Image forming apparatus with array-formed recording elements

Claim 1

An apparatus for forming an image on a silver halide light sensitive material, comprising: a group of recording elements including a plurality of recording elements aligned in an array form of at least a single line, each recording element emitting light onto the silver halide light sensitive material; a memory in which correction data to eliminate irregularities in light amount among the plurality of recording elements are stored for each recording element; and a control apparatus for correcting image data of each pixel based on the correction data for each recording element, and for controlling each recording element so as to emit light intermittently plural times for each pixel in accordance with the corrected image data, wherein the control apparatus divides the plurality of recording elements into plural sub-groups and controls the plurality of recording elements in such a way that while one sub-group of the plurality of recording elements is in an operable condition as working elements, neighboring recording elements of another sub-group located next to the working elements are controlled to be in an inoperable condition as non working elements.

Claim 2

An apparatus for forming an image on a silver halide light sensitive material, comprising: a group of recording elements including a plurality of recording elements aligned in an array form of at least a single line, each recording element emitting light onto the silver halide light sensitive material; a memory in which correction data to eliminate irregularities in light amount among the plurality of recording elements are stored for each recording element; and a control apparatus for correcting image data of each pixel based on the correction data for each recording element, and for controlling each recording element so as to emit light intermittently plural times for each pixel in accordance with the corrected image data, wherein the control apparatus divides the plurality of recording elements into plural sub-groups and controls the plurality of recording elements in such a way that while one sub-group of the plurality of recording elements is in an operable condition as working elements, neighboring recording elements of another sub-group located next to the working elements are controlled to be in an inoperable condition as non working elements.

Claim 8

An apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium comprising: a group of recording elements including a plurality of recording elements aligned in an array form of at least a single line; and a control apparatus for controlling each recording element so as to be driven plural times for each pixel in accordance with image data, said control apparatus controlling the plurality of recording elements such that while one of the plurality of recording elements is in an operable condition as a working element, neighboring recording elements located next to the working element are controlled to be in an inoperable condition as non working elements, wherein the group of recording elements comprises a vacuum fluorescent tube array whose anode voltage and grid voltage are controllable, and wherein the control apparatus controls the vacuum fluorescent tube array so as to be driven under a condition such that the ratio of the anode voltage to the grid voltage is 0.3 to 0.9.

Claim 9

An apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium comprising: a group of recording elements including a plurality of recording elements aligned in an array form of at least a single line; and a control apparatus for controlling each recording element so as to be driven plural times for each pixel in accordance with image data, said control apparatus controlling the plurality of recording elements such that while one of the plurality of recording elements is in an operable condition as a working element, neighboring recording elements located next to the working element are controlled to be in an inoperable condition as non working elements, wherein the group of recording elements comprises a vacuum fluorescent tube array whose anode voltage and grid voltage are controllable, and wherein the control apparatus controls the vacuum fluorescent tube array so as to be driven under a condition such that the ratio of the anode voltage to the grid voltage is 0.3 to 0.9.

Claim 10

An apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium comprising: a group of recording elements including a plurality of recording elements aligned in an array form of at least a single line; and a control apparatus for controlling each recording element so as to be driven plural times for each pixel in accordance with image data, said control apparatus controlling the plurality of recording elements such that while one of the plurality of recording elements is in an operable condition as a working element, neighboring recording elements located next to the working element are controlled to be in an inoperable condition as non working elements, wherein a driven amount of each recording element is corrected so as to eliminate deviation in the driven amount, wherein light amount data of each recording element is obtained while the plurality of recording elements are driven, a correction value is determined for each recording element based on the light amount data, and the driven amount of each recording element is corrected based on the correction value, and wherein the recording medium comprises a silver halide light sensitive material, each recording element emits light to expose the silver halide light sensitive material while the plurality of recording elements are driven, and the light amount data is obtained by measuring density data on the exposed silver halide light sensitive material.

Claim 11

An apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium comprising: a group of recording elements including a plurality of recording elements aligned in an array form of at least a single line; and a control apparatus for controlling each recording element so as to be driven plural times for each pixel in accordance with image data, said control apparatus controlling the plurality of recording elements such that while one of the plurality of recording elements is in an operable condition as a working element, neighboring recording elements located next to the working element are controlled to be in an inoperable condition as non working elements, wherein a driven amount of each recording element is corrected so as to eliminate deviation in the driven amount, wherein light amount data of each recording element is obtained while the plurality of recording elements are driven, a correction value is determined for each recording element based on the light amount data, and the driven amount of each recording element is corrected based on the correction value, and wherein the recording medium comprises a silver halide light sensitive material, each recording element emits light to expose the silver halide light sensitive material while the plurality of recording elements are driven, and the light amount data is obtained by measuring density data on the exposed silver halide light sensitive material.

Claim 13

An apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium comprising: a group of recording elements including a plurality of recording elements aligned in an array form of at least a single line; and a control apparatus for controlling each recording element so as to be driven plural times for each pixel in accordance with image data, said control apparatus controlling the plurality of recording elements such that while one of the plurality of recording elements is in an operable condition as a working element, neighboring recording elements located next to the working element are controlled to be in an inoperable condition as non working elements, wherein a driven amount of each recording element is corrected so as to eliminate deviation in the driven amount, wherein light amount data of each recording element is obtained while the plurality of recording elements are driven, a correction value is determined for each recording element based on the light amount data, and the driven amount of each recording element is corrected based on the correction value, wherein first light amount data is obtained by measuring a light amount of each recording element while the plurality of recording elements are driven, and wherein second light amount data is obtained by measuring a light amount of each recording element while each recording element is solely driven, and the correction value is determined for each recording element based on the first light amount data and the second light amount data.

Claim 14

An apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium comprising: a group of recording elements including a plurality of recording elements aligned in an array form of at least a single line; and a control apparatus for controlling each recording element so as to be driven plural times for each pixel in accordance with image data, said control apparatus controlling the plurality of recording elements such that while one of the plurality of recording elements is in an operable condition as a working element, neighboring recording elements located next to the working element are controlled to be in an inoperable condition as non working elements, wherein a driven amount of each recording element is corrected so as to eliminate deviation in the driven amount, wherein light amount data of each recording element is obtained while the plurality of recording elements are driven, a correction value is determined for each recording element based on the light amount data, and the driven amount of each recording element is corrected based on the correction value, wherein first light amount data is obtained by measuring a light amount of each recording element while the plurality of recording elements are driven, and wherein second light amount data is obtained by measuring a light amount of each recording element while each recording element is solely driven, and the correction value is determined for each recording element based on the first light amount data and the second light amount data.

Claim 15

An apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium comprising: a group of recording elements including a plurality of recording elements aligned in an array form of at least a single line; and a control apparatus for controlling each recording element so as to be driven plural times for each pixel in accordance with image data, said control apparatus controlling the plurality of recording elements such that while one of the plurality of recording elements is in an operable condition as a working element, neighboring recording elements located next to the working element are controlled to be in an inoperable condition as non working elements, wherein a driven amount of each recording element is corrected so as to eliminate deviation in the driven amount, wherein light amount data of each recording element is obtained while the plurality of recording elements are driven, a correction value is determined for each recording element based on the light amount data, and the driven amount of each recording element is corrected based on the correction value, and wherein the apparatus comprises a plurality of groups of recording elements, and at least one group is controlled to emit light in not less than 512 gradations and not more than 65536 gradations.

Claim 16

An apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium comprising: a group of recording elements including a plurality of recording elements aligned in an array form of at least a single line; and a control apparatus for controlling each recording element so as to be driven plural times for each pixel in accordance with image data, said control apparatus controlling the plurality of recording elements such that while one of the plurality of recording elements is in an operable condition as a working element, neighboring recording elements located next to the working element are controlled to be in an inoperable condition as non working elements, wherein a driven amount of each recording element is corrected so as to eliminate deviation in the driven amount, wherein light amount data of each recording element is obtained while the plurality of recording elements are driven, a correction value is determined for each recording element based on the light amount data, and the driven amount of each recording element is corrected based on the correction value, and wherein the apparatus comprises a plurality of groups of recording elements, and at least one group is controlled to emit light in not less than 512 gradations and not more than 65536 gradations.

Claim 17

An apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium comprising: a group of recording elements including a plurality of recording elements aligned in an array form of at least a single line; and a control apparatus for controlling each recording element so as to be driven plural times for each pixel in accordance with image data, said control apparatus controlling the plurality of recording elements such that while one of the plurality of recording elements is in an operable condition as a working element, neighboring recording elements located next to the working element are controlled to be in an inoperable condition as non working elements, wherein the control apparatus changes a gap distance between nearest working elements in accordance with a density level in the neighborhood of pixels recorded by the working elements, and the nearest working elements are located nearest to each other among the working elements.

Claim 18

An apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium comprising: a group of recording elements including a plurality of recording elements aligned in an array form of at least a single line; and a control apparatus for controlling each recording element so as to be driven plural times for each pixel in accordance with image data, said control apparatus controlling the plurality of recording elements such that while one of the plurality of recording elements is in an operable condition as a working element, neighboring recording elements located next to the working element are controlled to be in an inoperable condition as non working elements, wherein the control apparatus changes a gap distance between nearest working elements in accordance with a density level in the neighborhood of pixels recorded by the working elements, and the nearest working elements are located nearest to each other among the working elements.

Claim 22

An apparatus for forming an image on a silver halide light sensitive material, comprising: red, green and blue recording heads each including a plurality of recording elements aligned in an array form of at least a single line, each recording element emitting light onto the silver halide light sensitive material; and a control apparatus for controlling each recording element so as to emit light intermittently plural times for each pixel in accordance with image data, wherein the control apparatus divides the plurality of recording elements of at least the green recording head into plural groups, and controls the plurality of recording elements such that while one group of the plurality of recording elements is in an operable condition as working elements, neighboring recording elements located next to the working elements are controlled to be in an inoperable condition as non working elements.

Claim 23

An apparatus for forming an image on a silver halide light sensitive material, comprising: red, green and blue recording heads each including a plurality of recording elements aligned in an array form of at least a single line, each recording element emitting light onto the silver halide light sensitive material; and a control apparatus for controlling each recording element so as to emit light intermittently plural times for each pixel in accordance with image data, wherein the control apparatus divides the plurality of recording elements of at least the green recording head into plural groups, and controls the plurality of recording elements such that while one group of the plurality of recording elements is in an operable condition as working elements, neighboring recording elements located next to the working elements are controlled to be in an inoperable condition as non working elements.