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:
Sep. 11, 2001
Filed:
Dec. 20, 1999
Akito Yoshimaru, Kanagawa, JP;
Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An optical scanning apparatus includes a plurality of light sources which emit first and second beams. First and second coupling lens units respectively couple the first and second beams emitted by the plurality of light sources. A rotary deflector which has pairs of mutually-opposite reflection surfaces and deflects the first beam in a first direction by one of the reflection surfaces and deflects the second beam in a second direction opposite to the first direction, by another of the reflection surfaces. First and second imaging units scan an image surface of a photoconductive medium along a first half of a main scanning line by focusing and deflecting the deflected first beam onto the image surface, and scan the image surface along a second half of the main scanning line by focusing and deflecting the deflected second beam onto the image surface, such that the first and second halves form a substantially straight scanning line on the image surface when the rotary deflector is rotated.