Incremental printing of symbolic information – Light or beam marking apparatus or processes – Scan of light
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-09
2001-06-05
Le, N. (Department: 2861)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Light or beam marking apparatus or processes
Scan of light
C347S256000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06243125
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to an optical printer head for an optical printer such as a color video printer or the like, and more particularly to an optical printer head adapted to substantially prevent generation of a ghost due to light reflected by a peripheral surface of a light passage hole formed through a filter holder for holding filters thereon so as to act as a light path.
An optical printer for forming a desired image on a record medium such as, for example, a color film or the like is known in the art. Typical one of such optical printers has a fluorescent luminous tube incorporated therein so as to act as a light source. The optical printer is so constructed that light emitted from the fluorescent luminous tube is guided through red, green and blue color filters selectively changed over, resulting in light of the three primary colors being obtained, which is then subject to writing on a record medium such as a color film or the like, leading to formation of a full-color image thereon.
Now, such an optical printer will be described with reference to FIG.
15
. An optical printer generally designated at reference numeral
50
in
FIG. 15
includes an optical printer head
100
which is reciprocated in a sub-scanning direction A with respect to a record medium W such as a color film or the like arranged at a predetermined position by transfer means
51
. The transfer means
51
includes guide means (not shown) for guiding the optical printer head
100
in the sub-scanning direction A, a pair of pulleys
53
on which a drive belt
52
is wound in a manner to extend therebetween, and a drive motor
54
for rotating one of the pulleys
53
. The optical printer head
100
is fixed on the drive belt
52
and the drive motor
54
is driven to circulate the drive belt
52
, so that the optical printer head
100
is moved in the sub-scanning direction A while being guided by the guide means. The optical printer head
100
is received in a housing (not shown) together with the record medium W. A plurality of such color films each acting as the record medium W are held at a predetermined position and outwardly discharged while being interposed between carrier rollers
55
after they are subject to writing by means of light emitted from the optical printer head.
Now, the optical printer head
100
will be described more detailedly with reference to
FIGS. 16 and 17
. The optical printer head
100
, as shown in
FIG. 16
, includes a fluorescent luminous tube
101
including a plurality of luminous dots for emitting linear light and acting as a light source and a filter holder
102
for holding a red color filter R, a green color filter G and a blue color filter B thereon. The fluorescent luminous tube
101
and the filter holder
102
are housed in a housing
103
. Also, the optical printer head
100
includes a selfoc lens array
104
arranged above the housing
103
for forming incident light into an erected real image at an equi-magnification.
The housing
103
, as shown in
FIG. 16
, is provided with an opening
105
, which is mounted thereon with a bottom plate
106
while the fluorescent luminous tube
101
and filter holder
102
are kept received in the housing
103
, so that the housing
103
and bottom plate
106
cooperate with each other to constitute a box-like base
107
. The filter holder
102
is formed with a plurality of filter holding holes
108
in parallel to each other and in a manner to extend in a main scanning direction perpendicular to the sub-scanning direction A in which the optical printer head
100
is transferred. The color filters R, G and B are held in the thus-formed filter holding holes, respectively.
The color filters R, G and B are selectively changed over by sliding the filter holder
102
along an upper surface of a glass plate
101
a
of the fluorescent luminous tube
101
and a wall surface of an opening
105
of the housing
103
in the sub-scanning direction indicated at arrow A in
FIG. 16
, so that any desired one of red, green and blue colors may be selected. The selfoc lens array
104
is provided by constructing a plurality of selfoc lenses into a single module.
Unfortunately, the conventional optical printer head
100
constructed as described above causes an end of the upper surface of the glass plate
101
a
of the fluorescent luminous tube
101
to tend to be caught in the filter holding holes
108
for holding the color filters R, G and B therein as shown in
FIG. 17
, when the filter holder
102
is slid in the sub-scanning direction A to carry out changing-over among the color filters R, G and B.
Sliding of the filter holder
102
under such circumstances causes the filter holder to be shaved to produce dust, because it is made of a resin material. The thus-produced dust adheres to a surface of the color filters R, G and B. Adhesion of the dust to the filters keeps light emitted from the fluorescent luminous tube
101
from satisfactorily permeating through the color filters R, G and B, to thereby fail to permit the light to be formed into a normal image on the color film acting as the record medium W, leading to a deterioration in quality of the image.
Also, it is needed to replace the fluorescent luminous tube
101
, when the fluorescent luminous tube
101
is deteriorated in function to a degree sufficient to fail to exhibit satisfactory performance. Such replacement requires to detach the bottom plate
106
from the housing
103
. However, this causes the color filters R, G and B to be exposed to an ambient atmosphere, resulting in dust contained in an ambient atmosphere adhering to the color filters R, G and B, so that quality of the image is further deteriorated.
In view of the foregoing, the inventors proposed an optical printer head which is capable of solving the above-described problems. The optical printer head is also constructed in such a manner that filters are small-sized to provide a portable optical printer. Now, the optical printer proposed will be described with reference to
FIGS. 18 and 19
, wherein
FIG. 18
is an exploded perspective view of the optical printer head and
FIG. 19
is a sectional side elevation view of the head.
The optical printer head generally designated at reference numeral
1
in
FIGS. 18 and 19
, as shown in
FIG. 19
, is so constructed that only a filter holder
2
on which red, green and blue color filters R, G and B are held is received in a housing
3
. Also, the optical printer head
1
includes a selfoc lens array (hereinafter also referred to as “SLA”)
4
arranged above the housing
3
so as to form incident light into an erected real image at an equi-magnification, as well as a fluorescent luminous tube
5
arranged below the housing
3
so as to act as a light source.
The housing
3
, as shown in
FIG. 19
, is formed with an inner space
3
a
which is open on a side of a rear surface of the housing
3
. The housing
3
has an upper wall formed with an elongated communication hole or light passage hole
6
communicating with the inner space
3
a
in a manner to extend in parallel to a main scanning direction perpendicular to a sub-scanning direction A, as shown in FIG.
19
.
The filter holder
2
, as shown in
FIG. 18
, includes a flat section
2
a
and an operation element
2
b
. The flat section
2
a
is formed thereon with three elongated filter holding holes or light passage holes
7
(
7
a
,
7
b
and
7
c
) so as to extend in a direction of arrangement of luminous dots
5
a
and
5
b
of the fluorescent luminous tube
5
described hereinafter and in a manner to be parallel to each other at equal intervals. The filter holding holes
7
each have a width in the sub-scanning direction A formed into a size sufficient to permit light emitted from the luminous dots
5
a
and
5
b
of the fluorescent luminous tube
5
to pass therethrough. The filter holding holes
7
a
,
7
b
and
7
c
has the color filters R, G and B held therein, respectively. The color filters R, G and B permit lights at predetermined wavelengths or red light, green light and blu
Kato Hideo
Kimura Yuuichi
Nakahara Toshiaki
Yuge Tomohiko
Futaba Denshi Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
Le N.
Oblon & Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt P.C.
Pham Hai C.
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