a charging section, a developing section, a transfer section, a fixing section, and a part. In the device 14'', the liquid crystal panel is divided into four parts, including a glass plate with common IG terminals 1, 2, 3.4, and a glass moving plate each with a plurality of independent signal electrodes. , each signal 7JL pole is arranged so as to cross and oppose the four common 11I poles, and between them, an optically active 1.1 substance l't is applied to a nematic liquid crystal whose anisotropy becomes zero at room temperature. Each of the signals 1 is made up of a liquid crystal thinning agent added thereto and is composed of each of the signal electrodes and each of the common electrodes.
TI, a printing device characterized by dividing four microshutters per pole into two pairs and printing at mutually different speeds and recording density. (2) The two pairs of micro-shutters are respectively connected to the first . 2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the second micro-shutter pair is driven to perform printing, the other micro-shutter pair is optically closed. (3) When driving the first micro-shutter array consisting of the first micro-shutter bears, this is called a high-density mode, and the first micro-shutter array is arranged in a staggered manner, and its sub-scanning Direction 11) Moon-'th ζ, sub-scanning period of mark lJ! When υ1 is T and the moving speed history of the photoreceptor is ■1, 7 m+ 2) X VI
The printing device according to claim 1, characterized in that X T (m=o, 1.2...). (4) When driving the second micro-shutter array consisting of the 29th micro-shutter bear, this is called a high-speed mode, and the two micro-shutter paths of the second micro-shutter bear are aligned with each other in the sub-scanning direction. 15" A is arranged on the same straight line as , and between them, the sub-scanning period is T and the movement speed of the photoreceptor is 2+. ...
. (5) A patent characterized in that the shutter area of the second micro-shutter pair is larger than that of the first micro-shutter pair;
The printing device described in Section 1. (6) The printing device 1 according to item 1 of the scope of Patent tII, characterized in that the microshutter is driven in a time division manner.
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