Recording apparatus and method utilizing an array of liquid crystal cells
First Claim
1. A recording apparatus comprising:
- a two-dimensional recording head having windows arranged in a matrix form, said windows being capable of controlling the transmission and interception of light in accordance with a binary image signal representing an image and retaining the transmitting and intercepting states;
write control means for applying said image signal to said two-dimensional recording head so that the light transmitting or intercepting state corresponding to the image is written into each of said matrix-arranged windows in accordance with said image signal, said write control means including means for generating an exposure start signal after completion of writing the light transmitting and intercepting states into said two-dimensional recording head;
light irradiating means disposed on one side of said two-dimensional recording head for irradiating said two-dimensional recording head with light;
holding means fixedly positioned on the other side of said two-dimensional recording head for holding a recording medium;
optical image forming means disposed between said two-dimensional recording head and said holding means for forming on said recording medium an optical image represented by the light transmitting and intercepting states of said matrix-arranged windows; and
exposure control means for starting exposure of said recording medium to the optical image formed thereupon in response to said exposure start signal and controlling the exposure so that the total quantity of light which has been irradiated on said two-dimensional recording head since the generation of said exposure start signal becomes equal to a predetermined exposure value.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A two-dimensional recording head is provided which controls respective windows of a liquid crystal cell array to open and close for light and can hold them in the opened and closed states. A light source is disposed at one side of the head, at the other side of which are disposed an image-forming lens system for exposing a recording medium to an image formed on the head by the opened and closed states of the windows. A controller is provided for controlling the quantity of light which is applied to the recording medium. The image is written into the head by a binary image signal and the exposure is started, with the written image held unchanged. The controller stops the exposure when the quantity of light applied to the recording medium reaches a predetermined value.
67 Citations
27 Claims
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1. A recording apparatus comprising:
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a two-dimensional recording head having windows arranged in a matrix form, said windows being capable of controlling the transmission and interception of light in accordance with a binary image signal representing an image and retaining the transmitting and intercepting states; write control means for applying said image signal to said two-dimensional recording head so that the light transmitting or intercepting state corresponding to the image is written into each of said matrix-arranged windows in accordance with said image signal, said write control means including means for generating an exposure start signal after completion of writing the light transmitting and intercepting states into said two-dimensional recording head; light irradiating means disposed on one side of said two-dimensional recording head for irradiating said two-dimensional recording head with light; holding means fixedly positioned on the other side of said two-dimensional recording head for holding a recording medium; optical image forming means disposed between said two-dimensional recording head and said holding means for forming on said recording medium an optical image represented by the light transmitting and intercepting states of said matrix-arranged windows; and exposure control means for starting exposure of said recording medium to the optical image formed thereupon in response to said exposure start signal and controlling the exposure so that the total quantity of light which has been irradiated on said two-dimensional recording head since the generation of said exposure start signal becomes equal to a predetermined exposure value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. An image recording method comprising:
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(a) a writing step in which respective windows of a matrix liquid crystal cell array of a two-dimensional recording head are each controlled to transmit therethrough or intercept light in accordance with a binary image signal representing an image and held in that state until at least one exposure step is completed; (b) a step of generating an exposure start signal after completion of the writing step; (c) an exposure step in which, in response to the exposure start signal, exposure is started to apply light from a light source to a recording medium, with each of the windows of the matrix liquid crystal cell array held in the light transmitting or intercepting state, and the integration of the quantity of light corresponding to that applied to the recording medium is started; and (d) a step of stopping the exposure at the same time as the integrated value of the quantity of light reaches a predetermined exposure value. - View Dependent Claims (27)
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Specification