Color printer and exposure head therefor

Details Color printer and exposure head therefor Color printer and exposure head therefor

1999-05-13

2001-02-27

Nguyen, Thinh (Department: 2861)

Incremental printing of symbolic information

Light or beam marking apparatus or processes

Scan of light

C347S237000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06195115

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a color printer and an exposure head therefor. More specifically, the present invention relates to an exposure head and a printer for obtaining color prints by exposing color photosensitive material to color light.
2. Description of the Related Art
Color printers for obtaining color prints by 2-dimensionally scanning color photosensitive material by laser beams of 3 colors namely R (Red), G (Green) and B (Blue) have been known.
This 2-dimensional scan by each of the RGB-color laser beams in such color printers is carried out by deflecting the laser beams with a photodeflector such as a rotational polygon mirror to cause the beams to scan the material in the main scan direction while moving the photosensitive material relative to the laser beams in the vertical scan direction approximately orthogonal to the main scan direction.
In the scanning method in such conventional color printers for obtaining color prints by the 2-dimensional scan with the 3-color laser beams deflected by the rotational polygon mirror or the like, a laser beam source for emitting the beams is necessary. Since the laser beam sources are expensive, color printers using them are also expensive. Furthermore, since the laser beam scanning optical systems are large, color printers using them are also large. Moreover, they have difficulty with respect to registration of the RGB-color laser beams on the photosensitive material.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been created based on consideration of the above problems. An object of the present invention is to provide an exposure head for a color printer enabling size reduction and cost reduction of the color printer and to provide a color printer using such an exposure head.
An exposure head of the present invention is used to obtain a color print by exposing a color photosensitive material to color light and comprises
linearly-aligned organic EL(electro-luminescent) elements each representing a pixel of a color image and composed of a combination of a plurality of organic EL's each emitting different color light.
In other words, the exposure head of the present invention comprises the organic EL elements each representing a pixel of a color image and composed of the plurality of organic EL's (subpixels) emitting light of R, G or B respectively, for example.
It is preferable for the organic EL elements composing the exposure head to be formed integrally on one substrate by using a semiconductor technique.
A color printer of the present invention comprises the exposure head described above for exposing the color photosensitive material and a driver for causing each of the organic EL elements to emit light in accordance with input color image information, and vertical scan means for moving the color photosensitive material relative to the exposure head in the vertical scan direction.
The exposure head of the present invention is formed by aligning the organic EL elements. Therefore, a light source for a printer which is smaller and less expensive than a laser beam source can be provided. Furthermore, if organic EL's having stronger luminance are used, an exposure head having higher efficiency can be composed. Moreover, when the exposure head is manufactured, if the organic EL elements are integrally formed on one substrate by using a semiconductor technique, an exposure head having high resolution of more than 1200 dpi, for example, can be manufactured easily.
Therefore, by using this exposure head in the color printer, it becomes possible to produce color printers that are smaller and less expensive than those using conventional laser beam sources. If high-luminance organic EL's are used for the exposure head, high speed printers can be manufactured.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4270149 (1981-05-01), Ohta et al.
patent: 5424560 (1995-06-01), Norman et al.
patent: 5936657 (1999-08-01), Fork
patent: 6072517 (2000-06-01), Fork et al.
patent: 6133933 (2000-10-01), Paoli
“Organic EL Development Strategy”, Next Generation Display Device Research Group, Science Forum Publishers, 1992.
“Consideration of Achievement and Implementation Strategy of Organic EL”, Proceedings of Organic EL Electronics Material Meeting at Hotel Tenbo, Ikaho Hot Spring, Gunma Pref., Japan, 1995.

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