JPH03200917A - Image processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a recording device capable of recording at a plurality of recording densities.

Conventionally, there has been no recording device that reads dot patterns based on code information and performs recording at a plurality of recording densities. In addition, some dot impact type or thermal head type recording devices thin out dot hammers or heating elements, or drive adjacent ones based on the same data, but these devices use the same dot pattern to record images. It was used to enlarge and reduce.

Conventionally, in order to record graphic images, there has been a strong desire to record an entire page at high density to improve print quality, or to record only a portion of the data on a page, such as a logo or signature, with high quality. There are many

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, even if the recording density could be changed because the same dot pattern was used, the image would simply be enlarged or reduced, and the printing quality could not be improved.

The present inventors proposed a recording means of a beam recording device described below as an example of a recording device with variable recording density.

That is, as shown in FIG. 1(A), beams B1-B4
are arranged perpendicular to the beam scanning direction SL, all of the beams B1 to B4 are driven to perform high density recording, and by driving every other beam B1 to B4, low density recording is performed. This is what we do. In such a device, since the positions of all beams can be detected by detecting the position of any one beam, control such as starting beam modulation can be performed extremely easily.

Furthermore, if the beams are arranged perpendicularly to the scanning direction SL in this way, the beam interval itself must be made equal to the pixel interval formed on the recording medium, and the pixel interval is dominated by the beam interval.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1(B), by tilting the beam by θ1 with respect to a straight line LL' perpendicular to the scanning direction, a beam interval Pe wider than the pixel interval PS can be obtained.

Conversely, by changing θ, any pixel interval P
You can also get S. For example, if the angle θ2 is set as shown in FIG. 1(C), the pixel spacing PS2 becomes smaller than Psi, and if θ2 is set so that PS1=2XPS2, twice the scanning density can be obtained.

In this way, the angle θ2 of the multiple beam generator is set so that it is n times the normal recording density (n is an integer of 2 or more), and normally every n of the multiple beams is driven. , all of the plurality of beams can be driven by a specific signal to form a high-density array.

When employing the method described above, the density is changed in the scanning line direction by changing the image clock frequency.

In such recording means, the plurality of beam generators are tilted at an angle of θ with respect to the scanning line direction so that when all the beams of the plurality of beam generators are driven, high density is obtained. Therefore, in the normal mode, high-density recording can be easily achieved by driving every nth beam among the plurality of beams and driving all the plurality of beams by detecting a specific control or a specific control code. For example, if a specific control code is inserted at an arbitrary location within a set of data, high-density recording is possible without time delay.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings, in which the above-described apparatus is used as an example of a recording means.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of a recording device according to the present invention,
1 is a light source unit such as an array laser in which a plurality of semiconductor lasers are arranged in a line.

2 converts the diverging light from the light source unit into a parallel beam L1
+L2 *L3 +L4 This is a condensing lens. 3 is the parallel beam L1 + L2 + L3 mentioned above.
, L4 onto the photosensitive drum 5. Reference numeral 4 denotes an Fθ lens that forms an image of the scanning beam scanned by the rotating polygon mirror on the photosensitive drum. Reference numeral 6 denotes a reflecting mirror placed at the tip of the scanning line to guide the plurality of scanning beams to the beam detector 7. Reference numeral 8 denotes a light shielding plate for accurately detecting the position of the beam. When the beam crosses the edge of the light shielding plate 8, the blocked light suddenly irradiates the beam detector 7, and in response to this beam irradiation, The beam detector 7 outputs the electrical output. The output of the beam detector 7 is amplified by an amplifier 10 as shown in FIG. 3, and further sliced by a slicer 11. The slice level is determined by a potentiometer 12. A beam position detection signal 13 is then output.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a circuit for increasing information processing and recording density of the beam recording apparatus according to this embodiment. 51 is a controller including a microcomputer, 52 is a memory for storing code signals, 53 is a specific code detector,
A dot pattern generator 54 stores a dot pattern having a normal dot density, and a dot pattern generator 55 stores a dot pattern having twice the density of each matrix as that of the generator 54. 58 is an oscillation circuit that generates clock signals of frequencies fl and 2fl, 59 is a gate circuit, 60 to 63 are parallel-to-serial conversion shift registers, and 64 to 67 drive a beam generator. The circuit includes a beam generator 1 that generates a plurality of beams (four beams), and a slicer 11 shown in FIG.

The controller 51 transfers a code signal 52-1 from an external device (not shown) to the memory 52. Once the predetermined amount is reached, the dot pattern generator is accessed and begins recording information. First, the first code signal in a row is applied to a dot pattern generator 54,55. If a control code instructing high-density recording is generated accompanying this code signal, the control code is detected by a specific code detector 53.
is input to. When a specific code is detected, the signal 53-1
is output, making the high-density dot pattern generator 55 ready for operation. On the other hand, the signal 53-2 is not output, rendering the normal density dot pattern generator 54 inoperable. In addition, the detection signal 53-1 is input to the gate circuit 59, which selects a clock 58-2 with a high frequency (2fl) from among the image clocks output from the oscillation circuit 58, and synchronizes it with the beam position detection signal 13. , are added to parallel-to-serial conversion registers 60-63. On the other hand controller 5
1 transmits the code signal 52-1 to the dot pattern generator 54.1.
At the same time as transmitting the signal from the dot pattern generator 55 to the beam position detection signal 13 (substantially in synchronization with the timing when each beam passes through the beam detector), the signal from the dot pattern generator 55 is sent to the parallel-to-serial conversion register 60. .about.63 are sequentially sent out.

The signals loaded into the registers 60-63 become serial image dot signals according to the selected image clock signal 59-1 and are applied to the beam drive circuits 64-67 to drive the multiple beam generator 1, as shown in FIG. information is recorded on the drum 5.

On the other hand, if the specific signal detector 53 does not detect the specific signal, the detection signal 53-1 is not output, and the non-detection signal 5
3-2 is output and the normal density dot pattern generator 5
4 into an operational state. Since the detection signal 53-1 is not output, the gate circuit 59 selects the lower frequency (fl) image clock and applies it to the registers 60-63 in synchronization with the beam position detection signal 13. The output signal of normal density dot pattern generator 54 is applied to parallel-to-serial conversion registers 60 and 62. The controller 51 applies load pulses 51-1 and 51-3 to the parallel-to-serial conversion registers 60 and 62 in synchronization with the beam position detection signal 13. There, it becomes a serial image dot signal and is input to multiple beam generator drive circuits 64 and 66 to operate the multiple beam generators. Since the drive circuits 65 and 67 do not receive the image signals from the parallel-to-serial conversion registers 61 and 63, no beam is generated, and the beam density, that is, the scanning density is in the normal mode.

As described above, according to this embodiment, a specific signal is detected,
By selecting the beam to be driven from among a plurality of beams and changing the image clock frequency, a high-density pattern can be easily recorded at any location on one page of information. At this time, since a high-density dot pattern generator 55 provided separately from the normal density dot pattern generator 54 is used as a dot pattern generator, the image can be recorded at high density without being enlarged or reduced. It is possible to record quality.

In FIG. 1, the case of four beams is shown as an example of a plurality of beams, but the number of beams may be two or more. Also, the number of beams is n, nPS 2 = normal pixel spacing, one beam is driven in normal mode, all n beams are driven in high density mode, and the image clock frequency is multiplied by n. In this case, a pattern with a pixel density n times that of the normal mode can be obtained. Although the scanning line density and the density in the scanning direction were changed at the same time, it is also possible to change only one of them, whichever is more effective as a high-density image.

Further, the recording means whose recording density can be changed (recording is possible at a plurality of recording densities) is not limited to that shown in FIG. 1, and other recording means may be used.

As described above, according to the recording device according to the present invention, high-density recording and normal-density recording can be easily used simultaneously without enlarging or reducing images, and high-quality recording can be achieved during high-density recording. It can be carried out.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 shows scanning with multiple beams, (A) is a front view with the beams aligned in a direction perpendicular to the scanning direction, and (B) and (C) are front views with the beams aligned in a direction non-perpendicular to the scanning direction. It is a diagram. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an example of a beam recording device to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a beam detection circuit, and FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the beam recording device of this embodiment. Here, 1 is a beam generator, 53 is a specific code detector, and 5
4.55 is a dot pattern generator, and 51 is a controller.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A recording device that performs recording based on code information, including a recording means capable of recording at first and second recording densities, and selecting one of the first and second recording densities. a setting means for generating a first dot pattern to be recorded at a first recording density based on the code information; and a first dot pattern generating means for generating a first dot pattern to be recorded at a first recording density based on the code information; a second dot pattern generating means for generating a second dot pattern to be recorded, and when the first recording density is set by the setting means, the recording means generates a second dot pattern based on the first dot pattern. When recording is performed at a first recording density and a second recording density is set by the setting means, the second recording density is set by the setting means.
A recording apparatus characterized in that recording is performed at a second recording density based on a dot pattern.