Incremental printing of symbolic information – Light or beam marking apparatus or processes – Scan of light
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-30
2002-11-12
Pham, Hai (Department: 2861)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Light or beam marking apparatus or processes
Scan of light
C347S255000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06480218
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a printer for a recording material, and in particular, to a printer for a recording material in which an image is formed by using a reflecting means such as a digital micro-mirror device or a D-ILA device.
In recent years, image processing technology based on a personal computer etc. has made a progress, for example, in plate-making or photoengraving, without forming a film for plate-making, directly forming a plate for printing has been in practice. In order to form a printing plate directly in this way, exposure technology using a digital imaging light is remarked.
Such a digital imaging light is controlled for each pixel by a digital micro-mirror device (reflecting means) having a number of small pieces of micro-mirrors (micro-reflectors), each of which is capable of varying the reflection angle of a bundle of rays, arrayed in the directions of rows and lines. Such a digital micro-mirror device is now put on the market, for example, with a trade name called DLP from Texas Instruments Inc. in USA, and also a digital projector using this device is put on the market. On the other hand, a D-ILA device having a similar function is also known as a reflecting means.
Further, it has been heretofore known to use such a digital micro-mirror device in the exposure of a recording material (for example, by the publications of unexamined patent application H10-104953 and H9-164727), and a printer for a recording material using this has been provided to the market.
Incidentally, for an image forming apparatus in which an image is formed by applying a digital imaging light to a recording material, a laser exposure apparatus using a laser beam, etc. can be cited, but these have the defect that they are comparably high-priced and weak against vibration. On the contrary, an image forming apparatus which carries out the formation of an image using a digital micro-mirror device has an advantage that it has stability in exposure, ease of operation, a reasonable cost of the apparatus. However, there is a problem that it is inferior in image quality. The reason will be explained in the following.
In the digital micro-mirror device, one micro-mirror has a small size of 16 &mgr;m×16 &mgr;m, but the number of pixels included in a digital micro-mirror device which is generally put on the market is 600×800 pixels, 1280×1024 pixels, or 208×1152 pixels; this is sufficient for use in a projector or the like, but it is not suitable for forming a high-quality image on a recording material.
For example, assuming that the whole surface of a recording material having a width of 250 mm is exposed by using a digital micro-mirror device having the largest number of pixels in a line (2048 pixels), the number of pixels (number of dots) per 2.54 cm (1 inch) becomes 205 (205 dpi).
This number of dots is sufficient for use in a digital projector or a high definition TV, but it is not sufficient for a recording material which requires 600 to 3000 as the number of pixel data per 2.54 cm (per 1 inch) in some uses. For this reason, in a conventional printer for a recording material, by limiting the enlargement magnification from the digital micro-mirror device, that is, by limiting the width of the recording material to be exposed (namely, the maximum image width), image quality is kept at or over a certain value. Against this, it would be very convenient if an image could be formed on a recording material having a broader width by using this method.
In order to form an image on a recording material having a broader width without lowering image quality, it can be thought of to increase the number of micro-mirrors in one side of a single digital micro-mirror device to a large degree. However, it is not desirable to particularly manufacture such a digital micro-mirror device because it brings about the increase of cost.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of this invention, by using a reflecting means such as a digital micro-mirror device or a D-ILA device, to provide a printer for a recording material capable of forming an image on a recording material having a broader width with the image quality kept at a certain level.
Further, in the case where exposure is done using a digital imaging light, it is necessary to make a suitable exposure control for the conveying of a recording material; there is a problem, for example, how the fluctuation of conveyance speed etc. should be corrected.
It is another object of this invention, by using a digital imaging light, to provide a digital printer for a recording material capable of forming a high-quality image at a lower cost.
Accordingly, to overcome the cited shortcomings, the abovementioned objects of the present invention can be attained by a printer, a light splitting device and a method described as follow.
(1) A printer for recording an image on a recording material, comprising: a light source to emit irradiation light; a reflecting device to reflect the irradiation light, the reflecting device being integrated with a plurality of micro-reflectors, which are arrayed in two-dimensional directions of rows and lines, and each of which is independently controllable to vary a reflection angle of the irradiation light emitted from the light source; a light splitter to split reflection light reflected by the reflecting device; a light guide to guide the reflection light, split by the light splitter, to a predetermined position on the recording material; and a conveying device to move the recording material in a predetermined direction.
(2) A light splitting device used for recording a digital image on a recording material, comprising: a light developing element to split an irradiation light, having a two-dimensional surface comprising directions of rows and lines for receiving the irradiation light, and to form the irradiation light in a line.
(3) A method for recording a digital image onto a recording material, comprising the steps of: emitting irradiation light from a light source; reflecting the irradiation light by reflecting device integrated with a plurality of micro-reflectors, arrayed in two-dimensional directions of rows and lines, each of which is independently controllable to vary a reflection angle of the irradiation light emitted from the light source; splitting reflection light reflected by the reflecting device; guiding the reflection light, split in the splitting step, to a predetermined position on the recording material; and moving the recording material in a predetermined direction with respect to the reflection light, guided in the guiding step.
Further, to overcome the abovementioned problems, other printers and methods, embodied in the present invention, will be described as follow.
The first printer for a recording material of this invention is a printer for a recording material for making the recording material exposed to a digital image, and is characterized by it that said printer comprises
a light source for emitting an irradiation light,
reflecting means having a plurality of micro-reflectors, integrated two-dimensionally in the row direction and in the line direction in a manner such that the reflection angle of each of them can be independently controlled, for reflecting the irradiation light from said light source at the surface of said micro-reflectors,
splitting means for splitting the reflected light from said reflecting means into a plurality of parts,
means for conducting the plural parts of the reflected light obtained by said splitting means to specified positions respectively on the recording material, and
moving means for moving said recording material to a specified direction.
The second printer for a recording material of this invention is a printer for a recording material for making the recording material exposed to a digital image, and is characterized by it, that said printer comprises
a light source for emitting an irradiation light,
reflecting means having a plurality of micro-reflectors, integrated two-dimensionally in the row direction and in the line
Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner L.L.P.
Konica Corporation
Pham Hai
LandOfFree
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