Patent ID: 8542262

Claim:
A drive circuit for driving a plurality of light emitting thyristors each including an anode for receiving a drive signal to drive the light emitting thyristor, a cathode connected to ground, and a gate for receiving a control signal to drive the light emitting thyristor in a time division way, comprising: a plurality of drive elements for supplying the drive signal to the anodes of the light emitting thyristors; a plurality of common base lines for flowing the control signal to control on/off of the light emitting thyristors; and a plurality of individual circuits connected to the common base lines for supplying the control signal to the gates of the light emitting thyristors, said individual circuits having a function of shifting a level of the control signal, wherein each of said individual circuits is formed of an n-type conductive switch element having a first switch terminal connected to one of the common base lines, a second switch terminal connected to the gate, and a third switch terminal connected to the second switch terminal for controlling a conductive state between the first switch terminal and the second switch terminal.