Regarding an image forming apparatus for printing an input image and including a print head having a head sensor configured to sense information from the input image printed on a print medium, there is a method of determining a head sensor position parameter in the image forming apparatus. The method includes printing a first swath of the input image on the print medium and determining the head sensor position parameter by performing a sub-method. The sub-method includes capturing, via the head sensor, a target image from the printed first swath, comparing the target image to a reference image for the first swath based upon the input image, and determining the head sensor position parameter based on a relative shift between the target image and the reference image.

Regarding an image forming apparatus for printing an input image and including a print head having a head sensor configured to sense information from the input image printed on a print medium, there is a method of determining a head sensor position parameter in the image forming apparatus. The method includes printing a first swath of the input image on the print medium and determining the head sensor position parameter by performing a sub-method. The sub-method includes capturing, via the head sensor, a target image from the printed first swath, comparing the target image to a reference image for the first swath based upon the input image, and determining the head sensor position parameter based on a relative shift between the target image and the reference image.

An optical scanning apparatus, an image projecting apparatus, and a mobile object. The optical scanning apparatus includes a light source to emit light, a light deflector to deflect the light emitted from the light source at least in a sub-scanning direction to perform optical scanning on a scan region, a light receiver to receive, within a predetermined range in the sub-scanning direction, the light used for optical scanning performed by the light deflector, and a controller to control the light deflector based on a number of times of light reception of the light receiver at a plurality of positions in the sub-scanning direction within the predetermined range. The image projecting apparatus includes the optical scanning apparatus, and a projection optical system configured to project light emitted from the optical scanning apparatus to the scan region.

A movement control device configured to determine whether the moving unit moved by a driving unit is in a stopped state at a position before a predetermined target stop position, and whether a difference between the detection position and the target stop position is equal to or smaller than a threshold difference, based on a detection position of the moving unit, after the moving unit starts deceleration operation, and switch a control of the driving unit to a position control based on the difference between the detection position and the target stop position, from a speed control based on a designated speed associated with the detection position to the target stop position, if the moving unit is in the stopped state at a position before the predetermined target stop position, and the difference is equal to or smaller than the threshold difference.

An image forming apparatus includes a conveyor to convey a conveyed object in a conveyance direction, a plurality of head units to perform image formation on the conveyed object, a displacement sensor disposed downstream from the plurality of head units to detect a position adjustment image on the conveyed object, formed by the plurality of head units, and at least one processor configured to adjust an image formation position of at least one of the head units in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction, based on a result generated by the displacement sensor. The image forming apparatus further includes a surface sensor to obtain surface data of the conveyed object at a position corresponding to the head unit to be adjusted, and the processor further adjusts the image formation position in the orthogonal direction based on the surface data obtained by the surface sensor.

A printing apparatus comprises: a printer that includes a printing mechanism that performs printing on a printing medium, the printing mechanism being provided in a print area; a housing that includes an opening region for exposing the printing mechanism to outside; and a guiding mechanism that represents a position of the print area. The guiding mechanism is provided at a position directly above the print area and visible from outside. Accordingly, when a user performs printing on the printing medium using this printing apparatus, the user can easily grasp a position of the print area by means of the guiding mechanism, and therefore can print on a desired position on the printing medium.

An image forming apparatus includes a conveyor to convey a conveyed object in a conveyance direction, a plurality of head units to perform image formation on the conveyed object, a displacement sensor disposed downstream from the plurality of head units to detect a position adjustment image on the conveyed object, formed by the plurality of head units, and at least one processor configured to adjust an image formation position of at least one of the head units in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction, based on a result generated by the displacement sensor. The image forming apparatus further includes a surface sensor to obtain surface data of the conveyed object at a position corresponding to the head unit to be adjusted, and the processor further adjusts the image formation position in the orthogonal direction based on the surface data obtained by the surface sensor.

An optical writing device and an image forming apparatus incorporating the optical writing device. The optical writing device includes two or more light sources, a pixel clock generator to measure a scanning speed of one of the two or more light sources and generate a pixel clock of a cycle corrected according to the measured scanning speed, a pulse data generation and output unit to generate pulse width data and shift data for the pixel clock generated by the pixel clock generator to output the generated pulse width data and the generated shift data for each one of the two or more light sources, and a plurality of image pulse generation and output units to generate an image pulse. In the optical writing device, the plurality of image pulse generation and output units are supplied with the pixel clock in common.

A printing apparatus comprises: a printer that includes a printing mechanism that performs printing on a printing medium, the printing mechanism being provided in a print area; a housing that includes an opening region for exposing the printing mechanism to outside; and a guiding mechanism that represents a position of the print area. The guiding mechanism is provided at a position directly above the print area and visible from outside. Accordingly, when a user performs printing on the printing medium using this printing apparatus, the user can easily grasp a position of the print area by means of the guiding mechanism, and therefore can print on a desired position on the printing medium.

Regarding an image forming apparatus for printing an input image and including a print head having a head sensor configured to sense information from the input image printed on a print medium, there is a method of determining a head sensor position parameter in the image forming apparatus. The method includes printing a first swath of the input image on the print medium and determining the head sensor position parameter by performing a sub-method. The sub-method includes capturing, via the head sensor, a target image from the printed first swath, comparing the target image to a reference image for the first swath based upon the input image, and determining the head sensor position parameter based on a relative shift between the target image and the reference image.