Patent ID: 7247841

Claim:
A light scanning apparatus comprising: a light source that emits light in a first direction; a light source controller to control an on/off operation of the light source; a light deflector deflecting light emitted from the light source; an image formation optical system to direct light deflected by the light deflector on a scan area of a to-be-scanned surface; a synchronous signal detector receiving the light emitted from the light source and to detect a synchronous signal for light scanning; and a light path changer to change a path of light emitted from the light source and incident upon the light deflector, the light path changer comprising a first reflection mirror that reflects the light emitted from the light source and a second reflection mirror that re-reflects the light reflected by the first reflection mirror so that the re-reflected light advances toward the light deflector in a second direction, wherein the first and second directions are not parallel to one another.