Patent ID: 8923742

Claim:
A fixing device comprising: a transport member that transports a recording medium in a first direction, the recording medium having on one side thereof an image formed of an image forming material that is to be fixed by absorbing light; a first chip that has a first light-emitting area in which a plurality of light-emitting elements that emit light toward the one side of the recording medium are arranged two-dimensionally; and a second chip that has a second light-emitting area in which a plurality of light-emitting elements that emit light toward the one side of the recording medium are arranged two-dimensionally, wherein a gap between the first light-emitting area and the second light-emitting area extends at a non-orthogonal angle with respect to the first direction, and a portion of the first light-emitting area and a portion of the second light-emitting area overlap each other in the first direction, wherein the first light-emitting area and the second light-emitting area each have a substantially rectangular shape, wherein the substantially rectangular shape has first-length sides and second-length sides wherein the second-length sides are angled by about 45 degrees with respect to the first direction, wherein the gap corresponds to an area extending between one of the second-length sides of the first light-emitting area and one of the second-length sides of the second light-emitting area that faces the one second-length sides of the first light-emitting area, wherein a positive side in the first direction corresponds to a downstream side toward which the recording medium is transported, wherein a positive side in the second direction corresponds to a side of the first chip nearer to the second chip, wherein one of four vertices of the first light-emitting area whose coordinate in the first direction is the smallest and one of four vertices of the second light-emitting area whose coordinate in the first direction is the smallest have the same coordinate in the first direction, wherein one of the four vertices of the first light-emitting area whose coordinate in the first direction is the largest and one of the four vertices of the second light-emitting area whose coordinate in the second direction is the smallest have the same coordinate in the second direction, and wherein the ratio of a length that is the sum of a length of the gap in a direction parallel to the first-length sides and a length of each of the first-length sides to a length of each of the second-length sides is 1:2.