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:
May. 15, 2012
Filed:
May. 12, 2011
Akihiro Iwamatsu, Iwate, JP;
Kenichi Yoshimura, Kanagawa, JP;
Kohei Shimizu, Kanagawa, JP;
Tokiko Inoue, Kanagawa, JP;
Mitsuru Nakajima, Kanagawa, JP;
Akihiro Iwamatsu, Iwate, JP;
Kenichi Yoshimura, Kanagawa, JP;
Kohei Shimizu, Kanagawa, JP;
Tokiko Inoue, Kanagawa, JP;
Mitsuru Nakajima, Kanagawa, JP;
Ricoh Company, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An optical scanning device includes a light source; a scanning unit to deflect/scan a laser beam from the light source; an imaging optical system to focus the deflected and scanned laser beam to a scan-target surface; an electro-optic element to electrically change a refractive index thereof; a controller to control the refractive index of the electro-optic element to adjust deflection amount of the laser beam; and a positional shift detecting unit, disposed away from the light path, to detect a positional shift of the incident laser beam from an ideal position in a sub-scanning direction. The device further includes a beam splitting element, and the controller adjusts a deflection amount of the laser beam from the electro-optic element based on a detection result by the positional shift detecting unit and corrects a positional shift in the sub-scanning direction of the laser beam on the scan-target surface.