Patent ID: 8054502

Claim:
A scanning optical apparatus that scans a scanning plane with a beam by rotating and deflecting the beam emitted from a light source, comprising: a determination unit which determines, for each pixel, an amount of correction of an image clock for controlling an output timing of the beam, wherein each pixel forming one line along a main scanning direction of the beam; a correction unit which corrects an image clock for each pixel in accordance with the determined amount of correction by the determination unit; a creating unit which creates an image signal in accordance with the corrected image clock that has been corrected by the correction unit; and a drive control unit that controls driving of the light source in accordance with the image signal created by the creating unit; said determination unit including: a storage unit which, for each main scanning area that is formed by dividing one line along the main scanning direction into a plurality of areas, stores change rate data representing a rate of change of the amount of correction to be applied to pixels included in the relevant main scanning area; and a correction amount calculating unit which, for each main scanning area, reads out the corresponding change rate data from said storage unit, and calculates an amount of correction for each pixel in accordance with the read out change rate data.