Patent ID: 7961210

Claim:
An optical scanner used for an image-forming device to form a color image, the image-forming device having a plurality of photosensitive drums for superimposing a developer image formed on each of the plurality of photosensitive drums, comprising: a casing; a plurality of light sources in a one-to-one correspondence with the plurality of photosensitive drums, each of the plurality of light source emitting a laser beam; a deflector provided in the casing for deflecting the laser beam, the deflector comprises a single deflector that deflects all of the laser beams to respective ones of the plurality of photosensitive drums, the single deflector is a rotatable polygon mirror having a plurality of reflecting surfaces, at least two of the plurality of reflecting surfaces simultaneously deflecting and angularly moving the laser beam, respectively, and each of the plurality of reflecting surfaces has a normal; an optical system provided in the casing for guiding the deflected laser beam to a corresponding one of the plurality of photosensitive drums to make the laser beam scan the corresponding one of the plurality of photosensitive drums, the optical system further comprises a scanning lens that makes the laser beam scan on the corresponding one of the plurality of photosensitive drums at a constant linear velocity; and a storage device that stores a characteristic related to the laser beam scanning the corresponding one of the photosensitive drums, and stores an angle formed by the normals of adjacent ones of the plurality of reflecting surfaces.