OPTICAL SENSOR AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS

• US 20130216246A1
• Filed: 02/14/2013
• Published: 08/22/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Hoshi, Fumikazu, Sugawara, Satoru, Oba, Yoshihiro, Ishii, Toshihior
• Application Number:
  US13/766,967
• Publication Number:
  US 20130216246A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 399/45
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/17 Systems in which incident light is modified in accordance with the properties of the material investigated where the material investigated is optically excited causing a change in wavelength of the incident light G01N21/63
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/55 Specular reflectivity
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/5029 by measuring the copy material characteristics, e.g. weight, thickness
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/6591 characterised by the recording material, e.g. plastic material, OHP, ceramics, tiles, textiles details transferring the toner pattern onto particular materials G03G15/1625
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 2215/00616 Optical detector

Abstract

An optical sensor is disclosed. The optical sensor includes a light source in which a semiconductor laser having multiple light-emitting units is sealed with one resin member; a light source driving unit which causes the multiple light-emitting units to emit light; and at least one photodetector which detects a light amount of a light which is emitted from the multiple light-emitting units and is reflected from a subject.

Claims

1. An optical sensor, comprising:

a light source in which a semiconductor laser having multiple light-emitting units is sealed with one resin member;

a light source driving unit which causes the multiple light-emitting units to emit light; and

at least one photodetector which detects a light amount of a light which is emitted from the multiple light-emitting units and is reflected from a subject.

2. The optical sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the light source driving unit temporally changes a magnitude of a drive current which is supplied to the semiconductor laser to temporally change a wavelength of a light emitted from the semiconductor laser.

3. The optical sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one photodetector includes a first photodetector and a second photodetector;

the first photodetector is arranged on an optical path of a light which is specularly reflected from the subject;

the second photodetector is arranged on an optical path of a light which is diffuse reflected from the subject within an incident face in the subject;

a light which is emitted from the light source is a linearly polarized light in a first polarizing direction; and

the optical sensor further includes an optical element which is arranged on an optical path of a diffuse reflected light which moves toward the second photodetector and which transmits a linearly polarized light component in a second polarizing direction which is orthogonal to the first polarizing direction.

4. The optical sensor as claimed in claim 3, wherein the first photodetector configures a first photodetecting system and the second photodetector and the optical element configure a second photodetecting system, the optical sensor further including

a third photodetecting system which includes at least one photodetector which is arranged on an optical path of a tight which is diffuse reflected from the subject within an incident face in the subject;

and

a processing unit which specifies the subject based on an output of the second photodetector and a ratio of outputs of the at least one photodetector of the third photodetecting system and the first photodetector.

5. The optical sensor as claimed in claim 3, wherein the first photodetector configures a first photodetecting system and the second photodetector and the optical element configure a second photodetecting system, the optical sensor further including

a third photodetecting system which includes at least one optical element which is arranged on an optical path of a light which is diffuse reflected from the subject within the incident face in the subject and which transmits a linearly polarized light in the second polarized direction and at least one photodetector which receives a light transmitting through the at least one optical element;

and

a processing unit which specifies the subject based on an output of the first photodetector and a ratio of outputs of the at least one photodetector of the third photodetecting system and the second photodetector.

6. The optical sensor as claimed in claim 3, wherein the first photodetector configures a first photodetecting system and the second photodetector and the optical element configure a second photodetecting system, the optical sensor further including

a third photodetecting system which includes at least one photodetector which is arranged on an optical path of a light which is diffuse reflected from the subject within the incident face in the subject;

and

a fourth photodetecting system which includes at least one optical element which is arranged on an optical path of a light which is diffuse reflected from the subject within the incident face in the subject and which transmits a linearly polarized light in the second polarized direction and at least one photodetector which receives a light transmitting through the at least one optical element; and

a processing unit which specifies the subject based on a ratio of outputs of the at least one photodetector of the third photodetecting system and the first photodetector and on a ratio of outputs of the at least one photodetector of the fourth photodetecting system and the second photodetector.

7. The optical sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the semiconductor laser is a vertical cavity surface emitting laser array in which the multiple light-emitting units are two-dimensionally aligned.

8. The optical sensor as claimed in claim 1, wherein the multiple light-emitting units have at least some portions of light-emitting unit intervals which differ from the other portions of light-emitting intervals with respect to one direction.

9. An image forming apparatus which forms an image on a recording medium, comprising:

the optical sensor claimed in claim 1, which optical sensor discriminates the recording medium as the subject; and

an adjusting apparatus which specifies a brand of the recording medium based on an output of the optical sensor and adjusts an image forming condition in accordance with the specified brand.