Incremental printing of symbolic information – Light or beam marking apparatus or processes – Scan of light
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-09
2001-12-11
Pham, Hai C. (Department: 2861)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Light or beam marking apparatus or processes
Scan of light
C347S242000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06330019
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus that irradiates a recording medium with light beams and forms an image on this recording medium, and an optical recording head used for this image recording apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
The following image recording apparatus is known: This image recording apparatus irradiates with laser beams a sheet-like recording medium with subliming dyestuff applied on a base film. This image recording apparatus selectively eliminates the subliming dyestuff by the thermal energy of these laser beams forming an image with the subliming dyestuff on the surface of the recording medium.
Such an image recording apparatus uses a drum winded with a recording medium, spins this drum to rotate the recording medium in the main scanning direction. While moving the laser head in the sub-scanning direction it irradiates this recording medium with laser beams. The laser beams irradiated are converged onto the surface of the recording medium by an optical lens.
To improve the processing speed by increasing the number of points recordable at a time, the laser head has an array of a plurality of optical fibers in the sub-scanning direction at regular intervals in a row. Thus, the resolution is determined by the distance between two neighboring optical fibers. To achieve recording with higher resolution, substrates that fix optical fibers may be tilted so as to substantially shorten the distance between two neighboring optical fibers in the sub-scanning direction.
By placing optical fibers in a row in the sub-scanning direction and increasing the number of optical fibers it is possible to increase the number of points recordable at a time improving the recording speed. However, the higher the number of optical fibers, the longer the optical fiber row becomes. When the length of an optical fiber row increases, the difference between the center and ends of the row in the distance between an optical fiber and the recording medium increases. This difference in the distance causes the laser beams to be out of focus deteriorating the picture quality. Furthermore, a longer optical fiber row requires not only an optical system lens of a greater diameter but also a greater laser head.
Furthermore, when tilting the substrates to obtain higher resolution, they must be tilted accurately, which would require the image recording apparatus to be provided with a controller for controlling the inclination of the substrates, which would mean additional costs.
Moreover, improving resolution requires the angle of tilting the substrates to be increased. However, a greater angle may cause the inconvenience of increasing the possibility of different laser beams overlapping one another.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an objective of the present invention to provide an image recording apparatus capable of improving the recording speed and picture quality.
To achieve this objective, the present invention provides a plurality of light sources placed in the sub-scanning direction in multiple stages in the main scanning direction and shortens the distance between the focuses of two neighboring beams irradiated onto the surface of a recording medium in the sub-scanning direction, achieving the formation of an image with high resolution.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide an optical recording head capable of recording images of high picture quality at a high speed with a simple configuration.
To achieve this objective, the present invention makes up a fixing material that fixes terminations of optical fibers of at least 2 flat materials that hold the terminations of optical fibers, forms grooves that position the terminations of optical fibers on at least one side of the flat material above, arranges these grooves on columns along the sub-scanning direction of the recording medium above and fixes the terminations above in such a way that the columns above are stacked in multiple stages in the main scanning direction of the recording medium above. In this way, the present invention provides a plurality of optical fiber terminations arrayed in the sub-scanning direction in multiple stages in the main scanning direction, and places the optical fiber terminations in a matrix form made up of the optical fiber terminations shifted between the upper and lower rows in the sub-scanning direction.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide an optical recording head capable of positioning optical fibers with high precision using a simple configuration.
In order to achieve this objective, the present invention forms grooves on two substrates to fix the optical fibers and positions the optical fibers with high precision using these grooves.
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Greenblum & Bernstein P.L.C.
Matsushita Graphic Communication Systems Inc.
Pham Hai C.
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