Patent ID: 6853397

Claim:
An image forming device in which a plurality of multi-beam lasers in which a plurality of light-emitting sections are arranged in two dimensions are arranged; a plurality of photosensitive bodies are arranged corresponding to the multi-beam lasers; latent images are formed on each photosensitive body by scanning a plurality of optical beams emitted from the plurality of multi-beam lasers for exposing the plurality of photosensitive bodies, using optical scanning systems comprising mirrors which return the plurality of optical beams; and a plurality of images formed on each photosensitive body after developing the latent images are overlapped and are output as a single image, wherein the optical scanning systems comprise one or more of the returning mirrors per the multi-beam laser, and directions of the multi-beam lasers and the number of the returning mirrors for each multi-beam laser are set so that each of the photosensitive bodies has the same arrangement, in the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction, of a plurality of optical beams emitted from the multi-beam lasers, on the photosensitive bodies.