The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 17, 1998
Filed:
Dec. 28, 1994
Applicant:
Inventors:
Assignee:
Minolta Co., Ltd., Osaka, JP;
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G03F / ; H04N / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
382170 ; 382168 ; 358522 ; 358501 ; 358455 ; 358401 ; 358298 ; 358300 ; 358462 ; 358475 ;
Abstract
In a digital image forming apparatus, a document image is read as digital data, and an image type of bi-level image or multi-level image is discriminated from the digital data. For a bi-level image, an intensity of laser beam for exposing a photoconductor is modulated according to the image data with a duty ratio of 100%. On the other hand, for a multi-level image such as a photograph image, the intensity of laser beam is modulated with a duty ratio in the unit of two or more dots according to the image data. The duty ratio and the laser output power are changed according to a type of document image or according to sensitivity characteristic of the photoconductor.