Scanner

Details Scanner Scanner

1994-11-18

1997-03-04

Phan, James

Optical: systems and elements

Deflection using a moving element

Using a periodically moving element

359201, 347225, G02B 2608

Patent

active

056085630

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a scanner, and particularly to an apparatus which increases a speed of scanning by a laser beam in a laser marker for marking at a higher speed.


BACKGROUND ART

There has been a demand for marking at a higher speed by a laser marker in recent years. A technique for attaining a higher speed of this kind is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-268988. According to that technique, the display plane of a liquid crystal mask is divided into upper and lower halves in a laser marker. Upon the completion of the scanning of an upper half and the initiation of the scanning of a lower half, the replacement of a pattern of marking for the upper half is also initiated.
The aforesaid technique surely improves the speed of pattern replacement, but does not contribute anything to the attainment of a higher speed in terms of time required for scanning because scanning itself is executed over an entire image plane.


SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus which is capable of increasing the scanning speed itself.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a scanner which executes a primary scanning of a predetermined image plane in the X direction and executes secondary scanning in the Y direction perpendicular to the X direction, the scanner including storage means for storing in advance Y positions for which a primary scan is to be executed out of all of the Y positions in the image plane, position detecting means for detecting a Y position which is currently being primary scanned, and secondary scanning control means which, based on the result of detection by the position detecting means, reads from the stored information in the storage means the next Y position to be primary scanned and which starts primary scanning at the thus read next Y position as soon as the primary scanning of the Y position being currently primary scanned is complete.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a similar scanner wherein the order of secondary scanning is obtained in advance based on Y positions to be primary scanned out of all of the Y positions in the image plane, and primary scanning is executed at each Y position in the thus obtained order of secondary scanning.
In a construction according to the first aspect of the present invention, the Y positions, where no primary scanning is executed in the image plane, are removed, and only the Y positions to be primary scanned are stored in advance. On the other hand, the Y position which is currently being primary scanned is detected. Then, based on that result, the next Y position to be primary scanned is read from the stored information, and the primary scanning of the thus read next Y position is started as soon as the primary scanning of the Y position currently being primary scanned is complete, thus making it possible to execute the scanning at a higher speed.
Also, in a construction according to the second aspect of the present invention, the Y positions in the image plane are thinned out, based on the Y positions to be primary scanned, by removing the Y positions which are not to be primary scanned, thereby obtaining the order of secondary scanning in advance. Primary scanning is executed at each Y position in the thus obtained order of secondary scanning, thus making it possible to execute the scanning at a higher speed.


BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a view which illustrates a scanner of a laser marker according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a view which illustrates how a laser beam scans the display plane of a liquid crystal mask of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a view which illustrates a pattern of marking;
FIG. 4 is a flow chart which illustrates the processing of a first embodiment to be executed by the controller of FIG. 1; and
FIG. 5 is a flow chart which illustrates the processing of a second embodiment to be executed by the controller of FIG

REFERENCES:
patent: 4952034 (1990-08-01), Azusawa et al.
patent: 5309273 (1994-05-01), Mori et al.

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