Patent ID: 7538924

Claim:
An optical scanner comprising: a first light source unit group that emits light beams from a plurality of light sources, the light beams from the first light source unit group being incident into a first scanning lens; a second light source unit group that emits light beams from a plurality of light sources, the light beams from the second light source unit group being incident into a second scanning lens; a rotatable deflecting unit that commonly deflects the light beams emitted by the first and second light source unit groups wherein the light beams are all directly incident into the deflecting unit; and a first scanning lens and a second scanning lens, each of which guides a corresponding one of deflected light beams to a corresponding surface to be scanned, the first and second scanning lenses being disposed symmetrically around a center of rotation of the deflecting unit and opposed to each other with the deflecting unit provided therebetween; a housing unit that houses the first and second light source unit groups, the deflecting unit, and the plurality of scanning lenses; and a light shielding unit disposed in the housing unit so as to prevent the reflection and scattering of the light beams deflected from and by the first and second scanning lenses, the light shielding unit being disposed between light beams that fall on the deflecting unit and light beams that are deflected from the deflecting unit so as to not block any light beam directly incident to the deflecting unit and so as to not block any light beams deflected by the deflecting unit at an acute angle, wherein the light shielding unit is disposed between the first and second scanning lenses and the deflector such that the light shielding unit can prevent the reflection and scattering of the light beam that is emitted from the first light source unit group and reflected from the deflecting unit and the surface of incidence of the first scanning lens from being incident into the second scanning lens, and the light shielding unit can prevent the reflection and scattering of the light beam that is emitted from the second light source unit group and reflected from the deflecting unit and the surface of incidence of the second scanning lens from being incident into the first scanning lens, wherein the light shielding unit has a sufficient height that can shield flare lights made by the light beams deflected by both an upper and lower portion of the deflecting unit, and wherein the light shielding unit is disposed outside of an angle formed by the plurality of light sources of the first light source unit group, and outside of an angle formed by the plurality of light sources of the second light source unit group, so as to reduce noise.