Minolta Company, Ltd.

Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.

Takatoshi Hamada

Makoto Obayashi

Yoshikazu Watanabe

Tatsuya Eguchi

Hiroshi Hiraguchi

Yohei Yamada

Syuji Maruta

Kazuyoshi Noguchi

Yasuomi Mitsui

Takeshi Satake

Masaaki Goto

Masayuki Tanaka

Masao Naito

An image forming apparatus includes a temperature sensor detecting an operating ambient temperature of the polygon motor, and a controller controlling the polygon motor and the paper feed mechanism. If the temperature detected by the temperature sensor is equal to or greater than a preset temperature, the controller controls, before operation for giving a command to start image formation is performed, the polygon motor to rotate; increases, in response to the operation, a rotational speed of the polygon motor up to a rated speed; and controls the paper feed mechanism to start conveying a sheet of paper at a time when a period of time variable depending on the detected temperature has elapsed, the period of time being preset to be shorter as the detected temperature increases, in expectation of a time required for the rotational speed of the polygon motor to reach the rated speed.

Image forming apparatus and method for controlling the image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus which has a plurality of image forming stations arranged in parallel, each of the image forming stations having a photosensitive drum, and which forms a desired image by combining toner images formed on the photosensitive drums. A laser scanning optical system deflects and scans a plurality of laser beams concurrently with a single polygon mirror to irradiate the photosensitive drums. In a monochromatic mode, the rotation speed of the photosensitive drum for forming a black image is changed higher, and synchronization of writing in a main scanning direction is performed by using one of the laser beams irradiating the other photosensitive drums of which rotation speeds are not changed.

Image forming apparatus

The present invention provides a tandem-style image forming apparatus that has multiple image forming units and a controller that controls the rotation of the polygon mirrors of the image forming units, wherein during image formation, the controller performs steady rotation control for the polygon mirrors of the image forming units used for image formation, and where a color image forming session is performed after a monochrome image formation session is completed, the controller performs steady rotation control for polygon mirrors of the image forming units used for color image formation but not for monochrome image formation a prescribed period of time prior to the commencement of image formation by such image forming units, thereby extending the useful lives of the motors that drive the polygon mirrors and producing high-quality color images.

An image forming apparatus includes a light source for emitting light constituting an optical signal, an optical waveguide for conducting the light emitted by the light source and an engine portion for receiving the light conducted by the optical waveguide. The engine portion includes a modulator for modulating the received light and a target on which an image corresponding to the optical signal is formed by being exposed by the modulated light.

Image forming apparatus in which light emitted by an exposing light source is conducted by an optical waveguide

An image forming apparatus is provided which not only transmits optical signals of image information and optical signal for synchronizing from the video controller to the print engine using a single optical fiber and without using a special synchronization optical fiber, but also transmits a synchronizing optical signal reflected by the SOS mirror on the print engine side simultaneously in the reverse path to the video controller, such that the number of lines are reduced in the layout, external noise and emitted noise are reduced, and the interior of the image forming apparatus is consolidated making handling and assembly easier. The apparatus transmits optical signals over an optical fiber, scans a photosensitive drum via a beam emitted from the optical fiber and detects the beam at a detection position disposed outside the image region, and synchronizes the main scan direction based on the detected beam.

Image forming apparatus using a single optical fiber to transmit electrical signals

A multi-beam image recording apparatus changes a diameter of a laser beam using a beam diameter changing board, an order in which the line data is to be read from the memory unit, a rotational speed of a polygon mirror, and a clock frequency employed when the image data is read in units of pixels, in accordance with the specified resolution. Accordingly, the multi-beam image recording apparatus can switch between the resolutions without changing a distance between the centers of two laser beams emitted from an optical system. The resolution switching can be achieved with high accuracy at low costs.

Multi-beam image recording apparatus

In an image forming apparatus employing a multi-beam method, the total emission period of time is stored for each laser beam. In accordance with the total emission periods of the laser beams, the laser beam used for SOS is switched, so that the total emission periods are kept almost equal to each other. When the laser beam used for the SOS is switched, the adjustment processing for correcting misalignment of the laser beams in the main scanning direction is changed in accordance with the current laser beam used for the SOS, and the emitting order of the laser beams for the APC is also accordingly changed.

Optical laser scanning device and image forming apparatus having the optical laser scanning device

A method and apparatus for high resolution multibeam scanning at constant line intervals is disclosed, wherein simultaneous transfer of image data is achieved via multibeam scanning. According to the present invention, exposure scanning is accomplished a plurality of times relative to a single image surface of n scan lines. Each exposure scan is accomplished simultaneously relative to the total M lines using M individual light beams. Each of M individual beams are positioned such that there is a distance of M lines between adjacent beams. Each individual laser beam is used for exposure scanning of mutually different lines. Therefore, the scan lines of the various beams in a next scan cycle are apart (M-1) lines from the scan lines in the previous scanning cycle. In one embodiment of the invention, an image memory controller reads out image data from an image memory in the scan sequence rather than in the line array sequence. In another embodiment of the invention, the image memory controller reads out image data from an image memory in the line array sequence.

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Toyokawa, Japan

Takatoshi Hamada