Patent ID: 8599892

Claim:
A method of controlling a laser oscillator applicable to a laser processing machine, comprising: a) determining number of modules to be driven for a laser oscillator having a plurality of oscillator modules each adapted to be driven to oscillate a laser beam, the laser oscillator being configured to collect laser beams oscillated by driven modules for output, wherein the step of determining the number of modules to be driven includes: calculating a minimum number of the modules to be driven, based on a required output power of the laser processing machine to perform a given laser processing operation; determining the number of the modules to be driven, according to defined criteria including a criterion requiring that control resolution of an output of the laser oscillator increase by no less than a predetermined proportion when the minimum number of the oscillator modules is/are driven; and setting the number of the modules to be driven to the minimum number if the criterion is met and setting the number of the modules to be driven to all of the plurality of oscillator modules if the criterion is not met.