JP2000326553A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To form a low cost light source, and to reduce manufacturing cost of the apparatus and to make the device compact. SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus comprises light sources 50, 51, 52, modulating means 13, 14, 15 for modulating lights therefrom and a scanning means P2 for emitting and scanning the lights modulated by the modulating means 13, 14, 15 across a recording medium 1, then an image is formed on the recording medium 1. Each of the light sources 50, 51, 52 is constituted of an LED light source. The LED light from the LED light source is emitted and scanned across the recording medium 1, thereby forming an image on the recording medium.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a light source, a modulating means for modulating light from the light source, and a scanning means for irradiating a recording medium with light modulated by the modulating means and scanning the recording medium. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus configured to form an image on a recording medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An image forming apparatus of this type has an advantage that a light emitting element can be reduced by irradiating a recording medium with light and scanning to form an image, so that a light source can be configured at a low cost.

Conventionally, the above-described image forming apparatus includes a laser light source, a modulating means for modulating a laser beam, and a scanning means for irradiating a recording medium with the laser beam modulated by the modulating means and scanning the recording medium. The light source was formed by a laser diode pumped solid laser or gas laser.

[0004]

According to the above-mentioned conventional configuration, there is an advantage that the number of light-emitting elements can be reduced and the light source can be constructed at a low cost by irradiating a recording medium with a laser beam and scanning the recording medium. However, the laser diode-pumped solid-state laser and the gas laser constituting the light source are expensive and large in size, which increases the manufacturing cost and the size of the apparatus.

An object of the present invention is to make the light source inexpensive, reduce the manufacturing cost, and make the apparatus compact.

[0006]

The constitution, operation and effect of the invention according to claim 1 are as follows.

In the image forming apparatus described at the beginning, the light source is constituted by an LED light source, and the recording medium is irradiated with the LED light from the LED light source and scanned to form an image on the recording medium. It is configured to do.

[A] [A] The LED light from the LED light source is modulated by the modulating means, and the modulated LED light is irradiated on the recording medium by the scanning means and scanned to form an image.

[B] As described above, since an image is formed by irradiating the recording medium with the LED light and scanning the light, the number of light emitting elements can be reduced, and the light source can be configured at low cost.

[0010] The LED light source constituting the light source is different from a laser diode pumped solid laser or a gas laser.
Inexpensive and small in size.

[Effects] Therefore, by the above operations [A] and [B], the light source can be constructed at low cost, but the manufacturing cost can be reduced and the apparatus can be made compact.

The construction, operation and effect of the invention according to claim 2 are as follows.

[0013] In the configuration according to the first aspect of the present invention, the light source comprises a red LED light source, a green LED light source and a blue LED light source, and the modulating means modulates each LED light; The means is configured to irradiate and scan the recording medium with each LED light modulated by the modulation means, and to form a color image on the recording medium.

[Function] [C] The LED light from the red LED light source, the green LED light source, and the blue LED light source is modulated by the modulation means, and the modulated LED light is irradiated on the recording medium by the scanning means to be scanned. Thus, a color image is formed on a recording medium.

[D] According to the configuration of claim 2, claim 1 is provided.
The same operation as the operation [b] by the configuration of [1] can be obtained.

[Effects] Therefore, a color image can be formed, and the light source can be configured at a low cost, but the manufacturing cost can be reduced and the apparatus can be made compact.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

An embodiment of a photographic processor (corresponding to an image forming apparatus) according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG.
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the photo processor 100, and FIG. 2 is a control block diagram of the photo processor 100.

<Configuration of Photo Processor> In FIG. 1, the photo processor 100 is roughly divided into an LED light source P1 and an LE
And a D scanning unit P2. The LED light source unit P1 includes an R light LED 50 functioning as a red LED light source and a green light LED 50.
G light LED 51 functioning as ED light source and blue LED
B light LED 52 functioning as a light source, and R light LED 50
R photoacoustic optical element that modulates the red LED light output from the device (hereinafter, acoustooptical element is abbreviated as AOM) 13
G light AOM14 for modulating green LED light, and blue L
B light AOM 15 that modulates ED light, and AOMs 13 and 1
R light AOM driver 16 for driving 4 and 15 respectively
, G light AOM driver 17 and B light AOM driver 1
8 is provided.

R light LED 50, G light, B light LED 51,
A condenser lens 53, 20, 21 is provided in the optical path between the AOM 13, 52, and each of the AOMs 13, 14, 15, so that
The diameters of the beams incident on 14 and 15 are reduced. The modulation speed can be increased by narrowing the beam diameter.

The configuration of the B-light AOM 15 will be briefly described. An acousto-optic medium 15a for producing an acousto-optic effect, a piezoelectric element 15b for outputting ultrasonic waves by a high-frequency signal input from a B-light AOM driver 18, an acousto-optic medium 15a
And an ultrasonic absorber 15c that absorbs the ultrasonic wave that has passed through. Blue LED incident on B light AOM15
The light is diffracted according to the frequency and amplitude of the high-frequency signal from the B light AOM driver 18, and the B light AOM 15 outputs a plurality of diffracted blue LED lights. B
A B light shielding plate 24 is provided on the lower side of the optical path of the light AOM 15 so as to pass only the first-order diffracted light having the highest intensity among the diffracted lights. As described above, B light A
By generating a high-frequency signal corresponding to the image data by the OM driver 18 and supplying the high-frequency signal to the B light AOM 15, the blue LED light can be subjected to light modulation corresponding to the image data. The above points are other AOM1
The same applies to 3 and 14, and an R light shielding plate 22 and a G light shielding plate 23 are provided similarly to the B light shielding plate 24.

The LED light source P1 is provided with a synthesizing means C for synthesizing each LED light. Synthesis means C
Are first mirrors 25 arranged in order from the upper side of the optical path.
, A second mirror 26, and a third mirror 27. The first mirror 25 reflects the red LED light in a direction at a right angle of 90 degrees. The second mirror 26 is a dichroic mirror, and reflects the green LED light in a direction perpendicular to 90 degrees and transmits the red LED light reflected by the first mirror 25. The third mirror 27 is a dichroic mirror that reflects the blue LED light in a direction perpendicular to 90 degrees and transmits the green LED light reflected by the second mirror 26 and the red LED light transmitted through the second mirror 26. Let it. That is, in the optical path lower than the third mirror 27, the respective LED lights are combined.

As described above, the blue LED light is combined with the combining means C.
Are synthesized at the third mirror 27 disposed at the lowermost side in FIG. That is, the chance (number of times) of acting on the mirror is the smallest as compared with the red and green LED lights. This means that the power of the blue LED light, which has the least output, can be effectively used.

<Configuration of LED Scanning Unit> Combined LED
The light is scanned by an LED scanning unit (corresponding to a scanning unit) P2. The LED scanning unit P2 includes a correction mirror 30, a polygon mirror 31, an fθ lens 32, a mirror 33 for controlling a scanning start position, and an optical sensor 34 for detecting LED light reflected from the mirror 33. I have.

The polygon mirror 31 is driven and controlled by a polygon driver 35, and rotates clockwise in FIG. 1 to apply LED light to photographic paper (corresponding to a recording medium).
An image is exposed and formed by scanning (main scanning) on 1. If the polygon mirror 31 is tilted, the quality of the image is degraded. Therefore, a correction mirror 30 is provided to correct the image quality. The correction mirror 30 is driven by a piezoelectric element (not shown) in conjunction with the rotation of the polygon mirror 31. The correction mirror 30 may be a normal reflection mirror, and an optical system including a cylindrical lens for correcting surface tilt may be provided in the optical path between the reflection mirror and the polygon mirror 31.

The fθ lens 32 corrects the LED light deflected at a constant angular velocity by the polygon mirror 31 so that the LED light becomes uniform on the photographic paper 1. Thereby, the distortion is corrected.

The photographic paper 1 is driven in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 1, and a driving mechanism includes a driving roller 40 for nipping the photographic paper 1.
, A pressure roller 41, a pulse motor 42 for driving the drive roller 40, and a motor driver 43.
While transporting the photographic paper 1 in the sub-scanning direction,
A digital image can be exposed and formed by the main scanning of the LED light in the scanning unit P2. Exposed photographic paper 1
Is subjected to well-known development processing and drying processing, cut into prints, and then discharged out of the apparatus.

<Control Block Diagram> FIG. 2 is a control block diagram. The scanner device S is a device for reading an image on the negative film 2, and includes a reading light source 3, an imaging lens 4, a CCD area sensor 5, and a negative film transport roller 6. The read image data is transferred to and stored in the image data storage unit 36 of the photo processor 100. The scanner device S may be integrated with the photo processor 100 or may be a device independent of the photo processor 100. The image data stored in the image data storage unit 36 includes a digital camera 7, a floppy (registered trademark) disk 8,
What is stored in the D-ROM 9 may be imported.

The system controller 37 controls the operation of each part of the photographic processor 100, and FIG. 2 shows main functions. The image data stored in the image data storage unit 36 is stored in each AOM driver 16, 1
The signal is sent to the LEDs 7 and 18 to generate a signal for modulating the LED light. The LED driver 38 includes the LEDs 50 and 5
1 and 52 are driven. The correction mirror driver 39 drives the correction mirror 30 in synchronization with the rotation of the polygon mirror 31, and corrects the surface tilt. Also, the system controller 3
Reference numeral 7 controls the main scanning start position based on a signal from the optical sensor 34.

<Another Embodiment> In the above embodiment, each LE
Although the D light is modulated by the AOM, the structure may be modified so as to directly modulate the voltage by driving the LEDs 50, 51, and 52 instead of this structure.

Although the present invention has been described by taking a photographic processor as an example, the present invention can be applied to, for example, a copying machine.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of an image forming apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a control block diagram of the image forming apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Recording medium 50,51,52 Light source 13,14,15 Modulation means P2 Scanning means

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat II (reference) G03B 27/32 H04N 1/113

Claims (2)

[Claims] A light source; a modulating unit for modulating light from the light source; and a scanning unit for irradiating the recording medium with the light modulated by the modulating unit and scanning the recording medium to form an image on the recording medium. An image forming apparatus, wherein the light source is an LED light source, and the recording medium is irradiated with LED light from the LED light source and scanned to form an image on the recording medium. The configured image forming apparatus. 2. A red LED light source and a green LED light source.
A light source and a blue LED light source.
ED light is configured to be modulated, and the scanning unit is configured to irradiate and scan a recording medium with each LED light modulated by the modulation unit, and is configured to form a color image on the recording medium. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1.