Patent ID: 6882454
Filing Date: 2005-04-19
Classification: G02B

Abstract:
1. A multi-beam scanner comprising: a semiconductor laser device having a plurality of laser light sources emitting a plurality of laser beams; a scanning device that scans the laser beams in a predetermined scanning direction at fixed time intervals within a predetermined scanning range; a light-detecting device that receives, at a location within the predetermined scanning range, the laser beams scanned by the scanning device and that outputs a light-reception signal, whose value corresponds to the total amount of light received, the number of laser beams, among the plurality of laser beams, that fall incident on the light-detecting device simultaneously changing as the scanning device scans the laser beams, the light-detecting device outputting the light-reception signal, whose value is greater than or equal to a predetermined synchronization detection level, when the light-detecting device receives the at least two of the laser beams simultaneously; and a synchronization signal outputting device that outputs a synchronization signal indicating a start timing at which the scanning device starts scanning the laser beams when the light-reception signal from the light-detecting device becomes greater than or equal to the predetermined synchronization detection level.